Effective Marketing

Good marketing is not just about getting traffic to a website. It is about increasing revenue. Fail in that,

and you wasted time and money.

Good marketing is ALWAYS either expensive, or time consuming – low cost marketing falls in the middle

between costly and free marketing. This is an absolute rule you can depend on, and use as a yardstick

to measure tactics by. If someone promises you fast and cheap marketing, they are lying to you.

So what makes marketing good?

Good marketing puts an effective message in front of people who are interested in what you are

selling.

There are two parts to that:

1.

An effective marketing message.

This filters through your entire website, and through each ad that

you write. They all have to have a unified message, or you'll attract a different kind of person than you

really want, and that won't help you.

2.

It reaches people who are interested in it.

That means you are advertising in places where there is

likely to be a high number of people who meet your target market profile.

Advertising can be said to have two approaches:

The Shotgun approach:

You blast ads out there hoping that one of them hits someone who is actually

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interested. It is usually very cheap to do this, but it is also not very effective. If you market to mothers

with small babies, and you are blasting ads to all and sundry, then only about 1% or less of the people

who hear your ad will be within your target market. Sometimes this is the only way to reach a specific

market (like radio ads for a local market), but with marketing online, there is almost always a way to

target it.

The Sharpshooter approach:

You find places where a high number of your prospects hang out, and

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you get your ad in there. This has two advantages – it reaches the people who are most likely to be

interested, and it gives you a little bit of a recommendation from the place where they are hanging out.

For example, if you are targeting moms with small babies, and you advertise in a “new moms” site, then

you are advertising to people who fit your customer profile, plus visitors who like the site will associate

you with that site (because they saw your ad there), which helps them be more willing to trust you. This

approach generally costs many times more than untargeted advertising (or takes more time), but the ads

are far higher quality, and more likely to turn into purchases.

Now, a bit about “internet marketing”. Internet marketing is a term that is used to describe ONE internet

arena only:

How to sell information products to people, and to encourage them to make impulse buys.

It is not good for ANYTHING else! It does not work for anything else. People who sell “Internet

Marketing” materials through “one page websites” do not tell you that they have NO CLUE how to sell

shipped products, or services, or how to promote quality information.

They do one thing, which relies on

dishonesty to work, and they do NOT know HOW to market if they have to be strictly honest! Their tactics attract

only a single target market, and result in discouraged and disillusioned customers over the long term. Avoid their

“secret” marketing tactics, and learn the real stuff instead.

Things they recommend that do not work for startups:

1.

Traffic Exchanges.

You click on other people's ads and they click on yours, and everybody gets more

traffic. Only the problem is, nobody is interested in purchasing (you certainly aren't, why would anyone

else be?), they are only interested in inflating their traffic. This is a waste of time, because it does not

increase income.

 

2.

List building.

They present it as the instant answer. It takes time to build, and only happens if you

promote your LIST instead of promoting your SITE. Every business does NOT need an email list, it is an

optional thing, and a list is ONLY good if it helps you to develop good relationships with your customers.

3.

Freebies.

Freebies usually attract freebie seekers – these people are cheap, and do not make good

customers. Further, if you want a freebie to work, you have to advertise IT instead of advertising your

SITE. Samples and promos do work well for some businesses, but only if it is a carefully chosen item,

and ONLY if it helps to increase your sales, not just your traffic.

4.

Safelists, Announcement Lists, Ad Lists.

Everybody is there to SELL, not to buy. Nobody is reading

your ad, and you are wasting your time.

5.

List Builder Programs.

Again, everyone is there to sell, not to buy. These programs waste your time.

6.

Free Classified or Free for All Link sites.

These are bad news. Your ad does not stay there long

enough to be read before it scrolls off, and these sites are banned from search engines. Also, people

visit these sites to SELL, not to buy, so nobody is interested in your ad.

7.

Automated Search Engine Submissions.

You do NOT need to submit your site more than once

(unless you have neglected it for a LONG time and just did major changes, or unless you rebuilt it with

new page names). Automated submissions do not even submit to the best search engines (which

require manual submissions). Try

www.selfpromotion.com

if you want to know how to do it right, this site

helps you through the submit process in an effective way (and you can use it free).

8.

Autosubmits to blogs, forums, etc.

This is a spam tactic, and will get you in big trouble, besides being

TOTALLY ineffective.

9.

Overuse of Autoresponders.

This will kill your business, because it is impersonal and people know it.

Use autoresponders only as an enhancement to personal contact, or to deliver repetitive information,

with a clear invitation for personal contact if needed.

