Honest marketing….does it even exist today?

Seems like everyone is all about money these days, doesn’t it?! Try to learn marketing online and you have a slew of ickiness all around you.

• Play this mind game to get into the person’s mind.
• Do this to make them want the product so bad they’d be willing to pay ANYTHING to get it.
• Hype them up with a bunch of sizzle and then give them whatever you want. It won’t matter since their so hyped up anyway they won’t care.

Can I just say, “Ick, Ick, Ick.”

While I’m sure there are some good marketing tricks and guru’s out there, they are few and far between. My personal favorites happen to be Jeff Walker and Dale Partridge.

They really are the only ones I’ve found thus far that skip the ick in mark-ick-eting.

With that said, I think you can still be a great marketer, without feeling like you’re selling out or be all about the money. But there’s a few things you’ll need to know.

Today, as my SECOND book just hit Amazon’s #1 best-selling list, I’m getting a lot of questions about it.

• Do I have a team of marketers or book promoters working with me?
• What steps did I take to hit Amazon’s #1 best-selling list?
• Just how hard IS IT to hit that list?
• How do I get people to buy my stuff?

I think these are all valid questions and instead of emailing everyone back individually, it’s time for a post. Because there IS a way you can be good at marketing without being someone you’re not! It all comes down to these three simple things:

How to ROCK Marketing {Without Being Icky}

Be honest, genuine, and transparent

I’ve been told over and over in many different businesses, that we need to “fake it til we make it.”

Pretend you’re someone you’re not to get the sale. But what happens afterwards?

I purchased a coaching program and the person was sooooo gung-ho about selling to me. They worked so very hard for that sale. I could tell they were dedicated and motivated. It seemed awesome. I mean, if a person is willing to work THAT hard to get the sale, imagine how hard they are willing to work AFTER the sale to help you….

Or so I thought…

After I purchased, I was pushed to the bottom of the heap and treated like a stranger, instead of the best friend I was before.

It taught me a valuable lesson…I never want to be like that.

The other day I was talking to someone and they said to give your best work upfront to get people to subscribe. Then, use your lesser quality information in the actual subscription. So, basically puff up what you have, give the best upfront, and then let the actual material fall through the cracks?

While they may be completely right, in my opinion, it doesn’t work like that. I feel like the best thing you can do, is promise LESS than you actually deliver. When you subscribe for my newsletter, you get me on a plate. You get my raw-emotions. You get me, the person, not the blogger. I’m much more transparent in my newsletter than anywhere else online. Those are my people. My closest friends. I share more. Those are the people I work so hard for to help. They are the ones I bend over backwards for.

It’s about being honest, genuine, and transparent.

If you want to sell something, say so, don’t hide, don’t beat around the bush, don’t play mind games, and try to get people to want your stuff so bad, they’d be willing to pay anything.

Be sincere.

Being a really good ick-free marketer is not about games. It’s about being true to yourself, WHETHER THEY BUY OR NOT.

Did you get that???

Whether they buy or not. It really DOES NOT matter.

Because the focus should NEVER, EVER be on sales. That’s a result of your hard work, it’s not your focus or motivation. Helping people should be your motivation. If you have a book for sale, you want to get it into as many hands as you can so that you can help them.

If that is truly your goal, I don’t feel like you can lose.

Listen, if you’re trying to be someone you’re not for a sale, you’re not getting that sale. And if you do, you’re the one laying awake at night not being able to sleep, feeling guilty about what you did and not being able to change it. I’ve seen blogging for what it is and I say this truthfully, con artists come in all shapes and sizes, and they are just as much in the blogging world as they are anywhere else. Don’t be one of them. Don’t get wrapped up in being someone or something you’re not for a sale.

If the words that you are writing for your post do not feel 100% genuine, if it feels too salesy, it is, period. And they will know and not buy. So, why bother being someone you’re not. It’s not effective anyway!

Rather, just show up and be who you are. It really does go a long way. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Unless you are a complete jerk, I guarantee you if you are just genuine online, the traffic and sales will come. People will trust who you are and know that you’re for real.

There’s a great comfort in that. When I first started blogging, I was so nervous. I was SCARED to show who I am. After all, my ex-husband of 14 years left me, he didn’t want me, why would anyone else?!

Although I can’t say I’m 100% healed from those damaging self-thoughts, this blog reaches more than 10 million people each month in some way or another. Over a million people come and visit me each month. That’s a sure lot of people who like that I am genuine. And I don’t base my information on that alone.

I have TONS of emails, TONS of comments, thanking me for being real and genuine. Thanking me for being honest. All I’m doing is being myself, that’s it. I don’t have to walk on eggshells or hide. I can be me and it’s okay.

