Do you think customers need personal interaction as much these days or is online more important?  Do you think we’re moving further away from bricks and mortar?  Obviously we’re moving further away from bricks and mortar because there is more happening online and many of us even live on our computers.  Having said that, I think it becomes more and more important when you’re marketing online to be as human as you possibly can.

I think it’s even more important to be as real as possible because people are lacking that personal touch.  For instance, when I’m writing e-mails I’ll tell stories about my life.  I’ll talk about how tough it was when I was starting up or what I learned when I was in a cult about 10 years ago.

Opening up to others in your communication creates a bond and I find far too much communication these days is really planned and corporate.  And I don’t think you win any friends by being boring and stiff.

I think if you’re incorporating the marketing side of things into your business you need to develop personality.  So if you’re writing newsletters to your e-mail list or to your physical list bring your personality into it.

One guy who’s really good at doing this and he’s probably the best guy I’ve seen on Facebook is a guy called Thor SalesWarlord and he’s developed this whole personality in the way he communicates, which is brilliant and that allows you to connect because we’re all striving for connection.  Also because online is getting so big, it’s being somewhat overused by people and so the offline is also becoming far, far more powerful as well.

Direct mail has dropped significantly over recent years because e-mail’s become so big.  There’s a saying by Earl Nightingale who’s one of the fore founders of personal development.  And one of the things that Earl Nightingale said was basically, “If you want to be successful look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite.”  So at the moment everyone’s using e-mail.  I certainly wouldn’t say don’t use e-mail because I would be a complete hypocrite if I said that because I use it more than most people.  But I would say, “Hey do direct mail as well.”  And I am looking at engaging in more and more direct mail, which is less convenient but a very, very effective way of doing things.