Social Media Marketing System Costs; pt 5

Technorati Tags: Social Media Marketing System,Brian Campbell,John Chow,business strategy,hidden costs,credibility,niche,product,marketing strategy,spam,store front,hosting services,domain,credit cards

Over the past four articles we reviewed Brian Campbell’s path to making $10,000 in just a few weeks, how he created buzz with a review by John Chow, how the buzz grew at virally to unimagined proportions, how the Social Media Marketing System was borne, and now, lets hit the bottom line. How much are the hidden expenses of an online business?

The answer to that question depends on your business strategy. What do you want to achieve? How fast? How will you go about it? What tools do you need? Lets start with something simple, you need:

a. Credentials…

    1. Your credibility depends on what you have being doing up until now. If the     only thing you have on your website, or profile are pictures of last weekend party,     and of you throwing up, you have a hard road ahead of you. We will discus how to     go about fixing your persona on another article.

b. Niche…

    1. You need to specialize in a particular area. Otherwise, you will be a Jack of all     trades and master of none. It is ok to refine your target as you go, but you will     need to know sooner than later if you want to go about creating a site about     education, golf, party, science, archeology, politics, or what.

c. Product…

    1. Will you be selling a service, or a tangible product? Will it be golf clubs,     memberships to a club, information, an e book, coaching… You need to know     this because you should be able to see how much your product cost to produce,     fixed expenses like storage, shipping, postage, handling, etc…

d. Marketing strategy…

    1. Will you use word of mouth? Will you buy advertising? Do you have the know     how to do everything yourself or will you need coaching? How will you create     buzz? Do you want to find a joint venture partner and pay him or her to create the     buzz for you? Will you do radio or TV? Magazine ads perhaps? Do you own a list     of potential customers? Remember that spamming is against the law. My best     suggestion is to get a list of double opt in leads. You will need an auto responder.     I suggest Aweber.com.

e. Store front…

    1. Many Internet Hosting Services will provide you with a store front, and will     help you set up a business account somewhere. As you grow, Pay Pal will not be     enough. You will need to be able to accept credit cards. Your store front can be     your website. Will you have a blog (highly recommended). This cost money. You     will need a domain name or several, be ready to pay at least a year in advance. It     will be cheaper, and you will be able to snatch the domain name that you like right     away. If you don’t, many domain providers will keep the information or the     proposed name and if you do not buy it, next time that you go and check, the     domain will be unavailable unless you pay a hefty premium.

What have I forgotten? Let me know and give us your opinions…  What are your questions?

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