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READING TIME: ABOUT 5 MINUTES
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These stupid marketing tricks line others' pockets and leave you wondering
what happened to your bank account.
They hint at oodles of publicity, swarms of new clients, and more business than
you can imagine. Alas, they don't deliver.
Avoid these golden opportunities like the plague (and
if you've got another one to add to the list, let us know here).
1) The "radio host invitation"
The pitch: You're a personal trainer who gets a phone
call or email inviting you
to become a weekly host
for an Internet radio show
or podcast on health and
wellness. You're thrilled!
Finally, word is getting
out about how valuable your
programs and services can
be! Surely this kind of
exposure is just the beginning
for your business...
The catch: You have to write
a check upfront for several
thousand dollars to "cover
production costs."
Even then, the odds are
low that a potential customer
will stumble across your
show. The show producer
typically doesn't do any
marketing - so no one's
likely to know your show
even exists unless YOU do
all the marketing. Plus,
people who stumble across
the show online can just
click to listen. They don't
have to register first.
That means you have no way
at all to follow up with
them and fold them into
your normal marketing process.
Finally, you could create
these shows yourself for
far less money than you're
paying for "production costs."
And last but not least,
you have no guarantee that
these folks won't just take
your money and run.
A better alternative: if
your clients would really
appreciating hearing podcasts
from you, it's easy and
inexpensive to record and
distribute your own.
2) The "published author" opportunity
The pitch: You're a dietitian in private practice. You get a call
from someone who says you
could make a nice chunk
of change by publishing
a book containing your unique
approach to health and wellness.
Or perhaps they tell you
that they've been impressed
by what they've heard about
you and would like to include
you in an upcoming book
profiling several emerging
health and wellness experts.
They entice you with the
promise of publicity (after
all, you'll be a published
author!), greater credibility,
and the chance to make money
by selling your book to
clients and members.
The catch: You have to pay
several thousand dollars
upfront to participate in
this opportunity.
Your book will never appear
in any mainstream bookstore
and the publisher will do
nothing to promote it other
than perhaps giving you
a list of marketing tips.
You'll probably give away
far more copies than you
sell.
A better alternative: For
under $100, you could simply
write down what you have
to say and "print" it in
electronic PDF format using
a tool like NitroPDF or
ScanSoft PDF. If you
really want hard copy, self-publish
it yourself for much less
than you'd pay these guys.
3) The "magazine headliner" chance
The pitch: You manage a small chain of fitness centers.
Or perhaps you're the president of a company that makes specialty fitness
equipment. You get a call offering your the opportunity to be the featured,
headline story in an industry
publication. There'll be
an in-depth interview or
Q&A with your key staff
members. You'll have
the chance to include all
your key messages, customer
successes, and more!Loads of free publicity
- and being covered by an
independent publication
will enhance the reputation
of your wellness business.
The catch: You have to pay
several thousand dollars
upfront to be the headliner.
The magazine itself is unimpressive
- cheaply produced on low-quality
paper. Or, it goes out via
email and usually hits the
junk email folder.
If you sell to consumers,
your potential customers
don't read these publications
and in fact never heard
of them. Sure, you can hand
out copies - but most of
the folks who'll grab 'em
are already customers. They're
not effective marketing
tools with potential customers
because the articles are
relentless self-promoting,
rather than focusing on
the needs of the prospective
client.
And if you sell to businesses,
that's the worst-case scenario.
Other businesses in the
industry aren't fooled for
a minute - they KNOW you
paid to be the headline
story!
A better alternative: You'll
more and better publicity
if you build relationships
with local media and community
organizations so that your
wellness business naturally
gets favorable (and free)
publicity. And you'll find
more success in winning
over prospective customers
if you create marketing
materials that are genuinely
responsive to their needs
and buying process.
That includes your website,
which should be user-friendly
and search-engine friendly.
4) The "featured online columnist" invitation
The pitch: You're a specialist in active aging. You receive an
email from someone who praises
your insights into health
and wellness. He invites
you to become a featured
columnist on his widely-read
health and wellness website or blog. You'll gets loads of free online publicity
without having to pay a dime! Reporters and potential clients alike will trip over themselves to reach out to you!
The catch: Good news! This
one wastes your time - but
at least it doesn't cost
you money. His primary goal
is attract site visitors
who will click on ads on his website for
various health and wellness products - usually dubious weight-loss gimmicks,
highly questionable supplements, and the like. He doesn't
care if they buy or not
- he gets paid for clicks
through advertising programs
offered by Google,
Yahoo and others.
He wants
to use your content so that
his site appears to be a
high-quality site filled
with non-spammy content.
That way the site will avoid
being demoted in search
results. However, he'll
do nothing to market or
promote the site himself,
and you'll almost certainly
never get a single new customer
through this website.
A better alternative: If
you're writing great articles
on health and wellness,
post them on your own website,
submit variations of those
articles to widely-indexed
article submission engines
like EzineArticles.com,
offer them to suitable legitimate publications, use them in your marketing
materials, and/or include them
in your email or printed
newsletter.
5) The promise of "passive income"
The pitch: You're a roving yoga instructor. While surfing
the Internet late one night,
you come across a website
that promises to show you
how to create and sell your
own e-book (downloadable
electronic book in PDF format)
to generate lots of passive
income. The site offers
a do-it-yourself kit for $50 to several hundred dollars. The kit's simply
an e-book with 100+ pages
that promises advice on
how to create, distribute
and sell your e-book.
You usually get several
other downloadable "special
reports" to sweeten the
offer.
The catch: It's simple and
cheap to write and produce
your own e-books.
See #2 above. It's not even
that hard to set up a very
simple website. The
difficult part of selling
e-books or any other products online is marketing
them. Online selling requires expertise
in online marketing and
search engine optimization.
After all, billions of websites
exist. How will anyone ever
stumble across yours? The kit doesn't really help you solve that problem.
A better alternative: If
you've really got a book's
worth of health and wellness
insights, consider selling
your e-book online via your
own website to your existing
customers. And check out
the other strategies we
suggest in #2 and #4 above.
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