I can picture it now, just like a scene from a movie. I'm in New York City, I jump into a taxi and shout, ?follow that bus?. The taxi screeches off as I as tell the driver how much I'll pay him to stay behind that bus. As author Jim Collins wrote in his book Good to Great, the bus represents a company who could have the right or wrong people on the bus.
As we know, the direction of the bus is less important than having the right people on the bus. Great companies can always change direction with the right people on the bus. When it comes to internet marketing and lead generation, if you follow the right buses, your campaigns will be heading in the right direction.
How do you find the right buses? Well, when it comes to internet traffic, it's easy. If you do great research, you will find the right buses. My point is that there are so many great companies on the net with massive traffic; you don't need to work too hard to find them. Do you Yahoo? Follow that bus. Now I'm not here to tell you whether or not Yahoo is a great bus in the same sense Jim Collins would relate.
I can tell you Yahoo has massive traffic, if you want to deliver your message in front of massive traffic, step up. Now, if you can't bank roll a Yahoo insertion order just yet, try a smaller ad network or publisher.
Which is better, a massive email list or massive traffic? Or Both? Well, yes, I say from experience, it is good to have both. However, what if you have neither? Sure, budding Internet marketers can reach Maven's status by leveraging effective web 2.0 strategies with social media. It's also no doubt; the right joint venture strategies could make your site buzz with traffic, if your offers get out to the right lists. Although, JV list deals where you mail mine and I'll mail yours tend to be the most sought after deals, these leave out any would be Mavens who have no list. Performance based list mailing on a JV basis can be a very low risk venture for more traffic.
The issue to consider is; are you willing to build your list with massive cross over to every JV partner offer you mail to your list? In part, their list becomes your list and likewise. The beauty of joint venturing your way to Maven status is, your marketing successes can become totally push button simple. Although, keep in mind, when there is massive cross over on a marketer's list, who only promotes through JV deals, the marketer has a bigger issue on their hands. Your marketing campaigns will always need to factor in the overhead cost of affiliates.
Now, I'm all for affiliate marketing, in fact, I love it. Just for a moment though, consider this, how would your numbers look if you didn't shave 50% off the top of your gross? Could you launch a product by putting your message in front of a massive amount of targeted traffic? Sure you could, most definitely if you took the correct steps in research, planning, testing, and optimization. My suggestion is purely to provoke a different kind of thought track. You don't need a massive budget or a massive list to have huge success. You can work your way of to having both by buying targeted traffic. The upside potential of scaling a campaign through buying targeted traffic is totally approachable by everyday internet marketers. Find the bus and follow it.
