What Is All This Marketing Hype About? - The Difference Between Attraction, Authority and Affiliate Marketing And Why It's Worth Gaining Marketing Skills.
Are you in a muddle with marketing? You've heard several different words like attraction, authority and affiliate mentioned but are not sure what they all mean? You know there must be a reason why so many people are talking about online marketing but are not really sure what all the hype is about?
Well, that's where I was just a few months back. I had dabbled at earning additional income by selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace and Vinted and was aware people were growing businesses online. I was regularly buying stuff from Amazon, Ebay and Etsy, but I had never seriously considered that I could be an online entrepreneur. At least, not until I went on a research quest. It was when I gained clarity around these three terms: attraction, authority and affiliate marketing and understood how learning marketing skills was actually relevant to my daily life that I knew it was something I needed to start to gain mastery in.
So, I've written this article to share what I have learned, because I believe really understanding marketing could help a lot of people. Ordinary people, living ordinary lives and wanting to break free from the 9-5 working world. People looking for more time and more money to do what they love AND maybe the freedom to work from anywhere in the world! I know for me, being able to take my work with me (in the form of a laptop, power brick and mobile phone hotspot) has meant I could work on the move while supporting my ballet dancing daughter with her ventures.
ARTICLE QUICK LINKS: My Story, The Modern Wealthy Way, Marketing Definitions: Attraction, Authority, Affiliate, Personal Insights Pros & Cons, Conclusion
That's WHY I got started...I had an urgent need to help pay for many, many ballet shoes!
It was when I was looking for flexible solutions, to earn additional income and support my ballet dancing daughter that I first started hearing about these different marketing terms and discovered how understanding them could really help me. I was looking for a way to help pay for all the additional ballet costs that my young dancer was adding to our family expenses. You wouldn't believe how often you need to replace pointe shoes when your ballerina is dancing all day!
Once I fully understood that by learning online marketing skills and building a passion led online business I could free my time and boost our family income, I was hooked. However, it wasn't until I had immersed myself in the training for several months that I realised what a truly life changing step it had been and how I was gaining so much more than I had anticipated. I had levelled up my life. The marketing skills I had gained weren't just boosting my business I was also using what I had learned from my marketing training, in my relationships, to really understand what other people were saying and needing. Life started to become easier.
The thing is, when you understand marketing, you understand people. You hear what they are asking for and you get clear on their reasons why. This is how you gain real benefits in your daily life and business. When you really hear what people feel and need, you are able to be a real source of help for them. You know exactly what they want, and, with that knowledge, you can create exactly what they are looking for. Then they are attracted to your business and want to work with you. Better yet, because you have learned how to really listen to them, and speak the words that they resonate with, you can really break through all the mind clutter and offer your people real solutions to their problems that actually help.
But why is building an online business such a great solution for modern day living and income earning? Well, the internet has opened the door to new possibilities. In the past you had to work by offering your time in exchange for money. But now, with the automatic nature of the internet, you can put in some hours ahead of time, set the automations into action, then do what you really want to do with your time while the internet works for you behind the scenes. It's the automation that allows you to leave your regular time for money work. I learned so much from the online marketing training I received and this image below explains the basics what I learned and why it is a game changer for ordinary people to level up their lives and live...
The Modern Wealthy Way
Of course, you are still working. However, we all know that doing nothing for days on end eventually becomes boring. So, you will eventually want to work at something. The great thing is that now you get to create from your passions and you get to do what you love, living every day feeling free! You see, the best way to live your life is, in fact, to create income doing what lifts your heart. So learning online marketing skills allows you to build a business unique to you, where you earn money from your interests and passions. You get to choose the area that resonates most with you. Some of my friends are creating businesses around yoga, others around motorcycles and campervans. I love teaching (but don't want to deal with challenging classroom behaviour and defined term dates) so I tutor and coach online. Also, while I am doing what I love... which is, in fact, giving my time to others... I know that, in the background, my automated offers are running and earning me pennies too! AND I've used the marketing skills I've learned to boost my coaching and tutoring business. Because, once you have learned the basics you can apply them to whatever you want to. So, it's not just one automation, in fact, I have a few different projects working away for me. I'm branching out into Print On Demand sales and other physical products too! There are many different ways you can create your own online business AND, once you have everything up and running you can really start to benefit from TIME, FINANCIAL and LOCATION FREEDOM.
