Internet Marketing Is Just Marketing

Internet marketing, web marketing, web 2.0, social media, youtube, twitting, SEM, SEO, PPC...what the?

Most people can see that the internet would be, or could be, a great place to market their products or services but it can all get a little confusing. There’s a new technology out every other day. How do you use it all to promote and sell your businesses products/services? Is it even worth it?

Well it certainly can be worth it if done correctly. We all know that the young men behind technologies like Facebook have made millions upon millions, and that big businesses like Chrysler have had great successes with different online campaigns. But, it’s also just as easily used to sky rocket the sales of a small business.

In the same way that both large and small businesses can profit from newspaper ads (using them in a different way) small businesses can use the Internet, as big business does, just in a different way to profit.

Luckily Internet marketing really isn’t as hard as what it’s made out to be. It’s just selling products and services to people. The very same people you sell to with local newspaper ads, radio ads, direct mail pieces, yellow pages ads etc.

Internet marketing is just marketing

Even though it’s a new medium the same principles of offline marketing still apply to online marketing.

1. Pick your target market(s) first and find out everything you can about them. What are their needs?

2. Fill that need with your product or service.

3. Effectively communicate that you have a product or service that fulfils that need.

With Internet marketing it’s simply that the medium of communicating (number 3 above) to people that you can fill their need, is different from other forms of marketing. You still need leads and to be able to convert those leads into paying customers. You still need to have the basics down...ie. a hungry crowd and something to feed them with.

So firstly, who is your hungry crowd?

If you can define exactly who you’re trying to sell to all of the other steps in the process fall into place so much more easily. Without knowing the answer to this question it’s very hard to convince people, that you don’t know and don’t know what problems and needs they have, that you can be their solution.

Also, it’s harder on the internet than any other medium to find them if you don’t know exactly who they are.

So really define exactly who they are. The more you can niche it down the better. For example ‘golfers’ is too broad and too hard to market to, but left handed golfers’ or ‘elderly golfers’, now that’s a lot easier to target to.

A good way to go about it is to think of a few people who you actually know who are a part of the ‘hungry crowd’, or perhaps a fictional character. A golf professional may think of a few friends or family that are off a high handicap, an architect might think of someone she knows who is looking to put an extension on their house.

The more you can get inside their heads the better.

By the way, you may have several target markets. This is particularly the case with larger business but you must define each market.

Fill their need with a product or service

You may well already have a product/service. If so there may be a way to mold it a bit better to the exact need of the target market(s) you going after.

If you don’t already have one, brainstorm. Come up with as many different ideas as you can that will fill this hungry crowds needs. Pare it down. Really get inside the heads of your target audience and think about what fulfils their need.

Communicate that your product/service can ‘feed’ the crowd

So up until now everything has been the same as any other medium in marketing. The only difference now from other forms of marketing is the medium. And there are subtle differences in the way that you communicate your marketing message.

You need to do 2 things really
a) Get as many leads as possible
The cornerstones of getting leads on the internet are Search Engine Marketing (which includes Search Engine Optimization and Paid Placement ads or Pay Per Click), email marketing, affiliate marketing and social media.

Then...

b) Convert as many of those leads as possible into a sale
Have these leads being as qualified as possible and clicking on a landing page that is compelling enough to convert the visitor into a customer.

So how do you do this through the medium of the Internet?

Internet Marketing Is Direct Response Marketing At Its Best
Internet marketing is really the ultimate form of ‘Direct Response Marketing’.

The way that successful Direct Response marketers go about it is to test something out, in fact test a few versions out, use the piece of marketing that got the highest response and then try and improve on it again and test to see if it gets a higher response and so on.

Successful Internet marketing is the same. Test, respond, test, respond. And luckily, it’s so easy to do on the web because web pages can be changed so quickly and marketing strategies can be changed so quickly.

How Do You Go About It?
It really is as simple as this at its base. But there are many things you need to know in order to get those leads and convert them. It really isn’t that hard. Having read this you now actually have a better understanding of the whole than many website designers and IT geeks, now all you need is some of the nitty gritty of how to do it.

You'll need to learn how to develop a website that converts leads into paying customers, and you'll need to learn how to develop many qualified leads coming to that web site every day.

Effective Marketing Tricks to Boost Your Business During The Recession

Throughout this economic downturn, Experts are suggesting that now is the time to increase marketing and advertising spending because it is likely your competitors are pulling back. Yet, how are you supposed to increase marketing with constricting budgets, decreased cash flow and diminishing revenues? Welcome to the Catch-22 of business marketing.

