023 The Invisible Touch – The Fallacy Of The Virtual Alternative Revised

Fallacies of Marketing

This is the first section of Harry Beckwith's Book, The Invisible Touch, that shows it's out-of-date.

So while I agree with his conclusion, which he credits to NW Ayer (the Philadelphia advertising man of a bygone era), Make Human Contact, I totally disagree (here at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century) that online marketing doesn't work for service businesses.

It does.

But we DO need to Make Human Contact even when online.

Stay Close In Contact, Personal In Touch

Too many entrepreneurs feel that their websites need to look BIG, CORPORATE, even COLD. That is sooooo wrong.

Be personal. Write with personality. WELCOME people to your site, tell them what to expect, tell them what to click on.

Don't make the visit to your site a guessing game.

Think: Over The Backyard Fence

When I was a kid living in "the old neighborhood" of little tract homes that looked virtually the same, we had a backyard that met with nearly a dozen other homes. We'd gather to play baseball in the spring and summer. We'd see each other. And dare I even say that our dogs were allowed to run freely within these yards. (My dog, Buttons, even raced up to the old elementary school to see me on the playground before being called home by my Mom.)

Think how you'd talk to a neighbor across the fence in those days. Keep that in mind when you talk to people visiting your website and you'll know the "tone" you should take.

Don't push. Don't "sell." Just chat. Be friendly. Share, but don't be overbearing.

Think Lead Generation

For a few years I had a beautiful wedding photography website. Lots of images of brides, grooms, and receptions. You could place your cursor over small versions of many of my images and larger versions would be displayed in the center of the page.

Never Received A Contact.

HOWEVER…

When I started to use long-form, direct response copy and a FEW photographs in a lead-generation campaign, I would get brides calling nearly in tears: "If you can express so beautifully how you are feeling at a wedding as you are capturing all those beautiful images, you HAVE to be the right photographer for me."

The WEBSITE did the selling… or at least the "softening" and all I had to do was "close." The brides, grooms, and families already knew me from my writing, so when they contacted me, most of the hard work of introducing myself and my work was already done.

THAT is how you can use the Internet to help sell.

Use Video And Emotional Copy

Let people see you. Let them hear you. Show them who you are by speaking directly to them with videos. I use them extensively and people feel they know you when they contact you.

Don't you feel like you know the evening newscasters simply because you've seen them so many times on television? The same thing applies here.

When They Know, Like, And Trust You They Will Buy From You

If you are Staples or Amazon or QVC, people have their credit cards out when they log in. They already know what you have, your guarantee, your prices and they feel comfortable purchasing from you. YOU can get to that same position but you have to take small steps to inform your customers first.

We ARE in the cyber era where billions of dollars are being spent online each year and it seems that will continue.

Build your website to introduce you, make you a central star, and remember that people like to work with people they like; and people like people who are like themselves.

Show them you are like they are… and they will do business with you.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
Blogging, Podcasting, Consulting

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

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Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at http://bit.ly/24eYTO to learn more about his successes.

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Fallacies of Marketing

023 The Invisible Touch – The Fallacy Of The Virtual Alternative Revised