Do you want to know what my favorite way of marketing online? It is hands down paid advertising. You get instant traffic, sometimes people buy right away, and sometimes you get immediate sales when you suggest a product after your first one. This is amazing, and in the beginning, they told me that forum marketing is what I needed to be doing to get tons of sales.
Well, I learned that lesson the hard way. I did forum marketing (and I still do – not to this extreme though), and I branded myself on a very popular internet marketing forum online. I admit, I do get sales from this forum – via other members. I still get emails for joint venture partnerships, and sometimes people contact me to take a look at certain aspects of their business.
I almost never do the last request. To me that's a "consulting" project. And if offer free coaching and consulting … expect your clients to question you with everything that you suggest. But make them pay for it … for about $ 5,000 or more … and they won't ask you anything. They will just do.
But I got off track here. I joined the forum because I thought I would get instant sales and profits – because it has a TON of members. But I found out the hard way that this form of free marketing works … but I needed something more effective, and faster. So that's when I embarked on my paid advertising route. And it was the best business decision I've ever made in my life.
I want you to know that paid advertising is good and it's something that you should heavily focus on. You will hear people say that paid advertising is "limited", and that it's not a good "long term strategy". This is bananas. Paid advertising is where it's at, and I want to share with you some ways that you can quickly recoup some of your paid advertising expenses. Here's the first way:
1) Incorporate some free marketing
The traffic from free marketing won't come instantly, but the quality of a free lead is incredibly high. These are the type of leads who buy from you over and over again from you – because you've demonstrated that you're an expert – and that you know what you are talking about.
Do all kinds of free marketing – enough where it's sufficient – and enough where you can still relax and take a break at home. Here's another way to recoup your paid advertising expenses:
2) Backend marketing
In a way this is a form of free marketing, but all customers that you get "costs" something. To recoup this cost of advertising, sell more of your products to your customers – so that you can get sales for free. This is simple marketing, but you will be amazed at how many people DON'T do it.
Be sure to use paid advertising as a huge part of your marketing plan, and also make sure to incorporate some free marketing so that you can get sales for free – all while lowering your overall marketing budget. Good luck online!