You can be you too!

Whether you have 1 reader and it’s your mom or you have over a million, you still need to be honest, genuine, and transparent. I can never say that enough! No matter who you are, there’s someone in the world who wants to be your friend. Treat them like your friend. Would you hide, lie, or be rude to a friend? No! So don’t lie or hide from your readers either!!!

Simply match up what your readers want with what’s available

Only you know your readers better than anyone else. But there comes a time when I see many bloggers who do not know their own readers. This is a huge shame.

But it’s something you can fix!

Get to know them. Run a contest, ask them to comment, ask them to email you, survey them, start up a group on Facebook, get to know them.

Again, they are your friends!

You simply CANNOT help them with whatever is going on in their life unless you know them.

I have seen so much pain in this world. Women who want to stay home with their kids, but feel they can’t because of debt. It’s torture to them. Night and day, they are taunted. So, I created a book, How to Become Financially Free. In the book, I explain, in practical terms, everything I’ve done to go from being homeless – right there in the trenches with them, to making six-figures a year (last month I made $23,424! Here’s my ENCOURAGING income report).

There are some things they desperately need to know and I’m the perfect person to show them. My whole purpose in that book is to offer something that they could actually afford. It’s less than the price of a hamburger meal at a fast food place. EVERYONE can afford it and so it can literally help everyone. On top of that, this Christmas, I gave the book away for free. Over 1,500 people downloaded that book during that time and I had the unique opportunity to help even more people!

You may be thinking that my giving the book away is some ploy to get sales up, right?!

But you’d be wrong. Listen, that book makes me so much money every month ALREADY! I don’t NEED more sales. It ALREADY hit Amazon’s #1 best sellers list the second day it was released. I never have a shortage of sales on it.

It’s my heart; my heart that shines through. I prove at every angle, at every corner that I’m not about money. That I’m here for a higher purpose. I was born to change the world. Whether I’m doing that at a speaking event or behind a computer, it doesn’t matter. I’m still me. And my heart still shines through everything I do. Because it’s real.

All I’m doing is simply matching up my readers needs with what I have (my current products), what I create (products I create to meet a need), or what I find (affiliate sales).

I’m not trying to sell anyone anything that I don’t 500% believe in. If I wouldn’t use it myself, I don’t mention it. Because when push comes to shove…

I’m not here to make a living. I’m not here to merely survive. I’m not here to sell someone something. I’m here to change the world!

 

Money, sales, income, it’s all a result of God’s grace upon me and my hard work toward meeting the needs of others. Sacrificing daily for my readers out of love.

It’s not wrong to be paid for your time as a blogger. It’s not wrong to make money, even a lot of it. But, it’s wrong to treasure money over your readers. People must always come first. Every blogger will come to a point in their blogging career where they have to make that choice…don’t chose wrong!

Have fun

I guess that you could look at what I’m doing and find patterns. I do have a specific pattern that I follow that seems to work very well. But for the most part, I follow the pattern because it’s easier than coming up with a new pattern. And, it’s a lot of fun!

For me, in my sales and hitting high marks like Amazon’s #1 best selling list two times in a row, it’s about having FUN. It’s about being happy in life and spreading that joy to others, encouraging one another. It’s about creating games and doing unique things each time to just have fun.

It’s fun for me. I like playing fun guessing games or scavenger hunts. It’s fun for me to see who are my serious readers and who aren’t. And I can tell too. I’m REALLY good at remembering names, always have been.

People will email me and act like I don’t know them and I don’t really say anything. I don’t want to make it awkward, but of course I know my readers. Of course I know their names. Of course I’ve seen them on Facebook and remember and that’s all a part of being a personal blog. I don’t hire out the relationship between me and my readers. I think this is one of the biggest mistakes for any blogger to make. It doesn’t matter how many emails you get, you need to be there. I get 50-100 a day, doesn’t matter. I’m there answering them. ME, Sarah Titus. Yes, I have help and yes, I need help, but my relationship with my readers is not something I’ll hire out anytime soon. It is the most precious thing I have.

Each moment, each time I get with a reader is special to me. THEY are special to me.

Ick-free marketing is about being yourself….genuine, honest, transparent. It’s about matching up their needs with services and products that you love, and it’s about having fun.

If you find that you’re not selling your stuff like you want to, I’d encourage you to look over these areas more in depth. Maybe there’s a blind spot there that you are unaware of. Either way, it’s something that you CAN change.

The number one way to be extremely successful in sales….focus on the person, not their wallet. That is THE best advice I could ever hope to give you. Even if you fail in every other area in blogging, but get that right, you will go farther than 80% of your competition!