What is the best way to do business online without appearing like a spammer?
I want to grow my customer base with a health/wellness/weight loss product that has a 100% money back guarantee. How do I get my message out there to attract people to my product?
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Jun 13, 2014
The online weight loss industry is a tricky one. It's so easy to be seen as a spammer as there are so many out there.
My advice would be to keep it real. A bunch of ads and articles are probably not going to work as well as you would like, since many are already apprehensive about these products.
Start by building relationships on social media. This takes time and effort but is worth it in the long run. When people get to know you on social media as trustworthy and a valuable source of information on health and wellness, they will be more prone to trusting you that what you promote, actually works.
Good luck with your venture!
Jun 6, 2014
Canada is just about to pass into law a draconian law against perceived spam.
I don't think this will benefit anyone. It only gives the illusion that politicians are doing something to earn there inflated cushy salaries.
Jun 5, 2014
Several ideas here: 1. To avoid looking like or being labeled as a spammer know who you are sending any emails to. Spammers just throw stuff out there and hope it sticks somewhere. 2. Testimonials are almost as essential as a good product. 3.Networking organizations, word of mouth 4. Build an informative website. The more information you can give on your website the better. 5. money back guarantee is great proof that your product works is better.
Jun 5, 2014
1. Make a website that contains a blog.
2. Market the blog all around.
3. Build a good facebook profile (not page) and keep posting valuable information.
4. Link your facebook to twitter.
5. Make videos.
6. Start an email list and email your fans at least once a week.
7. Repeat and keep up the good work.
Jun 5, 2014
Let me preface what I am about to say by stating that I am no marketeer, but I know a few little things. I am sure that there are others who would know more, or even better than I.
That said, in my experience, there is very little that you can do without behaving like a spammer. One of the easiest ways is to create a marketing video for a media channel such as Youtube, then make sure that you list the video's keywords for things that would be related to your product; not just specifics, such as "Health", "wellness", etc., but with general, related words that are part and parcel of what your product does.
When people do a web search, they are looking for very specific things and do not always know what to ask, so when you can get key words that are "in the ballpark" of what you provide, it can lead them to you.
Use those keywords for people to find your website as well as your company's facebook profile along with any other web presence that you may have.
But be warned. You can find people locating your sites through some pretty bizarre searches. For example; my company, Furry Logic Productions, is a video production start-up company. However, when people look up "Furry", which is an erotic fetish movement, or "Furry Logic" which is an art studio that does "furry" artwork, my company comes up in the search.
And as amusingly, sometime embarrassing, odd as that is, it still gets my name out there and people will remember it when they are looking for video production services in my area.
Jun 4, 2014
Hi Janie,
In my opinion, the best way to not look like a spammer is to place your ads where your product can integrate easily. Research a few websites in the field and see what kind of ads others are posting. That in itself can be a source of inspiration. You'll find many details you'll want to add to your campaign, and many things you'll know not to follow on. Second aspect is to have the best design solution, so that the public likes the "feel" of it right from the start. A third aspect is to choose the right amount of information you put in these ads. Very often they are loaded with visual chatter, which drives the client away. Think about the 6 seconds attention span, and then think about the fact that your ad is not the only thing on the screen of your potential clients. Pinterest is one of the easiest and best ways to test both of these aspects.
Best of luck!
Jun 4, 2014
In addition to all the other excellent suggestions, I would recommend that you try an AdWords campaign which can include Youtube. Your product will be exposed must faster to a far larger audience than social media alone with results that can be tracked and analyzed. Concerning the YouTube part of the campaign, we can create a sales video without you being on camera.
Jun 2, 2014
For this type of product I recommend avoiding the typical tele-marketing/infomercial type approach. While that might work for some products, it comes across rather gimmicky to many informed shoppers. Know your audience. For the younger generations consider Instagram or Pinterest and use real success stories to show the product. FB seems ideal for the Gen-X, Baby-boomers and even Millennials. Again, sharing stories, successes and education creates greater interest and buy-in in these forums.
