My Questions Regarding What I Want To Do Online

[Christine]

Instead of asking questions piece meal--I am going to explain what I would like to do online--along with any questions that I can currently think of--and let you decide if you want to answer me all at once--or bit by bit. (or even say "forget it--you're wasting your time") They are two separate things--so I will post them as two separate posts--okay?

As I mentioned in my answer to a few of your questions--I have written 7 Adobe Acrobat documents. "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was A Teenager", "What I Wish I Had Known In My 20's", "What I Wish I Had Known When I Got Married, (are you starting to see a theme here? LOL) "What I Wish I Had Known When I Was Trying To Have A Baby", "What I Wish I Had Known When I Had A Baby", "I'm So Sorry That You Had A Miscarriage", and "What I Wish I Had Known When I Bought My First House".

Now the teenager one is my favorite--and is also the only one that doesn't currently need editing. I attached the file to this post--just in case you want to read it.

It's also the hardest one to try and market--as I am far from being a teenager!!!!!

For months now I have been studying Jay Abraham's methods. (and am in one of his mentoring groups) This has greatly opened my eyes to the value of other people's email lists (and other things such as forums that reach a lot of people connected by a common interest)

So I would like to find a way to ask moderators (or whoever heads these particular groups up) if they would allow me to send a message regarding my documents to their group. (well most likely give the head of the group what I want to send--and have them actually be the one to send it) In exchange I would give them a percentage of any sales that I would receive.

The problem is--how do I send a message that will actually be opened? I am very willing to ask for permission first--even to groups that I've been a part of for a long time. But I am afraid that anything that I send will be simply labeled as spam and deleted.

This is especially problematic in groups that I have no business belonging to! (such as teenagers, people in their 20's, and even people trying to have a baby) I can't in good conscience join their group--so we have no way of getting to know each other before I bring the subject up.

I have found some teenage groups--and have even written an email that I was going to send them--but for some reason I haven't followed through with it.

My biggest problem is trying to figure out how to open a dialogue with people that doesn't scream "I am a salesman" and they just tune me out. Well maybe my biggest problem is that I'm not a salesman--I'm actually a leader. But anything that smacks of me being a salesman--I can't see myself actually doing (at least when push comes to shove)--and so therefore I don't do it!!!

But how can I get people to trust me at least long enough to hear what I have to say? I am a very honest person--and I truly don't want to make anything but win-win deals--but I also know that there are a lot of other people out there who aren't honest etc--and that it can be really tough to tell the difference! How can I help them tell the difference?

This turned out to be a much harder post to write than I expected--and I'm not even sure I said exactly what I wanted to--or least originally intended to say. But I'm going to stop now--and say it's at least a good beginning. (and hope that you agree)

I have been working on these documents for years now! So I'm not expecting a miracle answer from you! But I would very much like your input and opinion. And would also very much appreciate any help that you might be able to give me.

By the way--thank you so much for starting this group--and giving people like me a place to ask such questions!

take care,
Christine

[Kat]

Im not going to be able to answer you all at once today Christine. :-) Please bare with me and and I will get all of this addressed over the next few days. Fair enough? LOL

Now about getting your document to teenagers, what I would do is participate in parenting forums and show parents what value your document holds. Parents prefer to monitor the flow of information going to their teenagers anyway so rather then trying to fight it, go with it. Get the parents to pass it on. :-)

Any time you push against something, you are going to meet with resistance. However, if you go with it, then you can easily flow right to where you want to go. Think of a stream: do you want to go against the current or with the current?

I'll be back for the rest later. :-)
Happy Trails
Kat

[Christine]

That's a good point about parents wanting to monitor the flow of information going to their teenagers--I never thought of that! LOL

I did however think of parents of teenagers--in that maybe they could give it as a gift to their teenager. (because I know teenagers frequently feel that they know everything already) :)

Although I'm not a parent of a teenager either! So I don't quite fit in there (yet!) Although in parenting forums there are bound to be at least some parents of teenagers! Teenagers can be tough--well teenage girls anyway--LOL. I wouldn't want to be one again for ANYTHING!!! I don't know much about teenage boys on the other hand.

Thanks so much for getting back to me so fast. And remember I did say that it was fine if you got back to me bit by bit--and I'm still fine with that. (believe me I understand! LOL Especially as I haven't even finished my second post yet!)

You've certainly given me something to think about!

hugs,
Christine

[Kat]

Hey Christine :-)

Got a question for you... If being a salesperson is so distasteful for you, why are you looking so hard at salesperson tactics?

There is a very big difference between 'sales' and 'marketing.'

Sales is about closing the sale - making the deal - no matter what it takes...

Marketing is about educating an audience so that they can make their own decisions.

Since you just completed lesson 3 of my email course which was about profiles, I would suggest you start there. Use those spaces to express the essense of who you are and educate people about what you have to offer. Don't forget to post a link to your product so folks can easily purchase it.

From there, I would suggest wrting articles for the free article posting sites. Again don't forget to put a clear link to your product in your resource box. It would also be helpful if you used your blog space for more education about what you are wanting to promote. Articles in blogs work great!!

Also, in the beginning of the lessons of my email course, we had talked about sig files in posts. I haven't seen you do that yet. ;-) Since you are playing in many communities, you have the opportunity to post many sig files. Just make sure its ok with the forum owner and you can usually find that out through a 'posting guideline' document some where on the forum. In fact, many communities have it set up so that you can add your info in your back office and then your sig file will be posted automatically everytime you writing something in the forum.

This community encourages sig files... but doesn't have a system to automatically create one, so you would need to create it yourself at the end of each of your posts.

Another option is to go to google, yahoo or here at ning to create and run your own community for parents of teenagers or something like that. In your own community, your link to your product can be posted anywhere you like.

Use your imagination Christine and whatever you do, stay focused on helping people and it will all work out great!

Happy Marketing Trails
Kat

[Patricia Sanders]

Why don't you publish it?

You can do that yourself and have a book and sell it online and in bookstores..