Fortunately, there are ways to increase your marketing efforts and improve client acquisition techniques without necessarily increasing spending. Here are some marketing tricks you can adopt immediately to boost your business during slow times.

1. Start a blog

Yes, blogging is time consuming and takes commitment. But it is also one of the least expensive methods for establishing a professional “presence” on the Internet. The good news is once you have a blog and it begins receiving a growing number of visitors, you have a “home base” with which you can leverage additional Internet marketing tactics, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. One of the most popular blogging platforms, WordPress, is completely free and you can create your blog instantly at wordpress or on blogger.

2. Participate in other blogs

Once you have a blog and a “voice” of your own, share your opinions in the “comments” section of relevant blogs. By reading other blogs pertinent to your industry or topic, you become more knowledgeable, and by sharing knowledge or insights with other blog visitors, you further establish your own expertise. It also doesn’t hurt that you can include a link back to your own blog within your signature.

3. Enhance your business Web site with links to industry blogs

This step assumes you already have a Web site for your business. If you don’t, you must get one. Once you have a Web site, the next step is incorporating “Web 2.0” functionality so the Web site does not seem “static.” One of the easiest ways to do this is to add an RSS Feed of your own blog to your Web page. Add other RSS feeds or links to other industry blogs, too. Once potential customers start viewing your Web site as a hub from which they can get information, they are much more likely to revisit your site often. That kind of loyalty and trust is often punctuated with a purchase.

4. Write and publish a book

With self-publishing service providers, publishing a book is easier and faster than ever. And, as a business person in your industry, you possess the knowledge and experience to write and publish a non-fiction book that is relevant to your past, present and future customers. For the sake of example, a book of this nature, in its simplest form, is basically a rewrite of your business model combined with a rewrite of your product/service manual. Not only is a book a revenue channel in its own right, but a published book further establishes your expertise to new customers and provides a low-cost entry to your business. Potential customers who may shy away from your product or service’s price point will be apt to purchase a book from you in the $20 range. It becomes the book’s responsibility to communicate all the advantages/benefits of your product or service. Bonus: Once you have published a book, you open up a whole new marketing opportunity by reaching new customers.


5. Offer your book free to potential clients as an e-book

What’s better than being able to acquire profitable new clients through a $20 “loss leader” like a book? Give your book away for free – all you ask in return is their e-mail address. They get something of value in exchange for adding to your e-mail database. Now, with their permission, you can provide them with additional information and assistance via e-mail, once a month, or at whatever duration you think is best. If they find your correspondence valuable, you are that much closer to adding a new customer to your business. How much did you lose? The royalty from the paperback book sale? What is $2-$10 in comparison to the $50-$200 cost-per-acquisition you typically pay for new customers the traditional way?

6. Engage in pay-per-click advertising

Once you have a blog, a paperback and a free e-book available on your Web site, you are prepared to successfully engage in high ROI (return on investment) pay-per-click Internet advertising through Google and Yahoo. Services such as Google Analytics will help you identify your cost-per-lead, and your own business model should help you identify an acceptable cost-per-lead. If your actual cost-per-lead is lower than your acceptable cost-per-lead, you have a successful marketing campaign. Otherwise, it requires a little refining.

7. Create “microsites” and “landing pages”

The next step is to categorize your pay-per-click campaign into separate and specific categories. Then, make sure people who click on specific keyword ads are arriving upon specific microsites or “landing pages” designed around those keywords. Further enhance your offerings by publishing multiple books (think around 100 pages) and offering multiple e-books, each one specific to each individual and each specific landing page. For instance, even though your business may cater to both mothers and fathers, women and men search for information on the Internet differently. When you advertise to them differently, and then treat them uniquely once they reach your site, they will each feel a personal connection with your business because you are treating them like an individual, rather than a wallet. Given the investment in the blog, in the book, and in the pay-per-click campaign, creating a “pink” version and a “blue” version of two different landing pages is a no-brainer. That is an over-simplification, but the point is the same.

By treating each potential client or customer as a unique individual and by liberally sharing a wealth of information with each of them, you begin to establish your own expertise while gaining their trust and loyalty. People buy from experts who they have reason to trust.

Now that you know how to increase your marketing techniques, even during a recession, imagine what you will be able to do once the economy turns around! These simple and cost-effective marketing steps will help you improve your client acquisition rates and sell more products and services, while your competitors cut back and lose out on new clients.