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Drives Me crazy.
Many marketers today do NOT let people really know what their true intentionsare.Case in point: I get a call from someone asking me to possibly help them withtheir 
social media strategies
. I have a particular consulting focus and it waswithin that focus and I said that we should discuss it.Well…about 3 minutes into it, they start pitching me on a PPC program that Iknow is not that good. And they pitched…and pitched..and pitched. Finally, I said,“
Why didn’t you from the beginning just try and sell me this versus wasting my time with a bait and switch?” 
THAT would be refreshing.
Follow Doug on Twitter 
On the other hand, I received an email recently about a service that actually gavea couple of things about it that may not be what I need and was upfront about it.It did not put the product down, but simply said that these features may not benecessary for you. I thought that was refreshing. And the person also said thatthey were an affiliate with the company with full disclosure. They would make aprofit from it and wanted me to know. Wow! Now THAT was Rocking Hot! Ibought the service and like it very much. And the reason I purchased it?The person was transparent and REAL.People are looking for REAL people today in
New Marketing
. They are tired of the hacks out there that are simply hiding their real intentions and focus andcreating a bait and switch.What about you? Do you have a transparent focus and actions when you aremarketing? Why should you bother? First off, it is part of the
Social Media
culture, whether f acebookor twitter.But it is also just integrity, which many folks seem to be lacking.Transparency is a GREAT Success tool for marketers. It can help you in threepowerful ways:
1) It builds immediate Trust and Connection.
 
People like people who are upfront and say what the true deal is. They respectthe person that fully discloses that they are a part of something, or on a board, or own part of something. I have seen this many times with people likeChrisBrogan,Scott Monty, and Valeria Maltoni. If you want to really get a person’s attention, then become totally transparent andshow you have nothing to hide- you believe that much in what your messagesays and what your product does. You will see a great impact on your efforts andfuture customers and business.
2) It shows that you are are operating in full Integrity, not just part.
Integrity in
Social Media
is everything. I have noticed in
Internet marketing
,which we do a LOT of, it seems to be somewhat lacking with some people.Social Media seems to be different. Integrity seems to be more of a focus.That is HOT! Because no matter what people say, they want Integrity from theperson they are doing business with, reading,listening to, or watching. Integrityalso has an amazing impact on your BRANDING. If you get known to be aperson of integrity, your brand will increase dramatically out in the marketplace.Become transparent- and you will be known and Branded for your integrity.
3) People are DRAWN TOWARDS what they perceive as OPENESS andTruth.
That is all transparency is in marketing- a MAGNET. Transparency draws peopletowards you, and into what your message says. I was reading recently a post byValeria Maltoni, of the Conversation Agent blog, about what draws peopletowards you, and she mentioned that Truth always works. Amen! And becomingtransparent in a way that IMPACTS people with the Truth of who you are andwhat your company is about and doing in the marketplace, will SET YOU APARTfrom the other marketers who for whatever reason, do not operate with suchtransparency.Transparency is a POWER that marketers can use to show that they havenothing to hide- and are NOT fearful of the word NO. I started this blog 3 monthsago- and the only reason is that I wanted to provide some unique content for thesocial media arena as well as the Home Business professional- and also to see if there was a possibility of meeting some of the “big names” through the blogposts.Why? I admire them and would love to be able to provide the power they providein this amazing social media zone. And- so far, I have had numerous of what Iguess could be considered the “big names” come by and connect. Scott Monty. Chris Brogan. Shama Hyder (hi Shama!)Brian Clark.Valeria Maltoni. Carrie
 
Wilkerson(this lady is one of the nicest people that walks this earth), amongmany others.And that has made my writing more fun for me, as it shows that although thisblog currently has only a few subscribers-(NOTE: but blessed with LOTS of readers on facebook, myspace, wetpaint, squidoo, etc) it is getting folks to take alook at the content and hopefully is helping some people. My goal is to havethousands of subscribers by the end of 2009. We have a TON of subs on our training ezine- so hopefully will here. Maybe the Lord will bless the efforts! What I just wrote- is being transparent. And I hope that YOU as a marketer can see thepower in it.
4) Transparency carries with it IMPACT that people FEEL and are Moved by.
Marketers as a whole want to move people to think a certain way, and to feel acertain way, and to act a certain way. In Social Media marketing, that is thebullseye - if you can move people to do that in the way that creates a success for you and the prospect. if you offer full disclosure and are REAL with people, youwill find that people can FEEL that and are MOVED by that- instead of the sameold pitch they get a hundred times a day.How about, “
This is why that I am writing you, as I am a marketer and believe very much that this product can help millions of people. It is fairly  priced and would love to get you to take a look at it, and tell what you feel about it. Yes, I will profit from it, but so will you with the Value that it offers.” 
I wrote exactly that in a series of emails i sent out testing it with a trainingproduct. I could not believe the response. I got a LOT of emails back saying thatthe approach was refreshing and they appreciated the honesty. Conversion rate?about 22%. Not bad for a test on being transparent and open.
5) Transparency Lowers the Natural Resistance walls People often have.
If you want to reduce Resistance in your marketing efforts, become transparentin your social media efforts. If you want to reduce the number of Nos andincrease the number of yeses, become transparent. if you want to Connect withpeople in way that is immediate, become transparent. If you want to reduce thenumber of visitors leaving your site without purchasing anything- become realand let people see through you and know who you are It will reduce the naturalresistance people have to marketers and marketing messages.Does that go against the old ways of marketing? Yes, and I am sure that thereare some folks that will argue the point. But if you are going to be in NewMarketing, that is one of the foundational principles.
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