So what did it take to really get my business up and running? Well the trickiest thing for me was finding the time to learn it all. So, I've gone through the programme quite slowly. You can do it faster, and I'm sure that would have helped, but of course, life is happening all around us so it was what it was. Interestingly, when I first started exploring online marketing, I didn't really know what type of business would be the best fit for me. It was when I took the time to explore my skills, passions and experiences with some, in depth, online coaching that I really got clear on what would be my best fit business model. Not everyone needs this but I found it very helpful, so I did invest some pennies to get individual help. Investing in myself was so valuable. It helped me build solid foundations on which to grow and scale my business. I watched a free video about how it all worked from a very knowledgeable online entrepreneur who was having great successes marketing online. He explained the Modern Wealthy way of living in the 21st Century - How to break away from the traditional working norm and instead automate and scale to earn an income. That video was a real mind reset especially when I realised whatever I learned could be applied to my future projects too. It showed me that it really was worth learning if I truly wanted to create FREEDOM in my life. Time Freedom to choose when I work or see my daughter in her shows. Money Freedom to scale and create the finances for all our family's needs and wishes. My story just explains some of the learning that I gained but if you want an expert's view on it all, and want to watch a video rather than reading, go check out the same FREE training video that got me started.
So, what else did I learn from the video? Some really good detail about the differences and benefits of these three different types of marketing: attraction marketing, authority marketing and affiliate marketing. Let me explain...
ATTRACTION MARKETING is all about inviting the customer on a journey of discovery. It is about helping them to find what they are looking for. Attraction marketing is all about helping people; helping from a place of connection, support and loving care.
AFFILIATE MARKETING is about finding products and services, which someone else creates, that you promote to a customer. When the customer buys from the seller, you earn a commission for being that bridge from the creator to the purchaser.
These three different marketing terms are all intertwined and build on each other. Imagine it as a value stacking spiral.
You start off with attraction - being really clear on who you are serving, add on authority from your skills and experience and then share what aligns with you and could be of value to your people - your affiliate offers. Then, as you go around the spiral again, you add more and more value creating more and more possibility. You grow in your experience, the attraction grows and you continue to add to your affiliate offer portfolio so that the people you are sharing with, and serving, get more and more value from what you are creating. The magic of this is that you love what you are doing because you are working in your area of interest and expertise and people feel that from you. They then feel more attracted to working with you and, if you are doing it right - sticking to your values and integrity, the spiral continues to grow upwards adding value and supporting the people you are serving. If people aren't interested in what you are offering that is ok; they weren't the best fit. So, they can go look elsewhere for what they need. The people who are interested will be attracted to your authority and your affiliate offers and will decide to buy because that is what they were looking for all along and they can see the value to them of making that purchase.
Affiliate marketing works best when you have integrity and you are aligned with what you are offering; people do want things but they want to know they can trust the person they are buying from. Oh look, we are back to authority marketing there. And... because affiliate marketing is sharing someone else's product you don't have to create the idea or actual item or store anything. So really you just need to have gained marketing skills so that you can understand what the ideal customer would be looking for. Now you are back to attraction marketing - explaining to the customer why the product is right for them so they see the value of it and want to buy it.
So, I hope you can now see why it is so important to understand all three of these marketing areas. How you could really benefit from having a clear understanding of what they mean. Moreover, how knowing about marketing and how to do it effectively could change your life. You could choose a passion of yours, build an online business around that passion and shift from working every day for someone else to working for yourself. Just imagine where you could be in a year's time if you start today!
AND like I said before, these skills are not just for business. Why? Because it is another piece in the puzzle of understanding how people really think and feel. If you truly understand marketing and what motivates people then you have insights that so many others in the world do not. It gives you another string to your bow when navigating your way through life.
BUT... You Ask?... This can't all be AMAZING? There must be some negative things too?
Does it take a lot of time to learn?
Well, of course, learning online marketing isn't for everyone. You do have to be a person who is willing to learn and who will put that learning into action. So, it does involve an investment of time. If you are someone who can focus and put in the hours needed to set it all up you can easily find success with this model. I've seen several people progress really quickly to creating great financial wins for themselves. I've been a bit slower and my learning has been a little haphazard, but that's because I have challenges focusing on the correct strategies. I've got ADHD and so, for me, staying focused on the next key task and not getting side tracked is my greatest hurdle to overcome each day.
Does it cost a lot of money to get started?
There's not only an initial time investment to be made. You do also get to invest a little money to get started. Luckily, you can start quite cheaply but it isn't completely free. You will need to invest in a website and an email autoresponder as your basic business overheads and you will need a computer of some sort. Hopefully, you've already got one of those.
START UP COSTS
1 COMPUTER (~$500 - You may already have one.)
1 DOMAIN NAME, SSL CERTIFICATE + WEBHOSTING (~$100/YEAR)
1 EMAIL AUTORESPONDER (~$200 /YEAR)
These, in the grand scheme of things, are VERY LOW business start up costs. If you think you can't afford this then you probably aren't the right fit for this business model. You do get to look at money differently when you run a business. Money is energy and it gets to flow. It is a tool for achieving projects. Money invested wisely multiplies. Shifting beliefs around money is one of the learning breakthroughs that many new online entrepreneurs get to work through.
