Before you jump on the marketing bandwagon, step back and examine the tool!
Think back to when you were a kid waiting in the school lunch line. Do you remember when the lady with the hairnet would slop a pile of peas, some jello, and a slab of mystery meat on your plate?
What WAS it? Your guess is as good as mine. It didn't taste all that great, that's for sure. Yeah, maybe it staved off your hunger pains until you got home, but that's about it.
Sadly, some marketers are serving up "mystery meat" all the time. They come up with a marketing idea and just start slopping it on their customer's plates.
Ask the "mystery meat marketer," and even she doesn't know the point of her marketing idea. Ask her why she thinks it will work, and she'll give you a blank look.
You see, this is a problem we face as online marketers. We're constantly bombarded by books and tools to help us run our online businesses. Our fellow marketers go crazy over the latest tool, it gets overhyped, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
But when the dust settles, we find our business isn't any better for it. Why? Because we didn't ask "why" in the beginning!
Do you remember when start pages were all the rage? People went crazy clicking up credits to drive traffic to their site. Yes, it made their hit counters spin out of control...but that doesn't mean squat if you don't get sales.
Can you see what went WRONG?
People forgot to ask why. They forgot to step back and honestly examine how the method works. Taking just a few moments to think about it would reveal that the traffic would be worthless, because you can "force" someone to be on your website, but you can't force them to have their eyes open!
And to top it all off, it isn't even targeted traffic.
So today I'm not going to show you the newest whiz bang marketing tool or book. Just for today, take a good hard look at all the marketing newsletters, articles, and ebooks you've been reading.
Then ask yourself: how and WHY does this work?
If you can't answer that question, if you don't understand WHY your target market would be attracted, then you may be wasting your time.
About the Author
Rebecca Hagel is the author of "The Beginner's Guide to Marketing and Making Love!" Get set to open your mind and spirit to online marketing success. Go to http://www.thebeginnersguide.net