Archives for February 2018

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk with a friend who has been considering enrolling in a course for more than a year.

Personally, I think that is one of the worst mistakes you can make.

Especially if we take into account that the course he wasconsidering to take lasts 8 weeks.

The only way to know if something is going to help you or not is to do it

The truth is that my friend will never be totally sure if the course will help him unless he enrolls in it.

In my opinion, it all depends on the effort that you invest and how commited you are to your success.

The issue is that not learning or not giving yourself the chance to have the experience of the course is much worse than the possibility that the course does not meet your expectations.

But even worse, is living through a whole year with the question of whether to take the course or not.

In case you didn’t know, I really enjoy teaching others

I discovered this a bit by accident almost 18 years ago, when I started teaching children and adults how to use computers and the Internet.

I have had the opportunity to teach 3 generations and the lessons I have learned are huge.

Although it is hard to believe, 18 years ago, these people already felt that they were falling behind with technology and wanted to learn.

The age differences went from one extreme to the other.

Some were more afraid than others.

The important thing is that despite their fear, they made the decision to seek help and learn.

I myself have had similar experiences inside and outside of work.

What I have learned is how important it is to ask for help when we have the feeling that something is preventing us from moving forward.

What’s important is to understand that the faster we do something about it, the faster you will overcome the obstacle.

Of course, we will never know for sure if anything is worthwhile until we do it.

How to overcome the fear of learning online marketing (3 steps to get you started)

So, what should you do?

1. Ask for Help

One of the worst decisions you can make is to try to do it alone.

The most important thing is to find a simple way to learn with which you feel comfortable. You achieve this by enrolling in a course or hiring someone who already has done what you want to do.

2. Clear vision of your goals

Clarify what your goals are, what is it that you need to do and more importantly how are going to measure your results.

18 years ago, each of my students had totally different goals.

They were not always totally clear on how to achieve them.

Part of my work at that time was to show them in practical and easy to understand way how they could learn to use the Internet and the computer to achieve their goals.

Before continuing with step 3, I want to share an infographic that illustrates: How to overcome the of fear of learning online marketing (3 steps to start today).

3. Replace fear with action

I know this is easier said than done.

The longer you let fear inside you, the more it grows and the more it paralyzes you.

That’s why it’s so important to take baby steps that let you get closer to your goals.

The more steps you take, the more progress you will make and it will allow you to leave fear behind.

Conclusion
Remember everything is relative, 18 years ago, my students felt that they could not keep up with new technology.

I am sure that today, there are people that feel the same way.

And in 5 years, there will still be people who will be overwhelmed by new technology.

The key is to understand that it’s never too late to learn.

The quicker you make the decision, the quicker you overcome the fear.

What’s important is that you don’t spend the next 5 years feeling that you can’t keep up with technology 🙂

I am sure that the last thing you want for your business is to make online marketing mistakes that drive clients away.

Nevertheless, we sometimes make these mistakes.

When I blog, I try my best to keep it positive and focus on the lessons.

I recently had a negative experience, and I will share it with you because of the lessons that we can all learn from it.

It happened at an auto dealer.

The reason I was there was to change my car.

I can tell you that when I am happy with a car or any purchase in general, I don’t like to make changes.

In other words, when I have a good experience I become a loyal client.

We have been going to the same dealer for approximately 10 years.

We also know the people that work in the service department and that makes the experience even better.

This time, things did not turn out as expected

I realized that the way business is conducted in the automobile industry hasn’t evolved with the times.

The good thing about the bad experience is that now, every time there is a problem in the sales process or acquisition of clients, I can identify it clearly.

That is why I thought it was important to write about the lessons and mistakes you should avoid.

Sometimes, these situations exist in our business and we have no knowledge or clarity on how to identify them.

3 Online marketing mistakes that drive your clients away (and that you can easily overcome)

1. Not becoming committed to your content

From my experience, the car dealer used website content to attract the public to his dealership.

Once they had me and my husband sitting in their offices, they told us we could not believe all the information we saw on the website or in general on the Internet.

You can imagine our surprise at this statement.

Obviously, from that moment on, the communication process was shattered.

What you should do

If you include information about a promotion on your website, you need to honor it and make sure that the dates the promotion is valid are clearly visible.

2. Not knowing how to put yourself in your client’s shoes

As we still could not believe what we were hearing, we decided to share the pages we had printed, where one could clearly read the information we had seen on the website.

The salesman started to laugh when he saw we had printed the offers from their website and repeated that we should never believe the offers we saw on the Internet.

He went on to explain that the car described on that offer did not exist.

In his words “it’s like if that car had not engine”

My confidence vanished as of that moment.

What you should do

Mutual respect must be an integral part of the conversation. The better we listen, the better the possibility to connect with our client.

3. Not being considerate of the client’s time

A good part of the negotiation process for the purchase or lease of a car is dedicated to wasting hours of your time simply waiting for the salesman and his supervisor to make magic with the numbers.

This exhausting method is irritating for the buyer and inefficient for the business, as it limits how many clients the business can see each day.

After losing our time and deciding that our business was going to another dealership and another brand, things went much better.

What you should do

Time is the most important resource in your business as well as for your client. Therefore, you have to think how you can improve your client’s experience.

I created an infographic that includes the 3 Online marketing mistakes that drive clients away (and that you can easily overcome)

Please assign the infographics to Netklik.com or use the embed code I have included.

Maybe the worse part is to realize that our story isn’t special or original.

After listening to the experience of many others, we came to the conclusion that the problem is bigger and goes beyond just a bad experience.

The good news is that we learned from this event, and our second attempt went much better than expected.

The salesman that sold us the car explained to us that his boss always says
our dealership is not a Museum”.

This means that the cars are there no only to be admired but to be sold.

This phrase speaks very well for the dealer’s management, as in an easy way it communicates the business’ philosophy.

Now is your turn, the first step to avoid scaring your clients is to treat your public as you would like to be treated.