Selling without selling online can be done through attraction marketing. Marketing is a means of interacting with potential customers through multiple means.
You can find customers, for example, by uploading a video to YouTube, running an advert or writing a blog post. Because the internet is a buyers market, trying to sell to someone with “the hard sell” doesn’t really work that well!
Instead, you can attract people to your website by providing valuable information which they want. Attraction marketing uses many means to interact with a potential customer by giving them value. Ultimately, after you have delivered huge value you build trust with people and they are more likely to buy if your products/service is something of use to them.
Think of it this way; would you buy from a random website, or from someone who has been giving you value for several weeks through an email course? The answer is you would more likely buy from someone you know; the person who provided the information to you. So, getting people to know, like and trust you is priority number one for marketers. They do this by providing information which is of use to their subscribers.
Selling Without Selling – Emails
Everyone sells something, even if it’s their story. Aligning yourself with something you genuinely believe in is the best way to sell without selling. When you are aligned, you can sell without selling because you’re simply being honest and genuine. Nobody likes the hard sell, or to think they have been “sold” to!
So the best way to sell online is to attract people by providing value through blog posts, videos and email marketing messages. Email marketing is one of the best ways to sell online providing you don’t try and sell first. Instead, provide value first and genuinely try and help your subscribers. When you win their trust and they get to know, like and trust you, they are more likely to buy from you.
This is usually done from a website or landing page. The marketer offers something in exchange for the visitors’ email address. Usually this is an ebook or free course. Once the website visitor opts in, the marketer can deliver the course and build trust through regular email messages.
Selling Without Selling – Value First, Promotion Later
Once you deliver on a “value-add” proposition, there’s a thing called the law of reciprocity. This is what attraction marketing uses to make sales. The marketer gives, (in abundance) and offers products/services which give even more. So if an email subscriber is a good fit, they will likely buy from you. If not, that’s fine too.
The benefit of email marketing is that people can come back years later to buy from you. But on a website they only have a small window of opportunity to buy. After that they are gone forever.
I’ve had subscribers buy from me even years after joining my email list.
Mike Massey
Mike Massey is a martial arts business owner but he has also written a number of books on the subject of marketing for martial arts schools. I mention him because it’s a perfect example of the law of reciprocity. A few years ago I was struggling with building up my martial arts school (I teach Kung Fu), so I found him only through his many marketing videos and blog posts. I joined his email list and got many emails detailing how I could build my school up.
He mentioned things such as running camps, creating a syllabus and doing gradings and multiple ways to build my online presence. I used some of what he taught to great effect and all the information was free because I had joined his email list. Great guy thanks Mike! When he sent me an email promoting his book “Small Dojo Big Profits”, I bought it! I knew the value he had given me already far exceeded the cost of the book. Plus I couldn’t remember every recommendation he had made. So having all those tips together in one place seemed like a good solution.
Mike Massey is a great example of selling without selling. He gave me huge value that was tangible in my own life (for free)! So I bought from him and in no was was he “selling” in the traditional sense of the word!
Summary
Attraction marketing is the means of selling without selling. Like the example of Mike above, you can offer value through blog posts, ebooks, physical books, videos and information. People will find you when they are trying to solve their problems. Be the solution for them and lead them to products which help them further!
Selling in the traditional sense doesn’t really work online since it’s a buyers market and nobody really likes being “sold” to. They would rather do their research and find out what works for them, than trust a sleezy salesman!
When their research leads them to you, and your products, you’re selling without selling!