Challenged by online Marketing? get help.

I don't consider myself elderly, but at 57, I'm certainly not a youngin'. It's amusing how aging alters one's ideas on aging. At the age of 30, I believed that a 50-year-old was just one stumble away from living behind a walker and an entrance ramp to the front door. I suppose it's a good denial, but I keep pushing back the old scale. Now, I consider 75 to be old, and I'm just 'experienced' in life. But it’s important to keep experiencing life! When challenges arise, no matter our age, it’s vital to confront them head on.

The difficulty for us "Boomers" is technology. It has proven to be a challenging task to learn how to traverse this "not-so-new" world of digital marketing and advertising. The truth is that older guys like myself have no idea how to use the internet to its full potential for my business. It has a certain vocabulary that is specific to a workflow that didn't exist until I was far into my teaching career in the early 1990s. Back then, we wrote on this flat, thin material called paper with these implements we called pencils and pens. The need to adapt to the digital world at the time hinted at an exciting future with limitless potential. 30 years after the plunge, internet advertising is still a mystery to me. I dove headfirst into digital art. The question yet stands: Can old guys adapt to and thrive in the digital era now that I'm working on creating my artistic "brand"?

My years of teaching have given me many principles, and one of the most important is the value of lifelong learning. Revel in the exploration. However, following this set of rules demands the conviction that the brain maintains its permeability from birth until death. The truth is, we never stop growing as individuals. It seemed true to me until I attempted an online art sale. Important concepts in digital marketing include keywords, algorithms, search engine optimization, and back end. My aging brain isn't as sturdy as it once was, but these words do belong together in the current marketing puzzle. Solving the digital problem is challenging. After a few failed attempts to sell artwork online via a website I built and a similarly unsuccessful attempt to design and self-publish a collaborative art book, I decided to hire an expert in the field. Taking this modest step was essential if I ever wanted to make money off of something I've enjoyed doing for many years.

Liseli Thiele, an expert in digital and online marketing, has launched a company she calls Own The Throne. We started chatting at a local club, and she told me about the work she does with creative types. Liseli empowers anyone who may battle with technology to control their own destiny. The more we talked, the more I realized that, despite my previous efforts, I still had a lot to learn about promoting my art through the only practical channel: the internet. I, like many others before me, foolishly believed that if my art was good enough, people would rush to my website to buy originals and prints. I just needed to read a few ‘how-to’ articles online, insert my artwork, and the rest was gravy.  NOT! I've seen that every niche area of expertise has its own sector springing up to provide the greatest, most cost-effective option for the digital do-it-yourselfer. Everything you read will tell you to do this, this, and this, and then you'll be good to go. When it comes to the economics of code streams, however, the devil is in the details. Do not kid yourself into thinking that you can learn everything there is to know about digital marketing in a matter of weeks. Exhibit 'A':  Five years ago, my writer friend and I were shocked to receive an estimate from an advertising firm costing $42,000 to promote our book, "Be; The Backroad Guide to Personal Awakening." A digital marketing team, comprised of specialists who will develop an online interest funnel to guide readers to our publication, will edit and polish the book after it has been sold. Of course, I told the author that we could do this ourselves. To date, the book has sold one copy on Amazon. 

The word "specialists" sums up the people who are most qualified to handle this. In the real world, there are people whose job it is to decipher those binary digits, find the best possible combinations, and then use that information to direct search engines in our direction. We had planned on handling everything on our own, but traditional advertising has given place to digital platforms. The 'Be' book has failed to garner any interest from internet buyers to this day.

My point is, if you want to try and sell something unique online, hire a professional. Seriously. Take it from this old man who’s worked with computers for almost 30 years. I’ve spent half a decade trying in vain to figure out an industry that guards its secrets extremely well. If time is money, please put your ego aside, save time, and spend the money. It’s never guaranteed that you’ll succeed with your online business, but hiring a knowledgeable professional to direct traffic to whatever it is you’re selling, will vastly improve your chances.