Good sense tells us to not give it all away upfront. If you kiss on the first date, anticipation often fades, and there may never be a second date. It may get you into their fantasies, or even into their bed, but this will seldom get you into their hearts, where trust and loyalty thrive. I find it easy to apply this to concepts of marketing.

I really believe in giving away a lot of great ideas for free. Sharing useful thought is one of the best reasons to blog. In fact, there should be little wonder why some of the most popular blogs are popular. It is because they are giving away great information that people want.

A free sample is great, but can it go too far? I believe it can, and I think it is likely why there are so many people like my example of “Pete and The Amazing Pee-Pants Pizza Parlor” in my recent article titled “Marketing Clients vs. Crybaby Sissy Bed-Wetters“ who think marketing should be cheap … or free … and easy.

I know, you may be thinking to yourself, “Lighthouse Candles, Mark, really?” Yes, it is true that I am generally likely to write about something more exciting and manly, and include things like guns, race cars, and motorcycles. That is mostly because I draw things right out of my real life, and my life is manly. Don’t make me prove it!

Not this time, my friend. Today, I am taking “SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog” to a whole new level of lace pink pantie-waist and foo-foo good smelling stuff. Just go with it, because if I have my way, Lighthouse Candles will be researching gunpowder and locker room scented candles by day’s end.

If you are marketing something online, give me a moment to show you how to screw it all up. Since I know a lot of people shudder at all the sacrifices associated with marketing done well, I want to show you an example of how badly it can go wrong if you succumb to being shortsighted and misinformed.

This exemplifies so much of what is wrong with today’s Internet, and why Google keeps splitting skulls on worthless website owners. It shows a downward spiral of desperation of a car dealer, and a trend that is so widely followed in other businesses that it relieves me of wondering why companies suffer from dwindling market share.

This really should open your eyes if you are trying to take the quick and easy road to your SEO (search engine optimization) and social media marketing. If this example does not show the pitfalls of shortcuts and the benefits of playing by the rules, nothing will. I know that you will probably not finish reading this, but then, that is exactly the problem … shortcuts are popular. I made an audio version, in case that will help.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of your marketing efforts worked just exactly as planned? Just imagine how great it would be if every piece of marketing material that you put on the Internet or elsewhere was a smash hit. That would be amazing! You could cut your expenses, earn squillions of dollars, enjoy more leisure, and retire early.

Now rub your eyes, grab another cup of coffee, stop daydreaming, and get to work. This is the real world, and we welcome you to come back and join us.

Nobody is brilliant 100 percent of the time. Some people come closer than others, but none of us walk on moonbeams while tending to our herd of unicorns. It is just not going to happen, but that should not discourage you from trying.

What is more important than creating 100 percent brilliance is to keep trying and testing new things. Even the least glamorous of your marketing efforts can have some level of success. This is more important to remember on the Internet than any other place. If you are holding back your efforts because it doesn’t peg your spectacular-ometer, you will miss out on a lot of what makes your brand what it is. Like any brand, your brand is made up of people … people and their opinions. These people are not all the same, and even some of your bottom percentile marketing efforts will be appealing to some of them.

Car dealers are infamous for their marketing short-sightedness, so they make a great social media example. New and used car sales organizations live or die in short bursts of business, and it creates huge anxiety for them - but this is not just about car dealers. This principle applies to many industries. I’m just using our auto-peddling worst nightmare as an example so we can all relate.
In the auto dealer scenario, as with many other retail industries, the inventory is often financed using a “floor plan”, and if the inventory is not selling, the bank will make it very uncomfortable [...]