Internet Marketing Consultants - suddenly there are so many....

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Were many people spending Bob?? The news was full of them concerned over not selling enough stuff, last year over 230 million.

[muppet]

Don't know about the big ticket items.

The first day is usually farmers day.

Lots of people were looking for clothing, tool bargains etc.
Did see one person from the South Island buying a big Total Span shed.

The show is definitely bigger than it was the last time I went about 2 years ago.

A lot more small time people selling homeware type objects.

Did see the HRV and DVS sites but not SmartVent.

Felt that like items should be grouped together instead of scattered all over the site.
Didn't find the Mazda site until we were on our way home By then it was too late to inspect.

[Xav]

Does a local retailer "disclose" what he pays the wholesaler??
Of course not. it's just a boomer mentality that will die out over the next decade or 2.

We are trying to apply property rules to standard retailing, I don't think they fit together.

Good point Terry, most PTers wouldn't know that many online links and ads are pay per click that the website owners get an income from.
And why shouldn't they!!

No one is suggesting that (or I wasn't anyway). That would be silly as you quite rightly point out.

The problem is that the people who buy into these schemes don't realise they are joining the bottom of multi-level marketing scheme with the presenters at the top.

Pete is a good example of the "old fashioned" boomer mentality.
If you don't understand it or agree with it then just bag it.

Gen X didn't shift buying culture but Gen Y definitely is.

Resistance is futile :-)

Hate to break it to you Dean, but you're in Gen X as well

The opposite should equally be feared, which is accepting what (usually) self appointed experts say without critical evaluation. Do you actually have any experience in this area apart from a meeting with the guys from Geekversity?

[Perry]

Gen X didn't shift buying culture but Gen Y
definitely is.

Any stats/sources of substance to substantiate
that assertion, Dean?

After all, we're still waiting for the references
regarding what you alleged about kiwisaver.

Or is persistence futile?

[Perry]

Interesting to see the Ag paper reports saying
that Mystery Creek had lost its farming focus.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Xav I know I'm Gen X (just), what does that have to do with anything?
I'm saying that Gen Y is forcing the world to change how it does business. Social media and the net is changing how we all do business.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Hey Perry it wasn't what I alleged it was what the economist said at the conference. i could never get his spreadsheet.

There are stats galore about online sales. The growth of online retailing is increasing at unbelievable rates, plenty of it all over the net.

My point as stated above is simply that we are being forced to change our business models if we want to sell to the new generation.
Look at the travel industry and hotel industries. You can only get the best deals online now. The net forced a complete revamp of how those products are sold. And there will be a lot more changes coming.
It's hard to find a market that isn't growing in double digits on the net.

[PeterEmpowerEd]

I'm saying that Gen Y is forcing the world to change how it does business. Social media and the net is changing how we all do business.

Snake oil is snake oil -- whether it's a slick sales pitch delivered from the back of a gypsy wagon, a glossy direct mail blurb sent to a segmented database, or an endless, breathless, hyped-to-the-sky squeeze page on the web... offering "$6,300 dollars worth of 'free bonuses' " or a "One Day Event – to change your life forever! REGISTER NOW" ...

Deceitful marketing is hardly a 'new' or Gen Y phenomenon. - P

PS "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, you are a Baby Boomer if you were born between 1946 and 1964."
Call me old fashioned, but I like to quote my sources: http://www.boomerslife.org/baby_boom...u_by_state.htm

[Dean@Massiveaction]

No argument with you there Pete but that is not the point. Slick sales is what gets you to buy McDonalds over your local or a Mazda over a Toyota.
My point is simply that companies are embracing internet marketing because it is being forced onto them. The content/products and sales tactics are no more or less good/ethical than any other medium.

Old guys like you and I have an inherent "fear is not quite the right word but I'll use it" fear of the internet because we didn't grow up with it. So I think anyone over the age of about 45 to 50 does have this unconscious "the internet is slightly bent and seedy". I know I did till I started seeing the growth of it in "reputable" industries like legal firms, finance and travel etc.

So I've had to do big mental shift to understand that the net is just a sales medium, and it happens to be the fastest growing economic phenomena the world has seen in a long time.

Look at the growth of companies like this LINK.

[Stevegoodey]

Also Dean I think distrust of the net stems from people assuming that everything on the internet is a sales pitch.

This is were I see the value in Social Media because it gives everyone a voice.

