by CHICKMELIONfreelance
There is quite a wide array of business styles swimming in the internet ocean. From the savvy to the sharks... the waters hold them all. Yet survival of the fittest is not necessarily the one who can take the largest bite in the quickest amount of time; but rather the one who surely and steadfastly assembles a foundation of trust and interaction with their client base. Yes these are the ones who seemingly survive tempest of recessions and bounties of growth stages, both of which can drop you to your knees if you are not prepared.
Slow and steady... that is what we have heard for years as a formula for winning the race and because we are on the high speed internet peddling our wares, this by no means dictates a different business approach. Ethics has always outweighed the quick and easy. What does evolve is how we reach and interact with our potential client base. Though a call to action has always been a part of the marketing mix, shout outs now are accompanied with a free offering in hand.
Partly because it has been such a common practice, it has become expected by a consumer driven society being wooed at every turn.Yet there are some very logical and practical applications for offering a free service or product to a prospect such as : creating an avenue to open a dialogue with, creating an environment of trust and confidence, as well as allow the prospect to test the product to see how it fits their needs. Hopefully the prospect gets so used to the convenience of the product they are more than happy to upgrade or try other extensions the organization has to offer.
A very good example is the strategy Mail Chimp uses. They are a DIY email marketing service that offers a Forever Free Pricing Plan: where you can store up to 500 subscribers and send up to 3000 emails a month... absolutely FREE! Think about it! When you hit their limits what are the chances that you are going to upgrade to one of their paid services and continue with them for a good while in the future?The beauty about this type of plan is the momentum behind the strategy.
It is built on good old fashioned networking and comradely. Mail Chimp graciously allows the "start up businessman" the slack they need to establish a toe hold in their niche. Surely they consider it as an investment in a much larger and longer anticipated relationship in the future. A relationship now built on trust. This is very respectable and ethical partnership mentoring that no doubt enhances Mail Chimp’s success and sets them apart from their competitors.
On the flip side, I have come across far too many of the following characters while surfing the open waters in my research. I fondly call them "Bargain Basement Bobs," and for any of you who are reading this who have shades of silver on your temples and a degree of wisdom only time can serve, you well know this character from old television advertising days.
He’s the outdated, outlandish hustler dressed in an over the top costume claiming to have gone "crazy, crazy crazy... to sell, sell, sell...." (Yes, he’s practically giving it away! Hurry and get in on the deal before they carry him away to the big house!)This entrepreneur overstates the value of their gift, (and I mean grossly overstates,) they claim their product or service is "irreplaceable," while in truth it is shaudy and ..(wink, wink) you can trust them implicitly!
I truly believe these are the ones who have ruined consumer trust in the first place, causing worthy and ethical entrepreneurs to have to dig in just that much harder to re-establish a foundation with the consumer. As an example, I wrote an article a while back on using PLR products to help keep content fresh on a website for the cash strapped and time starved business owners. Now I am not picking on PLR products, they can be a very handy tool given they are of quality and delivered with integrity! In my research though, I decided to test try a few outfits to see what they had to offer so I could get a full grasp of the pro’s and con’s on doing business within this niche. I was readily offered free PLR products to test, some which were very good and indeed they have succeeded in establishing trust.
Unfortunately I found Bargain Basement Bobs lair as well, and it did not take long to come to the conclusion that the 3D Ebook Cover Generating software they were using was far more valuable than the product that the shiny graphic presentation was pimping. It left a very dissatisfied taste in my mouth and a renewed respect for the PLR offering entrepreneurs who stands proudly behind their products with no smoke and mirrors.
Fortunately for this entrepreneur, Bargain Basement Bob just landed him a sale. Now I am not sure if Bargain Basement Bob’s actual product line was as shaudy as the sample he was passing out, but I was not going to lay out hard earned money to find out and in there lies the lesson!
It doesn’t take long to discern the cream from the curds. In the world of advertising wisdom, it is said that the average person generally buys a product only on the 6th or 7th exposure... and there is a good reason for it. So for all of you who are pushing through consistently and ethically, choosing the slower yet steady path... take courage, your foundation will last and your rewards will equal your persistence. My hats off to all you who chose the straight and narrow path......