10.

Advertising on forums.

If you use a forum, you need to be a real person, and participate. Do not just

send ads, it is ineffective.

11.

Joint Ventures.

This is an “internet marketing” recommendation that you see in most IM books.These

do NOT work for startups, or for any business that does not have a substantial customer base. They do

not want your great idea, they want your customer list. See Collaborations below for more on using

cooperation in a good way.

Now, a quick listing of stuff that DOES work, and how to find more info on it:

1.

Directory Listings

– Find good quality directories to list for free. Directory listings are reviewed by a

person, which makes them different than Free Classifieds.

2.

Search Engines

– Submit your home page, ONCE, to the top search engines (MSN, Yahoo, and

Google).

3.

Article Marketing

– Write good quality information, and submit it to article directories. Do NOT write

ads! Put a signature line at the bottom, with a link to your site. More on online article marketing can be

found here:

http://www.articlemarketingmagic.com/

. You can also try traditional print article publications.

Harder to GET published, but big kudos if you do!

4.

Signature Lines

– Use signature lines in emails, forum posts, and other communications.

5.

Paid Ads

– Do the math before you commit, and choose paid ads that increase your site revenue.

6.

Link Exchanges

– Do NOT use Link Exchange programs. Just participate in forums and when you see

someone with a site that has relevant content that you feel you can respect, politely suggest a link trade

– your link on their site, for their link on your site. Not worth spending a lot of time on, but worth getting

when you can get a good one. You can swap links, or full ads.

7.

Viral Marketing

– Viral marketing works best when you can gather a group of people to create a viral

product – a freely distributable item that has genuine value, which has your business info in it. Not a

magic bullet, and not very helpful for startups, but useful sometimes.

8.

Forum Participation

– That means PARTICIPATION, not ADVERTISING. Post a comment, encourage

someone, ask a question, be a real person. Participate in Industry forums for information about your

business, participate in other forums to find large numbers of your target market. Drop a signature line

with each post. If you are friendly and helpful, people will click the link and you'll get business from it.

This is slow, but POWERFUL.

 

9.

Blogging

– Only works if you can keep up a steady flow of information or comment that people WANT.

You must post at least once a week, and you need to figure out how to use it to gently market without

being pushy.

10.

Events

– Online and offline events can really help you get your face and business out there. Prepare

well, and consider carefully what you want to offer then and there. A great place to distribute promos,

viral marketing products, brochures and business cards, or to offer a freebie that leads to further

customer contact (the only kind of freebie worth offering). The rule is, make sure you have something

with your contact info on it to send home with everyone you contact, or who visits your display.

11.

Business Cards

– Use business cards to keep people reminded of who you are and what you do.

Create a good one, then hand them out to anyone who might be interested.

12.

Networking

– Get to know people, and get your name out there. Build relationships. Business comes as

a natural result of familiarity and friendliness.

13.

Trade Associations

– Good networking, but some also offer good marketing benefits. Make sure the

marketing benefits actually reach your market – if you sell soap, and promote in a magazine for soap

makers, it is not going to help you since all the readers are ALSO selling soap. Make sure marketing

benefits reach your CUSTOMERS, not your competitors.

14.

Press Releases

– Only useful if you have genuine NEWS. If you do, and if you write it well, these can

be powerful.

15.

Guest Appearances

– When you get the chance to present a seminar, radio show, teleconference, etc,

go for it. These get your name out there, and most are recorded, so even if no one hears them at the

time, they can benefit you long term.

16.

Collaborations (JV)

– Cooperate with other business owners for mutual benefit. Organize an event

together, produce a viral book together, swap services or goods, etc.

17.

Volunteering

– Give something first. Volunteering, sponsoring, and making your presence known can

help establish a reputation for professionalism, and it can get you seen.

18.

Market to Customers

– Don't be pushy about this! Just let them know when you are having a sale

(tactfully), send them a planner with discount coupons in it, put a flyer or catalog in the box with their

order, send them a greeting card, etc. Make sure you only send them something they will appreciate.

19.

Local Media

– Choose wisely, because different media works for different businesses, but often local

newspaper ads or radio ads are not extremely costly.

Don't let marketing overwhelm you. Pick two things you can do, and do them consistently.

Once you get

a routine for those, then add in another, perhaps two or three months down the road. Choose the things you can

do most easily, and choose the things that will be most effective for YOUR business.

Marketing is a necessary facet of a successful business. Choose the right stuff, and it gets a whole lot

easier, and a whole lot more rewarding.