There are three stages of Internet marketing consciousness. Outlined below.

1. It’s All Bullshit
This is the stage where you don’t believe that anyone makes money online, and every “guru” is a scam-artist.

2. It’s Not For Me, But I Wish I Could Do It
This is the stage where you finally realize that not every “guru” is a scam-artist, and that they do in fact make a ton of money and help people. This is also the stage where you wish you could do what they do, but you can’t bring yourself to do it.

3. Let’s Just Make Some Money
This is the stage where you say to yourself… “My ego is stopping me from being successful.” You finally realize that most of your “organic” efforts to monetize have failed completely and you need to make some cash. So you start buying into the system. You create products, you start teaching, you put ads on your blog, etc… You “sell out” per say, and you realize it’s not a big deal because you’re helping people AND making money at the same time.

Sound familiar? Which stage are you in? And how long did it take you to get through each stage?

It’s interesting that this post from Copyblogger came out today about the ‘3 fatal diseases that kill good blogs‘. Why? Because I’m currently writing a book right now called ‘Attention!’ and one of the themes I’m working on in the book is…

This is a business, not a hobby.

Social media, blogging, email marketing, affiliate marketing, online PR, you name it… This is a business. We’re doing this to make money, or leads, or get publicity. Not for fun. Not for “friends”. Until you flip that switch in your head where you understand this, you’re going to continue to find it very hard to find success on the Internet.

From the Copyblogger post…

If you are serious about blogging, you need to treat your blog like a business. You are the CEO of You Inc., and you’ve got to weigh every single decision as if there were millions of dollars on the line. Yeah, it would be great to blog in your underwear and sleep in every morning, but the reality is that most of us can’t afford to do that.

Measure the day’s work in results, not in hours spent typing on Facebook or Twitter. Absolutely, fostering relationships is important, but every action needs to be treated as an investment of your time.

This is especially important if you are a solo blogger, as there is only so much work that you can get done in a day. You’ve got to be efficient with your time. This means measured action and measured results — not just going with the flow.

I wrote the first eBook about how to make money from blogging back in 2004 called Blogs To Riches. When I wrote it and released it, I was getting hate mail from people saying things like “You shouldn’t use blogs to make money you jerk” and “You’re ruining the Internet, F#$% you”. These people didn’t believe that blogging was a business, or could be.

Of course, a few years later people like Problogger came on the scene and proved that you could buy a house with the money you make blogging. Now, today, we all realize that blogging is in fact a great way to do business. Yet, still so many of us treat it as a hobby still.

Here’s why. Because “regular people” are the people who start blogs. They’re not marketers. They’re not entrepreneurs. They are people who have a passion about something and they want to share that passion with the rest of the world without having a gatekeeper tell them they can’t.

But things are changing, yes they are. We’re no longer bloggers anymore, we’re “publishers”. The majority of people don’t start blogs anymore just to waste time. They want something out of it. It may not be money they want. It may be fame. Whatever it is, they want something for their effort, and that makes them a publisher.

What happened to me in 2004 is the same thing that is happening now to social media. We’re all being told we shouldn’t try to make money with social media. It’s pure, they say. Leave it alone, you’ll ruin it.

This is ALL a business, not a hobby.

Today I spoke to a chamber of commerce group in Westlake, Ohio about how small business owners can generate more sales, leads and publicity. If you are at all interested in learning how I and many others spend absolutely nothing on advertising and how we generate success online… you need to watch.

Below is the video. I start speaking a few minutes in.

I like to review books I read. You can see all of them here. If you’d like me to review you book, contact me.

Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts! is one of the best marketing, wait, it IS the best marketing book I’ve ever read. I could go on and on… Well, just watch the video.

The Perfection of Marketing puts you in the room with James Connor, a leading brand expert to hear the exact advice he’s given to over 200 CEOs on the most efficient methods to build their brand and increase marketing ROI. Culminating from 12 years of work, these best practices are battle tested for small and midsized businesses. This practical guide gives you the detailed playbook run by The James Group, a brand strategy and full-service advertising agency in New York City, which has made more money for 95% of their clients. Skillfully written in narrative style, this book is a must have for any CEO who wants to grow a company through marketing. With a summary and key questions at the end of each chapter, The Perfection of Marketing provides a clear path to marketing success.

The Perfection of Marketing

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the psychology of the typical American citizen in this poor economy and trying times. Why? Because I’m a marketing and sales person and it’s my job to understand why people buy things. Plus, it fascinates me.

