Renowned Internet marketers have been talking about the change of salesmen-ship tactics, forever, now. The way the Internet has been working, since the invention of the search engine, has made it possible for us to save grace and end the era of doors slamming in our faces. We no longer have to get our foot in the door, we can finally be invited in.

How is all this possible?
The idea that you try and sell a vacuum cleaner, to someone who lives in a tent was ridiculous then and is still ridiculous now. But way back then, there just wasn’t too much you could do about that. You had to sell to anyone who passed your way. Period.

Today, however, things have changed. Via the Internet, each one of our personal worlds has inevitably expanded. If there’s a little girl in Pakistan, who likes Manga, she can purchase it on line, straight from the creator, in Japan. People are looking for information. Not only that, they’re willing to pay for it, as well. All we, as marketers, need to do is give our site the right tag words and the people, looking for our content, will find us.

What about competition
This, of course, is simplification that completely disregards the abundant competition on the web. Not to mention the big fish in the pond, which have the cash to make a compelling portal and an SEO-wise site, all in one. How do you, as a small (and sometimes tiny) business compete?

Social networking sites are the little guy’s tool
Social networking sites bring us close to our target audience. You register, ill out your profile and go find some friends, that may be interested in our products. This, by the way, can be a small specialty forum, it doesn’t have to be one of the big networks, like Facebook or Myspace. Although they do have their advantage in numbers, the quality of the prospects may be low.

What do I do once I’m there?
Relate. That’s really how simple it is. Make friends, join in the conversation, show off your knowledge, in the niche (which, by now, you should have accumulated in spades). Try and become a go-to-guy/gal and once trust is there, you offer your expertise in the form of a product. Social networking will also be very helpful in the stage of planning your product. Walking the forums, you will inevitably stumble upon the forum attendees’ needs.

How do I not waste time?
Sounds time consuming? You bet your sweet patootie! You’re going to spend months in research and many consecutive hours a day, coming up with results and ideas. You can’t rush social progress and trust. You have to be patient and sincere. If you try and sell someone, you’ve just met, the deal is done for. How can you still save some time? Remember when you were preparing a profile of your target audience? (You did prepare a profile for your target audience, didn’t you?) When you decided that very specific person’s age and what their income is, what their hobbies are and how much they weigh… Go back to that file. Where would that person hang out, on the net? That’s where you have to go! Targeting your social networking sites is just as relevant as targeting your audience, because that’s where you’ll find them. You don’t look for people interested in the stock market at Teenwag.com.

Sounds like I’m going to have to know a lot about my product
As you should. The time, when you just put something together and slap it on a web page, is over and done with. You want that target audience? You better work harder than the other guy, who wants that exact same audience. Today, even McDonald’s is on Facebook. Hell! I bet even Facebook is on Facebook! The big fish already know about social networking and it’s only a matter of time, until they designate teams to do their socializing for them. Then all of us, small fries, will look very unprofessional in comparison.

About the Author
Tali Shapiro is a freelance artist and writer, who learned the need for internet marketing, through a lot of bad personal experience. Now, after a few years of self-online-education and self-offline-discipline, she can pass on her wily experiences and worldly teachings through the wonderful medium of blog. Catch up with Tali’s marketing exploits on The Marketer Review