“Secrets of Marketing With New Media”… How It Began » Advanced Business Blogging… A New Media Marketing Expose’

It all started October 1st, 2001 at Newark Airport. Normally bustling with thousands of travelers, the airport was half empty. The dozens of National Guard troops armed with M16 assault rifles was strangely unsettling and comforting at the same time.

I had just sold two successful businesses, and Deborah had left her secure executive position to start a new life. Now just weeks after 9/11, we were on a plane moving from our home state of NJ to the most remote island chain in the world — Hawaii.

We faced a lot of challenges in that transition. Moving 5000-miles to a place where we had no family and no friends. The sad fact that both of our much-loved dogs died as a result of the move. Starting another brand new business from scratch. PHEW!!!

But what was even more of a challenge than all those things was marketing our new international business coaching company almost solely online from the middle of the Pacific. It’s something that for me personally was an especially painful and frustrating challenge, even with 25-years of experience marketing and selling over $30-million dollars offline services.

Most of what we were doing felt cold, impersonal, and sleazy

Marketing online is a completely foreign experience for most people, and it was for us too. We selected some of the well known internet marketing gurus and followed their advice. But most of what we were doing felt cold, impersonal, and sleazy compared to the marketing I was accustomed to.

I was frustrated with the fact that I was unable to use the skills and talents I had worked hard to develop. I knew from my success offline that I had the ability to influence people and persuade them to take action on win-win decisions. But I couldn’t get that to translate online to help market our new business.

Have you ever experienced a similar frustration, knowing you have the skills and talents to win in one environment, but feeling completely lost in another? Have you ever wondered why it seems so difficult to connect and build rapport with people the way you do naturally off-line? It’s a gnawing feeling to know you can develop great relationships with your friends, family, and customers in the “real world,” yet not be able to get those same results online.

To be fair, up until about 2004 that failure to really connect with prospects and customers online wasn’t anyone’s fault. Even the internet marketing experts were only working with what they had. With the exception of email, the Internet was just a passive one-way communication channel.

But just over two years ago something changed all that…

Something that began as a small tidal surge has now become a Tsunami of transformation sweeping both online and offline culture.

* New Media powerhouses like MySpace, iTunes, and YouTube have attracted hundreds of millions of people eager to connect, participate, and buy (MySpace has gone from 129 million members to 170 million+ in the last four months alone!)

* New Media channels such as blogs, podcasts, and social networks are disrupting power structures that have been entrenched for centuries. The old media industries of TV, radio and print have been turned on their head.

* But most importantly — New Media has changed the way people live their lives. And because of that fact, the rules of how you effectively reach and win over cheering crowds of new customers have been radically redefined.

While New Media was in it’s infancy many marketers and business people ignored all the activity as tech-inspired hype. But because we were desperate to find a better way to market online, Deb and I saw something different. We saw power, momentum, and limitless opportunities for business owners and marketers that approached New Media strategically.

Traditional Internet marketing is a dying skill

It’s time to face the fact that marketing online is not what it used to be. If you’re focusing on typical internet marketing strategies to grow your online or offline business — you’re learning a dying skill.

If you’re going to be like the hundreds of successful a small business owners, sales professionals, and marketers we’ve coached to make money using New Media; it’s crucial that you understand the new cultural landscape that New Media has created. Today’s New Media consumer will not tolerate interruption marketing and they abhor traditional advertising.

In the next installment you’ll learn why.

Copyright RPM Success Group Inc. 2002-2006. Full copyright reserved by RPM Success Group inc. Bloggers and journalists are welcome to link to posts or excerpt so long as full credit/attribution is given to AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.

John-Paul Micek is the premier Click-and-Mortar Business Coach. He’s been described as the “Commando Capitalist” and “Profit Matrix Master” by peers and coaching club members. With four multi-million dollar businesses under his belt and over 9,400 hours of experience coaching business owners and marketers to success from the inside out, J.P. is ready to help you get the profits, performance, and lifestyle you want from your business online and off-line. His latest book Secrets Of Online Persuasion is the definitive guide on marketing with New Media. J.P. is a weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and professional speaker. You can reach J.P. directly via [commandocapitalist@gmail.com].