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The internet as your key marketing engine?
Yes, it’s true. If you are committed to the three steps described below and you make plans to improve on each of them, you can build a successful internet marketing machine. You will have happy customers, your cost of acquiring and keeping each customer will decrease, your revenue will increase, and your profits will soar. Presented below is a systematic approach of three steps to developing actionable items to power your internet marketing program and get profitable results.
Step One: Sharpen Your Audience Messaging – All of It
Messaging does not belong only to the marketing executives of mega brands like Coca-Coca and the creative folks at their advertising agencies. If your business involves convincing someone to buy or use your products or services, you are already sending messages, whether intentionally or accidentally. So how do you make your messages effective? You need to deeply understand who your customers are, what’s important to them, and what your products and services can do to solve their problems and/or get the results they want. Once you understand your customers’ needs, you can craft a message that will illustrate how your products will relieve your customers’ pains and enable them to realize the gains they want. The concept is simple. So why don’t more entrepreneurs use it? Often because they are emotionally attached to their products and find it hard to objectively observe from the customer’s perspective.
Here is a simple yet effective approach for entrepreneurs and their teams to create powerful messaging to pinpoint benefits for their customers.
First, look at the customers you want to reach and determine the key players based on their roles or needs. For example, ask yourself who are the end users? Who are the evaluators or gatekeepers? Who is ultimately responsible for the strategy and the profitability of the organization for which your products might have an impact? You need to truly understand your customer base and to understand there is usually more than just one decision maker.
Second, look at the issues specific to each of these audience groups. What is their technical comfort level? How important is their problem which your product will solve? What other solutions (including a decision to stay with the status quo) compete with what you have to offer? You need to know who influences the decision, and what you can do to make champions out of those who help shape that decision.
Third, consider how the benefits of your products address the groups’ reasons to buy or not to buy for each group. For example, if the users want something plug-and-play and easy to use, they won’t consider products requiring a long and hard learning curve. If your product is easy to use, then ease of use will be a very important benefit and a reason to buy.
Armed with a clear understanding of the issues considered critical by each of the target audiences in your customer base and the compelling benefits your products bring, you can craft powerful messages to pinpoint the benefits your customers will gain from using your products. With this messaging, you can create your elevator speech and tagline, and develop an outline of the content, supporting materials, keywords, functionalities and calls-to action for your Web site. You can also evaluate how appropriate and effective various online marketing tools may be to reach and capture your customer base.
Step Two: Build a Web Site That Works
Your Web site is a critical piece of your internet presence, a way for customers and prospects to get to know your business. You want them to leave with the impression you intended for them to have. It is a waste of valuable resources to advertise your business only to disappoint your visitors when they are confused by outdated or incomplete product information, they fail to find information that convinces them your products have value, or they have to look hard to register their interest and do business with you. Poor reactions to your website will hurt your sales and your bottom line. A website that works, however, will make your marketing dollars go a long way. How can you tell if your website really works? You can track your leads and sales, and identify those that are facilitated by your Web site.
There are five things to consider when evaluating your website’s effectiveness.
First, look at whether the messaging, content, presentation and features support what your company and products represent and how you do business and treat your customers.
Second, build your Web site from your customer’s perspective. Too often, companies build their website around what they know about their organizational structures rather than how their customers think when researching solutions and making buying decisions. Can your customers easily find what they are looking for, contact you, and ask about opportunities to do business with you? If you think like a customer, your site is more likely to be logical for them to use and easy for them to navigate.
Third, make your website search-engine friendly to ensure visibility. Be sure you do not short change your website’s opportunities by ignoring the basics, such as relevant content, good titles, text that search engines can read, and other good site designs that improve search engine results.
Fourth, your website needs to call visitors to action and ask for the sale. Encourage customers to contact you, register to receive a White Paper, sign up for offers, buy your products, or other calls-to action that make sense.
Fifth, your website should create a good customer experience.
Step Three: Integrate Your Marketing Across All Sales Channels
Consider the various online marketing tools: Which of these are most appropriate and effective for your products and the target audience in your industry or market segment? E-mail, blogs and RSS, Really Simple Syndication, are easy and efficient ways to offer your target audience late-breaking news, how-to tips, and insights. E-mails work if they contain useful content requested by your recipients, but can easily backfire if your customers feel your e-mails are uninvited spam. Blogs work for your readers who want to decide whether and when they want access to your content, and who choose to participate in the online conversation. RSS readers subscribe based on their interest. To be effective, these tools require a commitment to produce relevant and meaningful content on a timely and regular basis for customers who welcome it.
Search engine listings and pay-per-click advertising make use of the popularity of search engines as important business research tools. Banner ads and online sponsorships, if correctly placed, can get your company in front of a targeted audience. Social networking tools such as bulletin boards and online communities can help build word-of-mouth awareness, referrals, and buzz through peer recognition. To get your desired outcome, it is best to approach each of these tools with a clear strategy and a commitment to devote the resources needed to establish your presence. With some planning and good implementation, you can leverage your marketing dollars even further by making sure your online presence supports and integrates with other marketing and sales channels you choose to pursue.
Having a Web site that works is critical to success. A powerful internet marketing machine is built on a clear understanding of your target audience, a compelling message that pinpoints the benefits your products offer and a value proposition that speaks to your customers’ needs. Choose the right mix of online marketing tools to position your company effectively among your target customer base, and make sure these tools support your overall marketing strategy. It’s good basic marketing – and it can turn the internet into the powerful tool it ought to be.
Copyright Eva Chiu and InfoAdvantage.
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