Like I said before, learning online marketing and running an online business is a self development journey. You grow so much stepping into this world!
So, time and money are two things that you will need to invest to get started. Scheduling your online business creation work around your usual commitments is how most of us get started. As you start to earn more, your normal work hours can be reduced. Scheduling time for your business learning and actually taking the action steps will help you progress steadily and, remember, you can fit the work around your other daily commitments anytime you like. I do quite a lot of my baby steps late at night or weekends or while waiting for my daughter at her ballet events. For me, it has definitely been worth investing that initial time for learning. If I hadn't, I would still be in my same situation as before, scraping extra pennies to cover all our additional ballet school costs. Now, however, I can see real possibilities and solutions all around me for boosting my family income, progress is being made and wins are starting to happen!
Do I need to understand lots of technical stuff?
Another potential sticking point, for some people starting out, is needing to learn and understand all the technical stuff with computers and websites and all that. Luckily, this stuff is pretty basic and although it does take some time to learn, it can be learned by the least tech savvy of people. What you may need is a supportive training programme like the one I studied with. It was really useful because, as beginners, we were able to access group tech support sessions all at the entry level training. Many of my study buddies are very late to technology (many of them are over 60!) and I have seen them overcome their tech fears, create attractive websites and connect confidently with their clients after getting the help they needed from the mentors. I've got a bit of a tech side to me (I studied Mechanical Engineering, of all things, over 30 years ago, so I've quite enjoyed getting my teeth into the technical stuff) but I am aware that for many other people it has involved a bit of extra help and longer practise to fully grasp the basics. So, if you aren't technical, you needn't worry, I've seen many of my friends gain confidence quickly with the help they received. In fact, the programme we all studied with has lots of free ready made tech stuff that they give you to help you get set up and running. It's been a really helpful way to get started.
Is There An Easier Way?
Thankfully, you can start with very little investment and with very little tech knowledge and from my experience, there is a lot to be learned at the lower levels first. However, I've seen some of my fellow students who were willing to invest more to access the upper level trainings zoom through and reach successful wins very quickly! Ok, yes, this has been a little frustrating... AND I love that the learning is still accessible to someone in my position. I'm getting there, just a little slower.
So, if you are one of the lucky ones, with a bit more available to invest in the higher level support, I'd say go for it! It definitely speeds up your learning and brings the wins in faster. In fact, at the highest level, they can do everything for you. You get access to the best online marketing experts and they help you quickly gain clarity about your business, build everything for you and your wins start happening rapidly AND... if you become a successful a affiliate for the company you can potentially get that initial investment back.
If what I've been sharing about online marketing is piquing your interest, and you are thinking it could be a good flexible income earning solution for you, I would say definitely check it out. It's a low start up cost option that has the potential to scale passive income to large amounts. Once you have an automated pathway that is working for you, you can start increasing your investments to steadily build up larger and larger returns. It really is an amazing way of earning your money from small beginnings.
So, my advice to you, if you have made it this far into my article is to check out this new way of working. However, only step in if you seriously want to change your circumstances. The people who are making this work are the ones with an entrepreneurial mindset, who don't give up and keep taking baby steps daily moving forward. I don't want you to waste your time and money if you don't have the self commitment to make it work.
PROS & CONS CHART
Here are my insights from my journey so far from my studying, learning and implementing...
PROS
- You get to work for yourself - no boss!
- You get to be in charge of your time and can work any hours of the day or night.
- Once you learn the skills you can re-apply them to other ventures.
- Automation - once set up it runs whatever you are doing.
- You can work from anywhere - so work can be stacked on top of other tasks like waiting outside ballet auditions!
- All you need is a computer or laptop and internet connection
- Earnings are scaleable and not tied to your hours put in.
- You will learn so much about yourself and grow as a person in the journey!
- You can make some amazing new friends in the online community!
CONS
- You will need to invest some time at the beginning to learn the basics
- You will need to make an initial (low) investment to get started
- There can be a time delay between doing the work and earning.
- You may need to purchase additional tech - like a power brick or higher data package to be able to wifi hotspot if working in places without free wifi.
- At times you may doubt yourself.
- Being an entrepreneur can sometimes be lonely.
- Not everyone succeeds - it takes commitment, focus and self understanding to overcome hurdles and keep going.
Conclusion
Living the Modern Wealthy Way is not for everyone. Some people may be happy to stay where it is simpler, easier, safer in a time for money job perfectly content with their daily experience and continue in the money for time paradigm.
However, if you are an adventurous spirit, are willing to take yourself on and are ready for MORE!, then I believe, checking out online marketing and what it could offer you could be the perfect solution for your situation. Understanding the skills of attraction marketing, authority marketing and affiliate marketing could be the perfect next step to help you really understand people, create a successful online business, boost your earning potential and ultimately bring you LIFE FREEDOM!
