It is not uncommon nowadays to hear someone say, “I do internet marketing“. It just seems that there are just plain too many of us out there! Nothing could be farther from the truth.

There are a LOT of MLM guys out there. Most have found the web a nice place to do their “work”.

I have nothing against MLM people, except for the fact that, even though they use Internet tools to market themselves, they really are not internet marketers. They are just pedaling whatever product they have through Multi Level structures. What’s even worse, A LOT of them are pushing “Secret Formulas” to success online where they sell an ebook or a training program to teach other people how to sell the same ebook. This is far from new, but it is becoming quite annoying.

As most internet marketers out there have found, if you publish yourself as an online marketer, you get more spammers and junk marketers than most people. It seems that saying you are an online marketer gives you a target sign online and all sorts of people that “do marketing” think they can just phone you up to offer their products to “teach” you how to market. Geez!

This guy here knows what I’m talking about:

Yes, that guy is phony, but that’s exactly how many people look like.

This is not to say that some people are following you because they honestly want to learn, others really are interested in seeing what you have to say and share their knowledge to find new ways to market or have real business ventures.

Another stigma online marketers are getting is of “pseudo home office workers”. While a big advantage of the web is that you get to do a lot of work anywhere you have a connection, it is by no means an easy job for the casual “easy money” hunter. Online marketing has many responsibilities and requires full commitment and determination to learn what you need too do. In fact, most expert marketers are specializing rather than just doing everything at once, and there is a reason for that. It is also a very good reason why you need to have a team of people working with you (as we have programmers, designers and other specialists).

Anyone can be a marketer, just like anyone can be a lawyer, doctor, mechanic, accountant or business administrator. Like all those professionals, you need to be willing to learn a lot and have to prove yourself with experience. How many business owners are ready to shell out cash to you so you can experiment on their business? Really, not many.

Are you a real marketer or just a wannabe “easy money” hunter?

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

This little update to my previous post is because I’ve been asked to clear my point about the Social media lesson. The reason for this blog to exist is to shed some light into the intricacies of the internet marketing world and hopefully, help someone with their own marketing efforts. My previous post had exactly that intention, although not very clearly defined.Even though the examples in the MSNBC.com article/gallery are extreme and mainly for fun and entertainment, the examples illustrate how the same social blunders of the real world affect the interactions in social media. Most people over-think social media strategies and forget about the simplest and most basic rules of social interaction, just to later wonder why the campaign is not flying as high as expected. Facebook, linkedin,

The lesson is: always follow the rules of social interaction. If you are not very adept in social interaction, most likely you will not be very apt for social media.

Hope this clarifies my previous post, if not, just let me know and I’ll be glad to go deeper into this subject.

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.