Ryan Stephens Marketing

Building Intimate Business Relationships

online marketing

Would You Like a Free Consulting Session?

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I wouldn’t be much of a relationship marketer if I wasn’t keen on building relationships with all of you now would I?

And it’s also no secret that one day down the road (presumably a lengthy road as I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing right now) I want to be able to sustain a comfortable living via consulting, blogging, speaking and writing books. At least that’s the plan right now.

I might decide that want to be the head baseball coach at the University of Texas by tomorrow night.

After running a few ideas by Jake Rosen and Chuck Westbrook (who are both wise beyond their years) to confirm that this idea isn’t ridiculous, I have found a way to make more connections and start gaining the valuable working experience I need to have to begin pursuing my ultimate goals.

The result is, what I think amounts to a pretty good deal for any of you reading this:

1 Free Half-Hour Consulting Session with me


My time is becoming increasingly more valuable to me (as I seem to have less of it each and every day). For that reason this offer will only last until May 31st, at which time my rates will go up higher than they are currently.

This provides me a tremendous opportunity to get to know more of you, your business goals, and what you aspire to achieve with your business. It also provides me with a vast number of experiences guiding, and providing insights on what I hope will be a wide array of different projects and objectives.

So here’s how this works:

  • I will only schedule one session per weekday Monday-Thursday
  • I might do more on the weekends (or none at all). I will never do any on Friday.
  • Obviously, these sessions will take place later in the evenings (or could constitute a couple of e-mails back and forth if necessary instead).
  • I will not activate any of the strategy for you, but I will provide you with strategy and the action steps necessary to activate.
  • You’re welcome to enlist my services for anything you think I could help you with. If you’re relatively new to online marketing, blogging, social media, etc. this could be any number of things.
  • If you have a good grasp and you want to hit me up for my strengths, anything related to social media strategies for small businesses, sports marketing, relationship marketing or personal branding are your best bets.
  • What do I get out of this? Well in addition to the experience, and getting more connected to my readers — provided the advice I offer actually helps you increase your ROI (be that return on investment or influence), I would greatly appreciate a testimonial for my LinkedIn page. HOWEVER, this is not mandatory. And again, only if the advice I offer WORKS should you even consider it.
  • Feel free to pass this post on to anyone you know who is currently in need of some help, but might not have the means to pay for it. Or just anyone who wants to broaden their online marketing horizons.
  • To set up a time with me, please send an e-mail to ryanstephensmarketing(at)gmail.com with “Free Session” in the subject line.

I think that covers everything, but if you have any additional questions, please leave them in the comment section of this post, and I’ll be happy to answer any additional inquiries.

I am looking forward to working with all of you.

Are You a Marketer or a Seller?

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Most serious marketers are familiar with Theodore Levitt’s “Marketing Myopia“, but I had not read it in quite some time.  Re-reading it this past week, one of the things that it sheds light on is marketing versus selling — I think it’s a VERY  important distinction to make.

Here’s what his article says:

“The difference between marketing and selling is more than semantic. Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing on the needs of the buyer,” (Levitt, 1975).

Which do you fall under?

There are a LOT of people online who are online sellers, but how many are actually online marketers? Sellers are preoccupied with converting their product or service into cash, while marketers are satisfying the needs of their customers.

Therefore, what marketers offer consumers are not determined by themselves, but the buyers. REMEMBER that your product needs to be a consequence of the marketing effort.You can spend countless hours perfecting the greatest product of all time, but if consumers don’t see the benefit of it, it isn’t going to matter.

I TRY to be a marketer and I would contend I’m a LOT less guilty of being a seller (though I would argue we’re all guilty of it at one point or another) than I was in the past. Anyhow, I just thought it was an interesting point that could be applied directly to online marketing and figured I would share. Perhaps you need to re-evaluate your business efforts. As always, I’m interested in opinions, additions, etc.

 

Reciprocity in Online Marketing

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How many of the top online marketers do you think got to the top all by themselves?

I assure you that the answer is probably “not very many“, and most likely “none.” Nobody gets to the top of any business all by themselves. Somewhere they had help along the way.

Maybe they had a mentor that taught them a lot of what they know. Perhaps they participated in a really big give-away that enabled them to grow their list. Even if they never spoke to one person, I am willing to bet they read tons of information from people that were having success in online marketing.

It takes more than a marketing degree and a few tips to truly succeed. If any of the top gurus got there without having influential friends in the online marketing space, they were definitely in the minority.

It’s essentially selling things to other people. It’s communicating WITH people and the ones that do that with a lot of generosity are going to see that generosity reciprocated and that will enable them to go further with respect to their own business.

A lot of new marketers do not understand “reciprocity.” Maybe they are scared to ask others, maybe they do ask others in a vain attempt to get answers, but do not take the time to create a relationship with that person, or at the VERY LEAST offer them a very polite thank you for helping out.

I guess I’m fortunate because generosity and the relationships I have acquired via reciprocity is what makes me enjoy what I do at the end of the day.

Am I here to make money? Absolutely, but if I was only chasing that elusive dollar don’t you think I’d go home unfulfilled at the end of the day if I wasn’t getting rich?

I have news for you, I’m NOT getting rich, and I really enjoy what I do because I’m helping people achieve their dreams.  I’m helping people grow their networks and understand the power of these ideals, which in turn enable them to grow their business and their profits. Don’t you think that when that happens for someone they will tell their friends about me helping them out? Don’t you think they will be more than willing to endorse something written by me?

If we all practice reciprocity, we can all help one another grow our businesses. I guarantee you that anyone you have heard about at the top got their with the help of others, probably LOTS of others so take the time to help someone out, take the time to formulate real business relationships, and the wealth — that will become inevitable.