Why “Shock Jocks” Aren’t Selling Anymore…
You remember Howard Stern right? He quickly became irrelevant when he moved to Sirius satellite radio. Out of sight, out of mind, right? It makes sense. Less listeners = less relevance to the mainstream of which read newspapers, watch television, etc…

But if Howard were to come back today on “free” radio or podcasts… would he be as popular? I argue the answer to that is no. The days of the “shock jock” are gone. For one, there’s too much noise out there in smaller silo’s for him to compete in. And two, it’s clear to me that American’s (all I can speak for) have moved beyond “being shocked” and entered into a different state of media awareness. In other words… I think the Internet made us smart enough to know that shock jocks (or similar types of people) are boring anymore.

When I said The A-list was dead, I believe that applied to people like Howard Stern too.

Look at what Gary Vaynerchuk did to Howard Stern. Gary is dead-on right. Howard Stern is frightened to death about the state of things nowadays. We don’t need him anymore. Watch video below.

Why Snuggies Are Selling?…
You’ve seen the Snuggie right? It’s that half blanker/half backwards robe you put on and lay on your couch in? It’s becoming a huge seller and spurring many creative spoofs and marketing/community campaigns.

But why is it selling? Why are American’s dishing out $19.95 for this product?

I think of a Snuggie as a cocoon. A kind of warm, safe, item that gives me comfort. I can put it on and sit on my couch and watch television and forget about the problems of the world. In today’s economic crisis, that makes sense, no?

What’s the Point Jim?
The point of all this is to understand why people buy, and why they don’t. And more importantly, for you to understand how to position your product/service into the current times as the emotional level of buyers changes over time.

That’s really what selling is all about. Emotion. That’s why we buy at the core level. That’s what excellent marketing invokes in you to make a purchase.

All you have to do is visit my site at InternetHalftimeShow.com and watch the video, answer three easy questions and then tune in during halftime for the live show.

Do NOT miss this podcast. Andy Sernovitz (THE mast of word of mouth) from Gaspedal.com gives some unbelievable advice about how anyone can get started with word of mouth marketing.

Buy Andy’s Book at Amazon.

We talk about what WOM is and how anyone can do it, with examples of how real companies are doing it every day, and get this… with no real money spent! Andy gives two major things that you need to know about WOM. Huge tips that will make you start thinking right away.

Consider this: “Never let anyone walk out the door without something to share”. Think about that for a second. Are you letting the WOM get away from you?

Oh yeah, be on the watch here on this blog for some free copies of Andy’s book!

Here are the show notes:

What is word of mouth marketing?
How to get started?
Who’s gonna talk about my stuff? How do I make it easier for them to share it?
Identify the talkers.
Offline wom principles, never let anyone walk out the door without something to share.
(examples: bloomingdales big brown bag)
Send everyone back to office with 6 extra desserts, they’ll talk about it.
Email is a huge part of wom.
Emotional reasons wom works. Does it make me feel good? Does it make me look smart?
Makes me feel important (give away discount code).
Fun gets forwarded.
Potbelly restaurant sent coupon for 10 free sandwiches to old customer to giveaway.
Freshbook invoices, hosted dinners for travelers in every city.

Today I chatted with associate Marty Fahncke, who is a consultant and electronic marketing expert who I’ve known for a few years. We talk about the “web biz” and Marty provides some excellent tips and strategies he uses to be successful for himself and his clients.

One really neat thing is that Marty has been working with famous artist Thomas Kinkade to help him sell his works online.

Our discussion revolves around retail online sales and why people buy or don’t buy. We also talk about how to use social media channels to promote a brand for sales. Lastly, we discuss Twitter some more and how we both use it.

With over 18 years of experience in sales & marketing, Marty has been involved in campaigns responsible for nearly $1 BILLION in revenue. With experience in direct sales, sales management, marketing, product acquisition, infomercials, e-commerce, and international marketing, you are assured of receiving high quality, professional services that will grow your business.

Shmuly gets it. He’s taken a traditional piece of Jewish headdress called the Kippah and combined it with current trends, in this case the Presidential election here in the USA. Check out his product at VanityKippah.com. Pretty smart.

In this video I talk more about how smart marketers like Shmuly know to take their product or service and combine it with current events or trends to make more sales and get publicity. It works. You can do it too.

Take a moment and think about how your product or service relates to what’s hot right now. Sports (the Olympics?), entertainment, politics? You get the point. Now make the connection and do something creative. The press will eat it up.

Click To Play

Music on video from http://cantorgottesman.com/chazzan-first-cd.htm