Fishbowling - The Art of Internet Marketing

It seems that everywhere I turn, someone is talking about foreclosures.  In my area, SoCal, the foreclosure rate is rapidly rising.

Thanks to an unprecedented rise in real estate prices, many people jumped into the market, buying homes that were really out of their price range if not for the mortgage companies engineering loan packages that these people could qualify for.  This has led to a large number of mortgage defaults in SoCal and the previously mentioned rise in foreclosures.  

In the next week or so, I will have a report in my hands that details the dangers of buying foreclosures — things you need to look out for so you don’t lose your entire investment.  I have the rough draft in my hands and it is absolutely terrifc information.  It talks about things I hadn’t thought about when I bought my home.  I can’t wait until the report is finished and polished off.

It’s a definite read for anyone who is interested in foreclosure investing and best part yet, I am going to be able to offer it for FREE to anyone who is subscribed to my Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter Blasts!

So register now if you are not on my list yet -  you don’t want to miss an opportunity to get this powerful information.

To living your dreams,

Chuck Yockey 

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my FREE !
Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter Blasts yet, you
are really missing out on some awesome marketing tips.

Sign up today!

I mentioned in my previous post about how a fast food restaurant collects business cards from customers who are trying to win a free meal. I also mentioned that I have entered many of these “fishbowl” contests and not remembering if I ever won one.

Now I don’t exactly know how many times I have dropped my business card into fishbowls but I will tell you this, not once have I ever been marketed by a local restaurant where I dropped my business card to enter a free meal drawing.  Now I have filled out slips of paper at Daphne’s Greek Restaurant and Boudin’s Sourdough Bakery and they have marketed to me.  Also, I have entered my personal information directly online to Cold Stone and a couple of other restaurants and other businesses that have all marketed to me.  Entering your information online into their database made it easy for them to market me.  There’s a tip!

The point here is, that it seems the smaller businesses have done nothing to market me. It would appear, at least as my assumption, that if they aren’t marketing to me, that they aren’t marketing to anyone else also.  If this is the case, they are missing a huge opportunity.  Myself and other customers willingly gave our personal information to these businesses.

If you have the customer’s information and you are not marketing them at all, you are really making a big mistake.  Send a flyer or send an email to announce a sale, to introduce a new product, to tell your customers of any new changes and why they should come to visit you.  Just send along an email to say hi and tell your customers how much you appreciate them.  Go old school and call them on the telephone.  Remember, business is all about relationships.  People buy from people and businesses they like and trust.  You build relationships and trust with regular communication.

Do something - anything!

To living your dreams,

Chuck Yockey

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my FREE !
Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter Blasts yet, you
are really missing out on some awesome marketing tips.

Sign up today!

Have you ever walked into a fast food restaurant or a business where they have put a fishbowl on the counter.  Attached to the fishbowl with a piece of old tape is a sign that reads something like “drop your card in for a drawing for a free lunch”.  I’m sure many of you are like I am and you’ll drop your business card in the bowl for a free lunch or dinner or dessert especially if it’s at a place you like to eat at.  So, I have dropped my cards into quite a few fishbowls and I don’t remember ever winning anything :( 

Let’s look at exactly what is going on with the fishbowl marketing technique.  The business owner is offering something of value in exchange for information — a meal or something to capture a name, an address, a phone number and an email.  Most business cards today have at the minimum this information.  That’s a lot of information from the customer in exchange for a chance, probably slim chance, of winning a sandwich.

Actually, it’s quite remarkable that the business owner can get this information for so little.  Don’t think so? Then take this into consideration.  Have you ever clicked on a hyperlink and wound up at a sales page where they will give you a free eBook, or report or something of perceived value (did I say perceived?) and all they ask you for is your first name and email.  Why is it that they ask for so little? Because they are scared you will run away if they ask you for more information.  They feel it’s pretty harmless to get only your first name and email address.

Why then can the restaurant owner ask for so much more?  Because he isn’t worried about you not dropping your card into the fishbowl.  You drop it in or you don’t — either way  — you are already in his store.  You have an existing relationship, even if it’s only for the length of your visit or how long it takes for you to get your food at the counter, etc. 

This is the exact attitude that you can use if you have a business website and you have traffic coming to you.  If they are already in your website (store), why not get as much information as possible from a visitor.  Offer them something of value, a coupon, a discount, a free widget, a free sample, etc in exchange for some information.  Don’t hold back.  Give them a form to fill out that has the same information that is on their business card.  Use a form with that has boxes for some “required” information such as first and last name, email address, and phone number.  Coax them to give you their mailing address so you can send them coupons or info on the next sale, etc.  When they click on something they want that you have offered to them, you can definitely capture the information that you want at that time by using a squeeze page. 

Don’t worry that you are asking for too much — they are already in your store.  People are willing to drop their business card loaded with marketing information into a plastic fishbowl on a whim not really expecting to win the free meal or whatever.  Don’t be afraid to ask visitors to your website for the same information.  If they are truly interested in your website (store), they will happily part with their info.

To living your dreams,
 

Chuck Yockey 

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my FREE !
Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter Blasts yet, you
are really missing out on some awesome marketing tips.

 Sign up today!

Fishbowling can’t be found in a dictionary, at least how I define the word.  It’s a term I use to describe a marketing technique where you collect the customer’s information and use it to create a marketing program to drive revenues for your business.   The most simplest form of fishbowling is when someone drops their business card into a fishbowl at a fast food restaurant for a drawing for free meal.  The restaurant collects the personal information of the customer to market them later.  Is it predecessor to Internet marketing.

I know this concept is not unique, however, I will be introducing my own “spin” on the concept and commenting on what I have learned about online (Internet) marketing and offline marketing that has created over a million dollars of additional revenues for my business in the last couple of years.

Some of what I have done requires specialized knowledge, but if it most of it can be duplicated by anyone willing to step up and follow through.  That’s really the key to making most things work — it’s the extra 10% — going a little beyond what anyone else (your competition) is willing to do.

While the blog will be informative, helpful (at least I believe so) and hopefully interactive by people leaving comments for me and others to read,  there will be active marketing going on.  You will see and read actual marketing posts I use to drive traffic and revenues using the Internet as the foundation for my marketing.

To be successful at anything and more importantly in your own traditional, online or Internet marketing business it all boils down to education, mindset, effort, and some will say luck. Maybe I have had some luck, but I believe luck can be created by working hard and being on the lookout for opportunity and being ready to accept that opportunity. 

I hope as you read this blog, that you learn from the things I have done right and learn more from the things I have done wrong so you don’t duplicate my mistakes.  I wish you “luck” in your endeavors while remembering that you can create your own luck through hard work.

To living your dreams,

Chuck Yockey 

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my FREE !
Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter Blasts yet, you
are really missing out on some awesome marketing tips.

Sign up today!