Member Success Story: Mike Maunu | Nitro Marketing Blog ? Local ...

Using Marketing to Help the Little Guy

Local marketer Mike Maunu loves using his seasoned marketing and sales skills to help small business owners thrive. This energetic LIMA entrepreneur has successfully transitioned from direct sales to online marketing to local business marketing, and envisions using the marketing techniques he has learned to make a footprint that's not just local, but national.

In the marketing world, Mike Maunu could be considered a rock star. Prior to his arrival on the local online marketing scene, his passion for nutrition and wellness translated to a 30- year industry career in direct sales and marketing as a company founder, executive officer and consultant for multi-level marketers. The tens of thousands of distributors that he worked with generated hundreds of millions in sales.

BioMedics, a company that Mike co-founded in 1993 (but is no longer affiliated with), currently does $250 million in annual sales. He also spent years studying the ideas of business marketing gurus Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy.

A Light Bulb Moment

Mike's introduction to online marketing evolved naturally from his sales expertise. His first online marketing venture occurred in 2002, selling a "stop snoring" product. It was a hit, to say the least ? $3 million in sales in the first nine months. The project also paid off in another way, because Mike had to learn everything about how to sell on the Internet himself. "Back in those days, you couldn't outsource anything," he explains. "If you did hire people, they were very, very expensive, so you learned how to do all aspects of the game."

Mike had heard about other marketers who were making huge profits by doing online marketing for local business owners. So in the summer of 2008, "the light bulb went on for me. The economy was starting to nosedive, the mortgage industry was collapsing, and I knew business owners didn't have the time, energy or resources to learn what I've spent years learning." His entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and he knew he wanted to find a way to help small business owners succeed.

He quickly realized just how many businesses were suffering from a lack of Internet presence, or from sites that were pretty but weren't making money. "Today I see that the small business owner still doesn't know how to build a list, and that's the only purpose of building a website," says Mike. "Ninety-nine percent of visitors that show up at your site are not going to buy on their first visit. If you haven't given them a reason to opt in, you won't have a way to contact them again." He saw a golden opportunity to work with business owners, building their bottom line and showing them the things that highly experienced marketers know how to do online ? and simultaneously create for himself a rewarding career.

"Do What You Do Best?"

Mike's background gave him a great advantage for finding his first client. He had already worked as a networker, matching companies offering a product or service with non-competing businesses who could market it, and had established client relationships.

His first job was a water system company that needed a complete marketing package: rankings, videos, articles, a blog. Because they had already worked with Mike, they quickly agreed to hire him. It was then he realized he just how much work he had to do. He began his local marketing journey by investing time and energy to learn everything he could from events, networking and webinars.

That's also when Mike learned one of his biggest money-making secrets: how to outsource. He found out who the experts were using as outsourcers. Instead of trying to do every aspect of the job himself, he focused on his strengths and passed on the other tasks.

"Do what you do best, and outsource the rest," he advises. "If you're a great salesman, don't get bogged down in the details of trying to learn how to do everything." He understands that for a lot of local marketers, it's hard to let go of the wheel (sound familiar?). He believes that outsourcers don't have to do things perfectly, they just have to be able to take instructions and do the job. "Most outsourcing companies are very experienced, and can do what you want them to do with little training," says Mike.

Advice from a Pro

According to Mike, perseverance is the most important quality for achieving success in local marketing. He knows that many marketers get discouraged when things don't pan out the first or second (or tenth) time. "Don't give up!" he says. "There are times it'll be tough. You might get in front of a bad audience, or one that's not big enough. You could easily get discouraged. Talk to lots of people. Know that what you want to do is what you want to do. Believe in it and don't quit until you get to the end goal."

He believes another key to a local marketer's success is to get one or two deals under your belt, no matter how big or small. Surround yourself with others who can help you learn and keep you moving forward. He's also found that the learning curve can be dramatically lessened by buying programs, attending events, joining mastermind groups and learning from those who have already experienced the same challenges that you face .

Building a Legacy

"I'm aiming to build a legacy," Mike explains. "I see this business as a vehicle to not only build a company, but also help the small business owner who is really suffering now." He's passionate about helping the little guys make money in this economy because he knows they are the ones hiring people, generating revenue, and creating a tremendous economic impact both locally and nationally. He hopes to make a huge footprint across the country by helping LIMA members and other good people make money and live the lifestyle they want.

Mike loves to help his clients use the Internet to avoid being crushed by the competition and achieve success. In the future, he sees mobile marketing becoming increasingly important to his clients, and is aggressively pursuing this technique. "If the small business doesn't have a web presence AND they're not mobile friendly, they're going to get crushed again," he predicts.

Depending on the type of business, he sometimes bypasses the Internet and goes straight to helping them build a list of cell phone numbers instead of email addresses. "Low-value merchants like bars, restaurants, hair salons, golf courses ? these are the people who can really benefit. When you have a business owner that tells you, 'We started with no money today, but we sent out a text and had 5, 10, 20 people come in, otherwise we would have had a dead day,' ? that's what is gratifying."

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Source: http://www.nitromarketing.com/blog/lbmm-success-mike-maunu/

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