Need help and advice. I am one of the people that have bought a ton of courses, books, you name it, on internet marketing - and did nothing with it to date.
Life has handed me a ton of lemons and I have been busy SQUEEZING lemons,
but not making online lemonade.
Internet marketing was always put on the back burner.
Following both this board and the marketing board, and re-reading Cory’s course on internet marketing, (which I bought in ‘99), along with some physical limitations,
I desperately want to take my business online….…but
I am overwhelmed with conflicting questions at the moment….
So, PLEASE HELP! I know what I NEED (as far as technology and a system)
But what I don’t know is the legalities and the BUSINESS SENSE of what I want
to do. Here in Pennsylvania, our Staples hold business expos every week
The persons who give these seminars appear to be internet savvy.
When they hear of MY business, they tell me to stay off the internet and stay with
traditional marketing, and use the internet ONLY for contact with current customers.
To do otherwise, they tell me, is business suicide. (due to copyright theft)
What do I do, you ask? I write.
I am not an established “Writer” per se’, but I write poetry
which I attach to angels, make bookmarks with and magnets out of.
I market them at art and craft shows every weekend, and have them in small
Hallmark stores and businesses in several states. Also do home parties.
Word of mouth customers are significant.
Customers love the poetry. It seems that whatever medium I chose to attach the poetry to, is really insignificant. My customers are buying the poetry
and always giving me new ideas. To date, I have over 350 poems.
And…I want to market the poems ONLINE so I won’t have to be dependent on doing
shows each and every weekend. I want to grow my POETRY business but I do not enjoy the crafting of the items anymore and want to get away from the sewing machine.
Considered doing a series of booklets and/or CD of poems put in categories but of
course, this is where the Staples experts tell me I am crazy! I think there may be a market for it, with so many people doing their own greeting cards, and crafters looking for cute “extras” to put on items they make. Staples tells me I would be giving my business away, and after so many are sold via the internet, (and consequently stolen, copied, and plagiarized) I would have single handedly destroyed the main part of my business.
Part of me thinks this is LIMITED thinking, and the other part of me screams to just
keep plugging along, working much harder than I can handle, because it’s safe.
Would really appreciate any advice, thoughts, or opinions on this matter.