Home Business Tips

Quality and Trust

Many people involved in Internet marketing have lost sight of what is truly important in achieving success in business. They focus on appearing smart and on using gimmicks. Their marketing strategies can be classified into two categories only:

1. Strategies that trick people into making them pay for products and services
2. Strategies that bribe people into buying the products or services

In other words, these so-called Internet marketing specialists focus more on their marketing techniques and don’t give value to the products being sold. They rely on the belief that they can sell anything by using their proven effective marketing strategies.

Unfortunately, one basic requirement for any marketing to succeed is the quality of the products or services. When a consumer finds that he has bought a product of low quality, he will immediately return such product, considerably irritated or pissed off. But when a consumer finds that he has bought a product of high quality, he will buy again from the same source. He will also spread the word to his friends and colleagues.

The high quality of the products or services can accomplish something that no clever marketing or advertising can ever do. The quality can gain the trust of the clients. Once trust is earned, the home business owner is assured of further sales.

How does trust assure the success of any business? The importance of trust can be easily seen from the point of view of the consumer. Here are some examples.

• Between two products, one which is trusted while the other is not, the consumer will obviously choose the trusted product.
• When a company selling a questionable product hires a celebrity to promote the same product, will many consumers buy the product? The majority of consumers will most probably enjoy the hype but they will not be cajoled into buying the questionable product. Consumers are aware that the celebrity was just paid to help advertise the product.
• When a company offers discounts so that consumers will patronize their product, perhaps a detergent that leaves oily residues on the plate, will people purchase this detergent? Clearly, buying such ineffective detergent is a waste of money, even if it was sold at a large discount.

The consumers must first believe in the quality of a product before they can be induced to buy it. Even the promise of bonuses employed by many Internet marketing gurus is not enough to make the majority of consumers patronize a dubious product. So, how does a home business gain the trust of consumers?

Trust cannot be gained instantaneously. It must be cultivated. The entrepreneur must first have a product of high quality. Second, this product must be presented in an attention-grabbing but believable way. Exaggeration of benefits is dangerous. And third, the entrepreneur must deliver the product and services that he promised.

There is no complicated gimmick involved achieving marketing success. The foundation of trust must be established. Other businesses running on gimmicks alone will not survive long.

Small/Home Business Tips, Ethics 2006-02-10 Home Business Tips