When it comes to sitting down with someone to discuss how to sell online, I have a rule that I tend to quote early in the conversation.
It goes something like this:
“In online selling, if you love your product more than you love the customer, you will fail. “
This rule stems from a basic rule in online marketing which is,
“You can only sell what people are buying. “
This sounds logical.But many companies who want to go online think that simply because a product exists, that there will be someone to buy it.
But the simple fact is that if no one is searching for your product, and no one is talking about your product, and there isnt a group of people who need your product, you wont be able to sell much of the product.
Perhaps it is only human to believe in the company we work for, the brands we represent and the products we carry. It is easy to get so enamored by them that we can’t figure out why everyone else would not feel that way.
Well, the fact is, they do not.
The online space is based on networked tribes.
The collective tribal Voice has the power to grant success or failure to would be newcomers.
The collective tribe also Polices and regulates itself. The majority of outsiders seeking entrance would be rejected and shunned.
Therefore, the only way to successfully penetrate the network,
is to become part of the tribe,
to show leadership, to give back to the community, and to respect the rules of the tribal collective.
If successful, the tribe rewards its own.
This, is the secret of the success of Apple.