Facebook is hot right now.
It's hard to think of a Web site that has gotten this much attention, this much media publicity since the advent of the Internet.
I challenge you to go one day without seeing or hearing the word Facebook.
It is virtually impossible if you are in any way connected to the world.
Trust me...
I tried it.
Almost did it until some stupid commercial ruined my sample case study.
If you know where to look you will notice a grassroots movement stirring up in the small business community.
It is filled with discouraged and misinformed small business owners who feel cheated by the Facebook phenomenon.
It's not their fault...
entirely.
It's just that they have been misled by their marketing consultants, guys who are new to the scene and are riding on the coattails of social media sites.
Against their better judgment, these small business owners dumped large amounts of time to build an online presence on Facebook - and the return on investment has not equaled all the hype.
Here's a snippet of what Mr.
Marketer is telling Mr.
Small Business Owner: "Just wait.
It takes some time.
Trust me.
Look at your competition.
They all have a presence on Facebook.
You need one too.
" And consequently, Mr.
Small Business Owner gets detached from reality...
from doing what he does best...
making money, acquiring customers, dealing with suppliers, motivating his sales team.
Now he's telling his sales team to start blogging instead of working on lead generation.
Stop right there.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not pretending that Facebook doesn't matter.
It should be a part of your marketing plan.
Get people to 'Like' you and you can market your products to them.
We all get it.
But that doesn't mean you should drop everything else and forget about the fundamentals of direct response marketing.
You know, the way it was done before sites like Facebook and YouTube stepped on the scene.
Remember the days when people actually had time to read your sales materials...
your brochures...
your sales letters...
your kind correspondences? Why has the small business community forgotten it's roots? Just because 'branding' works for the Fortune 500s doesn't mean it will translate to hard cash for your business.
Facebook doesn't work for every business.
Direct response marketing does.
So I challenge you to step back and peel away all the hype surrounding sites like Facebook.
Study the direct response pros (dead or alive).
Because at the end of the day it isn't about getting someone you don't know to 'Like' you; it's about returning to the fundamentals.
It's hard to think of a Web site that has gotten this much attention, this much media publicity since the advent of the Internet.
I challenge you to go one day without seeing or hearing the word Facebook.
It is virtually impossible if you are in any way connected to the world.
Trust me...
I tried it.
Almost did it until some stupid commercial ruined my sample case study.
If you know where to look you will notice a grassroots movement stirring up in the small business community.
It is filled with discouraged and misinformed small business owners who feel cheated by the Facebook phenomenon.
It's not their fault...
entirely.
It's just that they have been misled by their marketing consultants, guys who are new to the scene and are riding on the coattails of social media sites.
Against their better judgment, these small business owners dumped large amounts of time to build an online presence on Facebook - and the return on investment has not equaled all the hype.
Here's a snippet of what Mr.
Marketer is telling Mr.
Small Business Owner: "Just wait.
It takes some time.
Trust me.
Look at your competition.
They all have a presence on Facebook.
You need one too.
" And consequently, Mr.
Small Business Owner gets detached from reality...
from doing what he does best...
making money, acquiring customers, dealing with suppliers, motivating his sales team.
Now he's telling his sales team to start blogging instead of working on lead generation.
Stop right there.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not pretending that Facebook doesn't matter.
It should be a part of your marketing plan.
Get people to 'Like' you and you can market your products to them.
We all get it.
But that doesn't mean you should drop everything else and forget about the fundamentals of direct response marketing.
You know, the way it was done before sites like Facebook and YouTube stepped on the scene.
Remember the days when people actually had time to read your sales materials...
your brochures...
your sales letters...
your kind correspondences? Why has the small business community forgotten it's roots? Just because 'branding' works for the Fortune 500s doesn't mean it will translate to hard cash for your business.
Facebook doesn't work for every business.
Direct response marketing does.
So I challenge you to step back and peel away all the hype surrounding sites like Facebook.
Study the direct response pros (dead or alive).
Because at the end of the day it isn't about getting someone you don't know to 'Like' you; it's about returning to the fundamentals.