How To Find Your Own Voice Doing Online Marketing From Home
One of the things that really baffled and confused me when I first started doing online marketing from home, several years ago, was trying to figure out the “right” way or the “best” way to operate.
Like many new marketers I would jump from the one thing to the other looking for the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… Experience taught me that there is no best way to make money online, there are many different ways!
There are also many different ways of getting your message across to the market and that is what I would like to focus on today.
I am subscribed to many different newsletters and spend a lot of time every week visiting selected forums and blogs in the online marketing niche. Why? Well, first of all, I like to keep up to date with new developments. However, the main reason is not really to learn new stuff but to observe marketing techniques that I can apply in my own business.
I believe in the theory of the “golden thread”. What this means is that I believe no person knows everything and that real wisdom is right in front of us all the time but it is up to us to recognize and apply it.
For example, assume I get an email from a marketer called Mr. Know-It-All. I don’t only look at what he is trying to sell or promote, if anything, but how he goes about it and if there is anything I can learn from his approach.
Very often I will read a long and boring sales pitch and while wondering why I am torturing myself reading such dribble I will stumble upon one sentence that gives me an idea. That one sentence is the “golden thread”, something that can help my business.
The same happens in many forum posts. Mr. Know-It-All will make a new forum post telling members how they can make money doing say article marketing. Some of these posts are too basic or even downright inaccurate. However, I have picked up very valuable bits and pieces of information by looking for the “golden thread”.
Why am I sharing this? Well, we may all be online marketers but we are not all the same. What works for me may not necessarily work for you. However, this does not mean you cannot learn anything from me that will help you. I learn new things every single day, even from complete newbies. And, I am proud to admit it!
Too many marketers try to copy other marketers that they perceive to be successful. Very few of them are ever able to reproduce the same results. Very few!
What is important is not to try and copy other marketers but to learn from other marketers and to apply various bits and pieces of their techniques in your own business.
Let’s take email marketing as an example. Most successful marketers agree that building a list can be your most important asset in internet marketing. However, very few marketers follow the same approach when sending emails.
Let me explain…
Here are a couple of different approaches I am sure you have also observed:
Send your list an email…
- Every single day promoting a different product.
- For seven days in a row promoting the same product.
- Only when you have a new product out, for example a WSO.
- Once a month, for example a monthly newsletter.
- Once a week, for example a weekly newsletter.
- etc. etc. etc.
I see a lot people that work very hard on building a large list but once they have a large list they simply do not know what to do with their list. Often, they don’t do anything!
The same problem applies to nearly every single aspect of online marketing… There are so many different ways, techniques and strategies on how to build a successful online business that it is no wonder new marketers get totally confused.
You have to do what feels right for you, and works for you. It makes no sense to do something just because someone else said you should.
I believe that learning is an ongoing process. Learn from the experience of others but don’t try to copy a specific model just because it has worked for someone else. Your whole model will fall flat as soon as you have a problem because you do not have the background knowledge and understanding on how to fix it.
It is much better to take what you can from other marketers and to develop your own marketing model. Try different techniques and strategies. Test everything based on your own personal experience. Work on improving your business model all the time and look for “golden threads” of wisdom from other marketers.
In order to become really successful in your niche you need to stand out from the crowd. You need to find your own voice. Successful marketers like John Reese, Mike Filsaime and Frank Kern understand this concept very well. There are many marketers that make the mistake of trying to copy them but will never achieve the same success these guys have achieved.
Do not try to become the next John Reese. There is already a John Reese and the world has only got space for one John Reese. His business model has worked very well for him and has taken him years to refine. Yet, I am convinced he will agree that it is still far from perfect and that he also learns new things all the time on how he can improve his business.
Rather strive to be the best YOU can be instead of trying to be someone else. Take what you can from others. Experiment with different marketing techniques.
By the way, a guy like John Reese was not born successful. He had a very difficult time when he just started online marketing. It was not a smooth road at all! He made a point of learning from other people by listening if he could hear any golden threads. However, he became successful because he found his own voice.
There is nothing stopping you from achieving massive success doing online marketing. Nobody can stop you. There is no reason why you cannot become an internet marketing legend in your own right and watch as thousands of others try to copy you. If that is what you want it is within your power to achieve it!
To Your Online Marketing Success!
Francois du Toit
Your Host Francois du Toit
