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
•
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
•
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.
