The Great 2008 - How To Make It Greater?
For You, the online marketer
"Know Your Customer." Donald Trump tells how his father used to go into a building and talk to people. He'd ask them what they thought of the building. What was good about it? What did it need? Then he'd build a building based on what the customers told him.
So how are we supposed to know what our customers want before we build a website? Easy - Ask 'em, right?
Well, yeah, sort of.
--------------------------------WEBMASTERS: Listen up! This is important!
Web advertising is changing. And now, big name advertisers are coming from TV to the web. This means mighty big bucks for you, ir you get in early enough. VOICE ADS
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See, marketing on the internet is more than "Location, location, location."
"Research, Research, Research" is the key to success for the online marketer. With a few hundred million people in the market place, it's kind of hard to get to know them all.
BUT, there are trends to watch. If we have an idea where people are heading, we can be there before they get there, right? It's like the shovel salesman in the goldrush days who set up a shop before there was even a town to put a shop in.
"Great In 2008" is a handy little online marketer's guidebook to this year. A nice little PDF book (and free to download, by the way), it shows us the trends.
"Who wrote it?"
That would be Kyle and Carson (The "Wealthy Affiliates"), the guys who make research fun.
A little guide book to 2008 is nice, and helpful, but . . . What if we watch trends ourselves? ALL trends. Anything we know about people's needs and wants is going to help us in our marketing, right?
For example, with weather changing world wide - how soon will the Eskimos be a viable market for ice cubes?
Or with gas prices going so high, do you think the bicycle might make a come-back?
What do you really think about the shape of 2008? What's going to move the market this year? What's going to change and what's going to stay the same? What new niches will we be looking at?
Let's keep an eye on our customers and try to know them. And let's make this a truly Great 2008.
Keep a smile on your face and a dance in your feet. 
Thinking Trends; What Marketers Should Look For
Amongst other things 2008 is an election year in America. Politicians do not shape the way people think. But their rhetoric does have an effect on what people are thinking about.
The conflict in Iraq is an issue, of course. But we should be aware of how people are thinking of it now. Five years ago, when the war was a popular issue, marketers did well by selling patriotic items. Tee shirts and hats with American symbols or flags or military insignias probably would not do quite as well today as they did five years ago.
"Ways to bring costs down" will likely get more attention than "how to win the war." There is always a hungry market for How To Make Money. With the high unemployment of the last few years, and with people's increased distrust of politicians and large corporations, "Ways to make money" may be a stronget influence on people's thinking now than it ever used to.
Sites Of 2008
Setting Trends
- Website Advertising Trends
- Website owners get paid by advertisers. That's not new. But in 2008, big name advertisers are coming off of television and putting audio ads on our webpages. And they're paying big for it. If you own a website, you'll want to check this out pretty soon. They may stop taking on more website owners once they reach a quota.
- Affiliate Marketing Trends
- The best way to do marketing is to find out what other marketers are doing successfully, and then do what they do, but in your own way. I.e. don't just copy. The most successful affiliate marketers are not only sharing their methods, they are providing their marketing tools. Join them and become the next "Wealthy Affiliate."
- Mind Blowing Trends
- The new great adventure is in the mind. What we do with ours has everything to do with how we will handle 2008. More and more folks are turning inwards for spiritual lifts linked to financial lifts, and everything else connected to success and personal performance.
- Ways Of Knowledge
- The Education Industry has become so ineffective with government interventions, and gimmicky program after program, we are going to need to think about teaching and learning in different ways. "Human Centered Learning" is way outside the box, but we made need more "dangerous teachers" if we want a knowledgeable society.
- Gifts For All Seasons
- Current trends will inform us what gifts we can get for people. People are living longer - and some older, retired people already have everything. Instead of buying another tie at the discount shop, people are designing their own gifts, and making them more personal.
What Movies Are People Watching?
Why are they watching them?
Movies can tell us a lot about what's on people's minds in 2008. Know your customer by knowing the movies they watch. Make sense?
- 001- Crash
A 36-hour period in the diverse metropolis of post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles is the theme of this unflinc...- 002- The Departed
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the under...- 003- The Pursuit of Happyness
Will Smith (in an Oscar-nominated role) and his real-life son Jaden star in this tearjerker about a...- 004- Little Miss Sunshine
Convinced little Olive (Abigail Breslin) is beauty queen material, parents Richard (Greg Kinnear) an...- 005- Walk the Line
Among the pantheon of great country singers, Johnny Cash (played here by Joaquin Phoenix) may just b...- Try Netflix free for 14 days
