Internet Marketing Opportunities in Developing Countries

Before we Start, Chuck the Term: “Third World”

An African Market

At the outset, and without wanting to offend, please allow me to caution about the use of the term “third world”. “Third world” and “third world countries” are dated and politically insensitive terms, having the connotation of inferiority, backwardness, sub-standard, low etc., and also denotes inferiority of the people of those countries. Something like: “Third grade people live in third world countries”. It is terminology associated with and rooted in imperialism, colonialism and the oppressive regimes of the “superior conquerors”

Perceptions of and Approaches to Developing Countries are Crucial for Marketing Success in those Countries

Notwithstanding the above and without venturing into the very role of imperialism and colonization in the creation of these discrepancies, the reality of wealthier and poorer nations cannot be negated. Hence, the more acceptable and less patronizing terms for “third world” would be “developing countries”, or better still, “emerging market economies”. I think a shift in how people in emerging market countries are referred to and perceived would probably be a prerequisite for successful business and marketing ventures in such countries. It is inevitable that the perceptions and attitudes about the people targeted for marketing purposes will infiltrate the marketing approach and strategies.

Developing countries: Fertile Ground for Home Business Opportunities

Human beings have vastly more in common than the differentials of income, status and standard of living. As much as poorer people may not have the material means to be perceived as potential customers or clients, as much should their aspirations, their drive and hence their potential to achieve and succeed never be underestimated. With this in mind I have no doubt that the market for products with skills development and income generating components integral to them, is absolutely massive and gravely neglected in developing countries! Just consider this against the background of the sky high levels of unemployment in developing countries. In the vast majority of cases unemployment = poverty. However, unemployment does not equal a lack of ability. More often than not is it merely about the absence of opportunity which is sadly overwhelmingly more prevalent in emerging market economies. Furthermore, there are a disproportionately higher number of well-qualified and computer literate unemployed people in developing countries compared to the number in developed countries. Hence, developing countries offer very fertile ground and untapped opportunities for quality home based work and business opportunities.

 

Internet Affiliate Marketing is Ideal for Developing Countries

This is especially true for internet marketing type positions that require a nominal financial investment to get started, and more so for affiliate marketing positions where the products have been tested and tried and where comprehensive guidelines for an effective internet marketing campaign are provided together with the tools, including product websites, to greatly enhance the chances of marketing success.

In considering the developing world for marketing purposes it must also be borne in mind that all developing countries have a strong developed component. In fact, there is a middle-class boom taking place in most of the developing world with the economic growth rate of many developing countries by far surpassing that of developed countries. This is the reason why these developing countries are also referred to as emerging market economies. It tells us a tremendous lot about the potential of these countries for new business opportunities.

As a person from a developing country, my primary focus as an internet marketer is without doubt on developing countries and my successes, within two weeks of starting off with internet marketing, with the promotion of the Top 10 rated home business opportunities, can bear testimony to that.

How to Get Started with Internet Marketing

Okay, so you want to get started with internet marketing, but like most people who want to start making a living off the internet or who want to earn extra income, you are simply totally confused. Well, that was my experience and I am convinced it must be the experience of the majority of people who are exploring the internet for opportunities to make money.  Let me put your mind at ease; it is perfectly normal to be confused, in fact, it is a logical consequence of an internet search for anything related to home-based or work-at-home jobs and businesses. The source of this confusion is simple: information overload.  As we surf the stormy waves of the information superhighway, we are being flushed down into all sorts of directions with innumerable ads and websites offering work at home opportunities, promising lucrative and sometimes instant financial benefits. So, again, it is totally natural to experience confusion to a frustrating and often paralyzing degree. The consequences of information overload or an excess of information are well-documented; you are at risk of shutting out (throwing in the towel), or storming frantically into the chaos.  

My goal with this lens as a newbie to internet marketing myself and from the lessons I have learned, is to prevent either of the two (throwing in the towel or storming into the chaos) happening to you. 

Here is how to go about:

Decide on the type of marketing and the nature of the product

Now, this is very important to help you sift through all the confusing offerings on the net and will steer you on a course. Once you have decided on the nature of the marketing and the type of the product, you can easily discard everything else that is not in sync with that.

Start off with Affiliate Marketing

At this point I take it for granted that you don’t have your own product and that you want to become a marketer for a company’s product, in which case you will become an affiliate of that company and help that company to market its product or products for a commission on the sales that can be directly attributed to your marketing. This is how I kicked off and is the route that I can recommend, especially if you are new to internet marketing and you still have to learn the ropes. 

The first beauty of affiliate marketing is that you can do marketing for an established company and market products that have already been tested in the market. In other words, you know there is a demand for the product. The ground work has been done and you simply become an instrument to help getting the word out about the product and getting people to buy the product from the links and ads you have placed on the internet.

A second major advantage of affiliate marketing is that you don’t need your own website, nor do you need to have a website hosted. This is all done for you by the company whose product you will be marketing and they will let you have you own link to their website.  This is how the sale from the company’s website is attributed to you – through your own unique link through which a client has accessed the company’s website from where he/she bought the product or service.

 The third good reason why I would recommend kicking off with affiliate marketing is that you will be guided by the company in the marketing process.  It is important to the company who you will be representing as their affiliate that you will succeed. Your success is their success and therefore they are going to provide you with the tools and procedural guidelines to be successful. What remains to be done by you is to work the system.

The first product and company that I joined up with as an affiliate I discovered on a Review Site of Internet related home businesses and jobs. From there on everything became clearer and I was ready to start marketing. All the information about how to market their product was set out clearly and step-by-step with invaluable information about free advertising as well as pay per click advertising. And if you think pay per click advertising is going to cost you an arm and a leg, not so. They have a comprehensive bonus module about advertising on Google included in their information package and if you know what you’re doing you can benefit tremendously from a Google ad campaign with a small financial investment. However, paying for advertising is not essential when you start off. The opportunities on the internet for free advertising are legion. I have started with free advertising only until I had enough seed funding to invest in a Google pay per click advertising campaign.

Market the type of information that people desire

Once you’ve decided that affiliate marketing is the route to follow, you need to decide on the nature of the product. It does not need to be something you personally like, but it has to be something that many people want. It’s got to be something with a track record of demand and you must have evidence of that.

Personally, I was not interested in a physical product to sell. Imagine the logistics involved in packaging and shipping etc. etc.  If you believe that information is a valuable asset and that it has a monetary value because it provides in a need, why not market and sell information that can be electronically transmitted?  I decided to go with such an information based product as I referred to above, which has not only opened new doors for me; it opened a new world to me.

Review Sites of Work at Home Businesses and Jobs

 

Perhaps you are looking for a different type of internet related marketing job, because of your special interests or circumstances. In that case the best way to go about is to read reviews of Work at Home businesses and jobs offered through the internet. I know of no better site than what is regarded as the No.1 Review Site Online. Jessica Miller’s mission is to review the work from home opportunities offered on the net and present us with the ones that come up tops as legitimate with real and substantial income producing potential.

A Last Word: You have to Work it

I am very sceptical of quick-rich programs and offers of easy money through internet marketing jobs. I don’t believe in easy money unless you are exceptionally lucky and have won the lottery or something similar. At the end of the day we have to work for an income and the internet marketing opportunities I have alluded to above are no exception. But it does offer relatively easy income opportunities and I can personally guarantee that if you work the system as it is clearly described for you in the programs I refer to, you will reap significant financial benefit. Moreover, once you’ve mastered the basic and initial steps of internet marketing, you learn of more and more opportunities the internet has to offer for free to enhance your potential for success and wealth.