Even though you use the web for marketing, it PAYS to periodically connect with “humans” offline e.g. via phone and face to face. BUT not with intent to sell. Doing so once got me invited – in May 2012 – as Guest Speaker at Yaba College of Technology’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture in Lagos.

Quite often, you’ll be better off connecting offline with people to boost your name recognition, and credibility as an authority at what you do.

I do this all the time, and every now and then, and it wins me the expected results. Sometimes it ends up winning me income earning opportunities even though I did not start out with that in mind.

The above is why I recommend mixing it up every once in a while. Don’t just stick with one way of doing things. Change things up after a while, and you may be pleasantly surprised by what happens.

Note however that you must truly go out with an honest intent to serve or help others. Really make up your mind that you WILL give of yourself without being bothered about whether or not those you give to, choose to reward you in any way.

I do not know what you do. But I offer an example of what I do, below, so you can use it as a basis of deciding how to go about doing it for yourself.

Yesterday, while waiting to meet with an old client who hired me to setup a blog on his website, with articles I’ve ghostwritten for him, I flipped through the pages of a popular newspaper, and came across a interesting column on using Email Signatures.

The author was a young lady, and she did a great job of it.

After reading it I checked the contact details she provided and noticed her office address was just a walking distance from my client’s office, in the Allen avenue area of Ikeja, in Lagos-Nigeria.

When I left my client’s office, just before making my way to Guaranty Trust bank, I stopped over at the address, and used the lift to reach the 4th floor she’d supplied.

However, it turned out that she was not around – the attendant at the serviced offices firm told me to try calling her on phone.

This morning, around 10:30a.m, I called and spoke with her on her mobile line. Our conversation went well, and she expressed an interest in getting to know more about me, and the ideas I proposed, which she found interesting.

I promised to send her URLs to a few resources, in an email later on.

Below are excerpts from that email, which I have now dispatched to the email address displayed on her column. I share them here to help any persons interested in adopting this strategy for their own purpose. If you need help getting started, click here to let me know..

Hi <name removed>,

It was great speaking with you earlier today.

Like I told you when I called, I believe VERY MANY business owners in our part of the world are shortchanging themselves in the way they use their online presence.

By this I mean NOT just their websites, but the other web based resources they periodically make use of in a bid to promote the products and services they offer.

Your write-up in the <newspaper name> in which you shared tips for using an Email Signature told me you possessed insights that indicated you would appreciate the bigger picture of web marketing that I paint for clients I work with.

As I said, I am NOT trying to sell anything.

Instead, my purpose for reaching out to you (and others I’ve connected with in the past) is to point out other complementary tools, techniques and strategies that can be used in an integrated self-sustaining manner to generate a continuous stream of quality pre qualified prospects/leads, that one can convert to buyers/sales.

To address your request for details about me, I’ve included links below to some of the generic resources I use in my work…

1. Below is a link to an article on my blog that offers prospects insights into what I mean by a Web Marketing System (WMS):

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/what-you-need-to-achieve-web-marketing-success-4-tips/

2. Click the link below to view a 2 page PDF that uses a mind map to provide an overview of who I am, and what I do – with links to related resources including a resume that describes my background from a past life over a decade ago, in paid employment.

http://tayosolagbade.com/uploads/WhoIsTKS.pdf

3. Here’s a link to a PDF speaker-one-sheet for a talk I’ve recently begun offering, following my observation that so many CEOs still do NOT get it:

http://tayosolagbade.com/uploads/wms-talks-offer.pdf

The contents of the PDF highlight additional ways I advocate more business marketing decision makers THINK, and ACT if they want to reduce their Cost Of Sales/Cost of Customer Acquisition (COCA) – which is a useful way to BOOST PROFITS without needing to raise prices of one’s products/services.

Okay, , that’s all I have…just my humble suggestions of possible perspectives you can adopt in informing and educating your readers to make more successful use of the web for their businesses.

As I noted when we spoke, I’m hoping you’ll find something useful in the materials relating to web marketing that I’ve referred you to, that may help you better articulate other ideas you decide to share with your column’s readers.

The results I get from using this approach, at zero cost, convince me many African business owners are denying themselves TOO MANY zero cost opportunities to make the most profitable use of the Internet access and websites they PAY good money for.

If you have any queries or need clarifications, let me know.

With kindest regards,

Tayo

PS:

a. By the way, I should add that I came up with most of my own ideas/concepts from YEARS of trial and error trying to apply what I learnt from studying some of the top web marketing minds in the world.

What I now call a Web Marketing System is the condensed version of what I found worked for me, as a business owner in Africa’s peculiar market, dealing with Africa’s peculiar buyers (whose web based buying behavour is VERY different from that of counterparts in developed markets/economies.)

To achieve the above, I had to become comfortable with BREAKING the rules and coming up with my own ways of getting the results I wanted. It is, for instance, why my signature is often VERY long (I have several signatures, for different target audiences).

I mention the above because of the tip you gave in your write-up, about the length of an email signature. The one I’ve used here is the generic version that goes out with ALL my website contact forms’ auto response messages.

b. Once again, I must emphasize that there are no strings attached to this offer of mine. I’m NOT trying to sell anything to you. You do NOT even need to mention me. What I hope to see is MORE information and education being given out to readers from informed columns like yours, so that more African businesses can get better results using PC and Internet technology.