A key to Social Media is to have your post compelling enough that reads what to click through and ultimately SHARE the post with their contacts.
Good luck with your product!
Jun 2, 2014
Build relationships by making 50 calls a day. Got it in you? Email for product info after the call only.
Jun 2, 2014
For the past 25+ years, I have helped my clients grow their customer bases through direct marketing channels. Spamming is a critical issue so we take every effort to ensure our clients are CAN SPAM compliant. Working with a data provider who will provide quality data that is opt out is critical to your success as is maintaining CAN SPAM compliance within your own messages. I would be happy to help provide a targeted list recommendation for your campaign once you are ready.
Jun 1, 2014
Workout a strategy to help your target audience with valuable content sharing. This will create brand awareness and brand awareness will help you get more sales in the long run. Using social media you could do it easily and with a very low budget
Jun 1, 2014
As some others have mention, if this is MLM or Distributor based products you need to stay within their marketing guidelines of what can be said about the products, one item I recommend you do is focus on the benefits not the features. Not all manufacturers have this figured out, so be sure to look at anything you are presenting and posting through your customers and potential customer's eyes. They are going to see what you are posting as spam when you lead with "what you do" instead of leading with "What's in it for them." In other words, concentrate on solving their problems instead of trying to tell them how great your products are.
Jun 1, 2014
Use social media sites to show testimonials and link all of your photos to your website. Use pickmonkey dot com to add your website to your photos. Add value to your audience...don't promote your product all the time. Facebook fan page is perfect...post 3- times daily. A lead capture page to gather emails is perfect also since they opt in to receive more information. Fiverr dot com is only $5.00 and you can hire stuff out you don't know how to do. Best of luck! Watch some of the Beachbody Coaches like Melanie Mitro she does a great job and makes six figures selling beach body products. Her facebook and blog pictures pull followers in. (Relatable)
Jun 1, 2014
A good rule of thumb is to provide 10 good solid informational emails for every 1 sales piece.
People will begin to see you as an important resource and they will be more likely to buy from you when you do send the sales piece.
Jun 1, 2014
Create great content your ideal client would appreciate. It is not about pushing your product onto others. It is about adding value to others through providing great content -- when you do this, people will flow your way.
If you sell all the time - you will become 'spammy.' Think of a social media wall -- your ratio may be 1:8. This means you would 'sell' once out of every 8 posts you place on there. The other posts are related to your people -- use humor, inspiration, etc. to engage your ideal clientele.
Who are the people you wish to engage?
Jun 1, 2014
Hello Janie, few suggestions:
1) First of all it is no longer right to call it online marketing it is called digital marketing. This primary factor to drive the same is our smart phones.
2) Design an app that will help people follow things like their hear rate, distance they have walked and other details... post the same suggest them useful tips from your bank of suggestions.
3) Use the same smart phones and your end users to organize activity like trek, boating activity some kind of a physical activity.
4) Use the #3 and ask your existing base to invite other folks in who might benefit
The above will get people to speak. Face it in events like marathons, companies use the lead runners to advertise their products. Same can be done by anyone.
There is a presentation that I had compiled. might help to visit the same - http://www.slideshare.net/tathagatb/digital-marketing-changing-the-way-we-deal-with-content
Jun 1, 2014
Good question Janie! Being concerned about being a "spammer" is important!
The magic ingredient is to build messages that are informative and engaging for your audience so you're being helpful, not pitching them on how wonderful you and your product are. This is the essense of what people call content marketing.
The good news is it doesn't have to be hard or expensive!
Here are some helpful tools we like to refer clients to:
Getting your messaging right - http://salesscripter.com/
Building your list of contacts quickly and affordably - http://leadferret.com/
And a video series on creating content based emails - http://www.salesnexus.com/support.html (look for "Starter Kit")
Hi Craig and thank you for taking the time to respond and providing helpful links for me to get information. These help tons! THANK YOU!