Sometimes the best place to catch fish is not the easiest place to reach!

Growing up, I had the very special pleasure of spending a lot of time with my grandfather. I loved being around him, copy-catting everything he did. It wasn’t always obvious at the time, but there were also lots of important life lessons shared walking through the garden or learning to skip rocks. One of them seemed so simple to him at the time and yet so baffling to me. He said, “If you want to catch some fish, you have to fish where the fish are.”

How the heck am I supposed to know where the fish are?
It just seemed natural to him that fishing where the fish were was what you were supposed to do. And now with some, um, “experience” under my belt, makes sense to me too. But how do you know where they are.

You get the best rod and reel you can afford, the best looking bait and find the most comfortable spot on the bank to spend the afternoon. You cast and cast, over and over without even a nibble. Why?

Sometimes marketing your business can feel a lot like fishing where there aren’t any fish! You invest tons of time and money to have a beautiful web site built, buy all the bells and whistles you’re supposed to and park it with a wonderful web host. Maybe you even hire someone to handle your “social media marketing”… then sit back and wait. Do you see the problem?

Fish Where the Fish Are
Every business has a perfect customer. Customer who are perfectly suited for your product or service, who have the capacity to purchase and benefit from what you have to offer. And its pretty likely that they are online, somewhere. So why aren’t they nibbling on your hook? Because your hook is in the wrong place.

Niche networks of people form and grow everyday both on-line and off-line. The trick for the savvy business owner is to find these niches and tap into their collective conscience. How? I’m glad you asked.

The Secret Sauce for Finding Customers On-line
It really is as simple as one little word. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on market research. You don’t need a high priced SEO Expert soaking six months of your hard earned cash out of your business. You only need to do one thing to find customers on-line.

That’s right, just listen. They are already out there, talking about their problem, telling you exactly what you need to do to win their business. All you have to do is listen, help them discover you and your product, then solve their need.

Volumes can be written (and I’ll probably write a few of them pretty soon) about where to listen and how, but let me start you off with this simple suggestion.

Even if you don’t have a Twitter acount, go to http://search.twitter.com (opens a new window). In the search box, type in a statement or question your ideal customer will utter. Here are some examples:

• If you run a road-side assistance business, search for “flat tire”
• Dentist? Search for “my tooth hurts” or “tooth ache”
• HR Consultants can search for “fire one of my employees”
• Chiropractors should look for “my back hurts near:(your zip code here)”

These are just some suggestions, use them to get ideas on how to search for what your customers are saying. Use what you hear to help you formulate a message that will resonate with them, answer their compelling desires and urgent needs.

Listen to what they are saying, and you will already be ahead of the rest of your market that is still busy yelling at the same potential customers you are getting ready to respond to!

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I’ve long been a proponent of the idea that social media marketing, or trying to make sales through “the social media channel” is a beyond a waste of time… it is driving potential business away, never to return. And for everyone’s sanity, including my own, I still feel that way! This past weekend at BarCamp Memphis, I had the opportunity to have some extended discussions that included this very topic. One blog owner was very concerned about having any advertising on their site saying they had made a huge investment gaining the trust of their readership and didn’t want to risk that by selling ads. At the same time, there has to be a viable revenue model or many sites, including some pretty popular ones, will not be able to continue. Well, maybe there is a way…

While reading my way through the feed reader today, I came across a post at Rod Kirby’s Success Center entitled Has Social Media Marketing Changed the Online Sales Landscape? Rod is pretty good about throwing excellent questions out there and this one is no different. And it was while I was reading this post that a possible answer to the social trust / need for revenue delima came to me.

Don’t Hide It… Flaunt It
The metaphors are flooding in at the moment but lets see if I can get this right anyway. We become so concerned with “what will our audience thing” that we forget a pretty important fact… we can talk to them! One blogger that I know recently shared with his audience that he was struggling with revenue, to which he received several comments saying, “we never knew.”

One of the key elements in trust is transparency, which shows off the good and the bad. We usually try really hard to hid the bad when in fact a little more openness about what’s going on could go a long way! So if you have a revenue need, don’t tip-toe around it… put it out there.

“We’ve resisted selling ad space in the past because we value the trust you’ve put in us and don’t want to risk compromising that. The realities of this site however tell us daily we need income, and short of asking for donations, ads is the best way to create revenue.”

Who knows, your audience may be able to help… if they just know of your need.

Select Advertisers With Your Audience In Mind
When we finally do break down and start looking for advertising, we’ll often take whatever we can get. Instead of throwing up ads (or affiliate links!) for the first advertiser that will let you, be more selective. Be the gatekeeper for your audience.

You’ve obviously spent a great deal of time building the trust of your followers, that’s what got this conversation started. Just because you need revenue doesn’t mean you have to violate that trust. In fact, you should guard it even more closely. Choose ads and affiliate that add value to your audience. If you have a local site, deliver coupons to local retailers. If you’re a foodie, free recipes from advertisers (which feature their products of course) will work well. If you cater to the t-shirt and jeans crowd, hawk Busted Tees or make your own products with Zazzle! Whatever you choose, just be sure to do it with your audience in mind!

So Why Do I Think This Will Work
Well, simple actually. Because you’re not taking advantage of your network. The people who visit, that have put their trust in you do not want to be blindsided by spam email, spam posts, or spammy tweets. They follow your site for a reason and, presumably, they like it. If you’re honest with them and tell them why you take ads, most will understand, maybe even help out. If you honestly try to deliver quality products that fit with your audience, any backlash should be minimal and the revenue should start, maybe slowly, but it will start.

What Do You Think?
Ok, there it is… so tell me… am I full of it? Do you think this will work? As a patron of other blogs and sites, how would you react to this kind of development on your favorite web venue? Join the conversation in the comments below and let us know your perspective!

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Confirmed Internet junkie, blogger, and marketer pursuing the digital nomad lifestyle. Oh, and I LOVE a good debate, Shiner, and my Bride!

Enjoy,

 @jtrigsby

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First, what exactly does it mean that Facebook is exposing their user-contributed data to developers? Well, mainly it means that there is about to be an explosion of apps that interface with and make use of Facebook data, not the least of which will be the messaging available on “The Wall.”

Marketing folks, especially Internet marketers, have been salivating over the thought of having unfettered access to Facebook user data. Just think, not only do I know who you are and what you like and where you live and etc, etc… but I know it about all your friends too! AWESOME!

So, is this going to be another backlash like the Facebook terms of use update a few weeks back? I’m not really sure, I kinda think the terms of use update was aimed at making this possible. I think that the real power of this new avenue into Facebook user-contributed data will manifest itself outside Facebook. Kinda the same way the impact of AOL email manifested itself outside of AOL. Yeah, they made it available and easy to use for the masses, but that just opened the door to a whole new world of possibilities.

I think the AOL example is important for Facebook in another way too. Yes, AOL did really well for a while and made TRUCK LOADS of money, and now look at them. They got way too happy with themselves and worked their way right out of a job. Could the same thing happen with Facebook? Maybe, the scary thing is we don’t even know what we don’t know yet!

Look for mergers too… or at least some way to mash up all your feeds that’s better than anything we have today. I’m a HUGE fan of TweetDeck, in fact its open right now as it is almost all the time. Now that I can send and receive Facebook updates in TweetDeck, I don’t got to Facebook nearly as often…and I can’t tell you the last time I was on the Twitter site. Add to that FriendFeed and all the numerous knock-offs and you simply have too many status update like feeds to keep up with. Something has to give.

Anyway, look for lots of news out about Facebook tomorrow, April 27th and if you’re a Facebook fanatic, watch closely!

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