How Do You Throw A Real Switch?

Google gets serious

The 'Google slap', for those of you new to network marketing and direct sales is Google's response to one thing. The ludicrous claims made in Pay Per Click (PPC) Adverts placed on Google. There were so many complaints from people saying they had been enticed by inflated income claims. Google simply got fed up and 'slapped' our industry.

I have watched the reaction with interest and some amusement. People have blamed Google for not explaining their criteria. However they have missed a simple point. Google was protecting its brand from the Wild West behaviour of large elements of the PPC community. Lets be honest it must have been bad for Google to cut off a lucrative funding stream to protect its brand.

I have seen paid for training videos that advocated using opposition company names as keywords to gain their traffic. This was totally unethical because the actual PPC Ad never mentioned the competitor firm. Google has built its reputation on delivering relevant content based on the search term. So if someone typed in 'home business Amway' and was presented with a top placed PPC Ad for Herbalife then people would wonder how that happened. As Internet Marketers we know how it happened however new comers to the industry are different.

The FTC starts to take an interest

This is why the FTC has come down so hard on all types of 'enticement' (including Blogs) to protect people from income claims being used to entice people to join a network marketing opportunity. Enticement and persuasion are different. Attraction marketing is based on persuading someone you know your stuff and can be trusted. Enticement is based on an approach of, 'I did this so can you'. The problem with online enticement is it is anarchy. There is no way to check out your claims and desperate people will often look for what appears to the easiest solution. Lottery businesses thrive on this type of desperation and tap into the same 'hopes and fears'. The 'hope' of an easy fix and the 'fear' of missing your opportunity.

Bear in mind several high profile marketers made lots of money training people in the techniques that led to the Google slap I have looked for offers of refunds.I may have missed those offers so if you have seen any let me know. Instead they have pulled of a brilliant marketing move – 'switching'.

Switching

'Switching' is based on the idea that instead of using Google for PPC use the Social Networking Sites – principally Facebook. You guessed it the same people who trained you in Google PPC are now assuring you that if you use their training to switch it will work.

What method of marketing are they using to convince you the switch will work? Enticement; the very technique that led to the Google slap in the first place. They even show real images of their accounts showing how they managed to get leads at super low costs. The clear implication being you can do the same thing.

The problem is these people are PPC experts, For you to achieve their results you will have to put in the effort to learn PPC. PPC advertising appeals to certain personality types. It is a myth to say everyone can achieve the same results by watching some training videos.

How do I know? I paid for all the classic training materials on PPC and never achieved the same results. I am an intelligent and educated person familiar with logic, maths and statistics all the skills you need for PPC. However the key skill is Copywriting. Guess what? That's a separate course they sell however they only tell you that at the end of the PPC training.

The other elements of the switch; Twitter, YouTube, Article Marketing and Blogging are Social Media Marketing (SMM). SMM is the polar opposite of PPC advertising. PPC is about getting your message across in as few words as possible and a great call to action. SMM is about creating value added content that markets you as an expert someone can trust and do business with.

The Free Switch

I have called this section the Free Switch because the 'Facebook slap' is coming and all that training you have paid for on how to 'duck under' Facebook's radar will be defunct – again. Only this time you will be slapped from a community that is the size of the 4th biggest country in the world. When Twitter goes to paid clicks – which it will – it will also protect its reputation.

You need to free yourself from the 'enticement' mentality now. I have spent too long chasing down each one of these 'latest' approaches only to find they are dead ends. They are dead ends because the people who teach you are also your competitors. They will always be ahead of the curve except in a very rare few cases.

What you need for a successful network marketing business is a partnership with an opportunity that provides ongoing expert training in all aspects of Internet Marketing. Then you can see which type best suits you and 'switch' predominantly to that type. Yes still use the other types but recognize where your strengths lie. This is what the 'big hitters' do when they make it big. They contract out PPC or maybe Article Marketing. All SMM methods are free and there is no reason to use PPC other than to say run a small scale campaign to test some key phrases.

It all boils down to time and money

However the average person entering our industry is unable to 'contract out' from day 1. They will succeed in network marketing and direct sales using one of two resources – money or time. They have to decide which they have more of? If they have more money paying experts should pay off and they should have performance based agreements with service providers. That way they can ask for a refund or re-work if the work fails to deliver what was promised in the ad.

If you have more time than money then decide the answer to one simple question, 'Who is my ideal lead?' Nothing else just that.  When you can clearly describe in 60 seconds who your ideal target market is, what the problem is you can help them with and how you will solve it go and market that message. Use whatever form of marketing you feel most comfortable with and set yourself up as the 'go to person' in that market niche.

So in conclusion if you are going to switch, switch to a permanent way that is unique to you and sets you up as the expert and dominate your market niche. Investing time and money in that approach will pay dividends in the long term.