In most social media sites the current of opinion is created by a conversation or an equal flow of ideas back and forth.
This is what web 2.0 is about the developer puts together a framework and the user supplies the content.

Not at all unlike this website.

The honesty comes in because anyone can pick up the microphone and have their say and all opinions are equal.

So if you have given permission to someone to follow them or joined their fan page or group you have an expectation based on how the permission was granted (Or how you were sold the access).

This permission is ultimately very fragile because it can be recinded at any point without any guilt.

All a very interesting area that I find myself learning more about every day.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Too true, its "rescinded" by the way :-)

[Xav]

Xav I know I'm Gen X (just), what does that have to do with anything?

I just think it is amusing that your explaination for why views differ is generationally based, since we have contrasting views yet you are Gen X whereas I am Gen Y.

My point as stated above is simply that we are being forced to change our business models if we want to sell to the new generation.
Look at the travel industry and hotel industries. You can only get the best deals online now. The net forced a complete revamp of how those products are sold. And there will be a lot more changes coming.
It's hard to find a market that isn't growing in double digits on the net.

Huge difference between actual retailers marketing on the internet and people clickjacking and the like. One is actually useful, the other is not.

In any event, as already stated (which you have not addressed) really what we are discussing here are the (undisclosed) pitfalls of these schemes being advertising to the people buying into them rather than the viability of internet marketing generally

Do you actually have any experience in this area apart from a meeting with the guys from Geekversity?

Still keenly awaiting your response.

[Perry]

There's always some danger in the glib quoting of stats
from here, there and elsewhere. I like to go and look
at them, or appraise them when they're given to me.

I go back to the 8bit days of 300baud full duplex, didactic
modems, and with nothing but ASCII and CLI. I embraced
the e-age before it was called the Internet. My first e-mail
address was TZQ054. Anyone recall the term Sysop?
Or Starnet or Oasis?

It matters not.

I suspect that adoption of nouveau ways of Internetese
will and should be, selective, rather than indiscrete. Yes,
I make good use of the Internet, but not all items lend
themselves well to that media. Too often have I browsed
web pages and found them wanting in critical sales info.

Likewise, I've gone to a shop, to be told something like:
"it's on special because it's the last of that model. Grab
it if it's what you need, but the new one coming in August
has this, that and t'other new feature, so if you need bits
like that, wait until then. Especially if time isn't critical."

Helpful stuff like that is rare on the www.

Some web designers are offering an IM feature as part of
a company's web sales site, which is a good step. Despite
that and other tweaks, I suspect that humanity will not be
beaten by the machine.

Hey Perry it wasn't what I alleged it was what the economist
said at the conference. i could never get his spreadsheet.

Quite so, but you reported it in such a way as to convey
your impression at that seminar. I.e. it was incontovertible.
Sweeping statemnts might be the expression that covers it.
Same goes for Gen X, Y, Z, A, B, C etc. are doing this or that.
Habeus evidentius.

Internet bookings are one thing. Buying a piece of furniture
the same way is likely to be rare.

[Marc]

Also Dean I think distrust of the net stems from people assuming that everything on the internet is a sales pitch.

I think this statement for me sums up exactly what I am seeing on the net.

People are just getting fed-up with the massive landing page with some guy/girl within an automatically playing video talking about how they are going to make you millions or drive huge amounts of traffic to your site.

Some people do add value but in my opinion they are the ones that don't participate in this glossy and gross display of hype. I have meet some really interesting and skilled marketers on Twitter and all hate the gloss and bulls%$%t template designed marketing stuff you see now.

Does it work? Hell yeah! just like spam - people are still buying off spammers and thats why we still have spam. What most people will find out is that initially some of these ideas do sell product and do drive traffic but the selling and traffic goes down dramatically as these types of marketers don't actually teach the most important aspect of marketing (in my opinion) which is building a tribe (community) of clients/prospects that generates trust then loyalty which equals referrals and repeat sales.

Cheers

Marc

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Do you actually have any experience in this area apart from a meeting with the guys from Geekversity?

I've been looking at this whole area for a little while now and I've been blogging and doing newsletters for over 2 years. "Internet marketing" as part of my marketing mix is a new thing.

It's a fascinating industry because it is growing so fast and anybody can access a global market from their bedroom.

When I first found property that blew my mind, this is even bigger :-)