In the Internet Marketing community, a positive word from an influential member about you can transform your business into a success overnight. Getting people to "evangelize" your product, service or brand is priceless and irreplaceable. Do this right and you'll have an endless stream of income for as long as you wish.

There are two elements to creating this kind of customer: inspire them to love and respect you. That means you've taken the trouble to learn about your customers, as intimately as if you were courting them. You'll need to be open and approachable, as a person and a business.

You'll also need to communicate effectively. That means saying the truest thing you can when you communicate. Any attempt to hide behind a facade, when you really need to connect with someone, will ruin your chances of making that connection.

The best way to achieve this kind of connection is to be congruent - all of a piece, not divided. Marketers are sensitive and perceptive. They know when someone is holding back or acting contrary to the appearance they are trying to create. "A house divided cannot stand." That remains true today. Make sure your message matches with your intent. Otherwise, your message will go unheeded.

The nature and quality of your service and contribution will definitely affect your perception by the marketplace. People who consistently overdeliver and back up their offers with service and value get noticed and recommended. Those who offer only the value of what they are asking to be paid get ho-hum results. If all you deliver for $47 is $47 of total value, you're short-changing yourself and your business.

The IM pro who anticipates the needs of the marketplace and delivers the solutions to problems before they're needed gets respected, recommended and rewarded. Getting customers is often a small part of a marketing plan.

Keeping and continuing to sell to the same customers is vital for any marketer who wants to build a solid foundation for future expansion and bigger goals. The business owner that captures and keeps loyal buyers by being there first with new ideas, better solutions, novel presentations and improved versions of previous products need not fear price-cutting competitors with seductive sales messages.

Once you've built a corps of loyal buyers who are bonded to you for life, you'll have a constant source of new traffic that you cannot buy, beg or steal elsewhere. These "evangelical" customers will spread the word about your business with all the zeal and excitement they actually feel about what you do. Never mind having "Super Affiliates" represent you: true believers will reach people in a way that no hard-hitting sales copy or bonus offer could ever match.

You don't need to become foolish, credulous or sappy to appeal to people in this way. Instead, you have to have a strong foundation for your business, based upon a mission statement that inspires more than a motive to make money. Your business must be based on serving a higher purpose than taking in more cash than you pay out.

If all you want to do is make money, get a job. Businesses are based upon a worthwhile dream or vision. They are sustained by an effort that won't stop because of obstacles, challenges or temporary failures. The power behind that effort comes from a real need to achieve something worth loving and respecting.