Chat Room Marketing is the use of online voice and text chat services to build relationships while you are sharing your business products or services with prospective customers. Building relationships is critical when you’re dealing with prospects. The majority of customers that purchase new products do so because they like and trust the salesperson!

There are a variety of free chat rooms available to anyone with an internet connection. Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN are just a few of the more popular ones. Many chat services not only provide member to member chat, but also provide ‘public room’ where more than two people can meet.

Almost all services allow the user to create a ‘profile’ detailing their business and/or personal information. This is a very powerful way of beginning that critical relationship with your prospects. Most of the visitors that you talk to will check your profile! A detailed profile is also your first and best opportunity to get a marketing message through! I suggest you spend some time designing your profile. Include a picture and your phone number. Real people in business have no problem with this, and it shows credibility on your part. Include a short message about your business with a link to your website!

There are thousands of topic based ‘public’ chat rooms operating on the Internet that you can visit any time you wish. These chat rooms have rules prohibiting visitors from business showing up just to ‘pitch or their wares’. Always operate within the rules in public rooms or you will be labeled a SPAMMER and possibly be banned from the room. The idea is to use chatting to build relationships, not to burden other visitors with information they did not ask for!

Seek out public chat rooms based on topics where visitors may be interested in what you are marketing. Visit as a ‘curious guest’ and begin building relationships first. Once you get to know the group, ask questions that will lead to a discussion covering your products or services.

Start conversing with people in the rooms, be a studious listener and you will find people that may be interested in what you are marketing. Ask leading questions that turn conversation toward you marketing pitch. Remember, obey the rules!

If you have something to offer for free or topical information of interest to the visitors, you can ‘share’ it with them to drive targeted visitors to your site – but it must be relevant to the room’s topic!

Using free chat services to promote your business has its drawbacks. Free chat rooms are typically ‘open to the public’, are not secure and operate on voice servers that load down as the number of visitors increase. This causes a decrease in audio quality and delays that disturb your presentation.

The good news is that chat room technology has evolved right along with the Internet. The once very expensive, corporate quality chat rooms are now available at a price that even the small business or home user can afford.

Having your own private chat room gives you the advantage of full control over the visitors, the topics and the presentations. Advancements in chat room technology now give you much more than just the ability to talk. With the modern chat rooms, you can take visitors right to your web site and show them your products or services, answer their questions and close your sales in real time! In addition, you can ‘brand’ a good quality chat room with your company logo to give that ‘total professional’ impression to your visitors!

Use your imagination, possibilities are endless!

Some things to do in your chat room:

• Host free online seminars in your chat room with a subject based on your expertise.
• Use your chat room to meet with current customers with problems or questions.
• Use your chat room to do product or service demonstrations at no cost to the prospects.
• Regularly schedule FREE events in your chat room, give away “door prizes”
• Seek out & schedule subject matter experts as guest speakers in your room.
• Use your room for product and marketing training.
• Encourage families with loved ones abroad to use your room to communicate with them FREE of charge.
• Place a chat room link on your web site and greet prospects at the door.
• Host an open “Member’s Room” where your associates can meet and ‘kick dirt’.

I could go on and on here, but I think you get the idea. The potential benefit is limitless!

Most chat rooms allow you to text chat as well as communicate in voice. Visitors that are familiar with chat rooms will naturally use common chat room acronyms, and there are thousands. As the moderator or presenter, you should never use these acronyms when new visitors are present.

Chat room dictionaries:

http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/chat.html
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/CHAT_DICTIONARY.HTM

Big Businesses are getting serious about Chat Room technology:

“Wells Fargo’s chat increased home equity sales by 20%.” - Forrester Research - Online Service

“67 million US online customers will use chat for service in 2007.” - Forrester Research - Chat Plugs a Customer Service Gap

In the very near future, voice chat rooms will be the ‘standard’ for doing business online!

Top Pick Corporate Quality Chat Room: http://Netwise.MyWorldChat.com

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Tags: Marketing //