Basic Marketing Tips
Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics – that’s true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them, you really won’t have to sweat the small stuff.
#1. The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number when they need the services you offer.
Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren’t given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience’s attention.
Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular tip cannot be stressed enough – and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.
You should also know that taking the time really to see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don’t just totally give up when a response is low – persistence is vital.
#2. Measure your Return on Investment (ROI) in terms of actual money not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the money that it brings in has more value than the money and time that is spent on the marketing.
Don’t fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding too many of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the quantity of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.
#3. It is much easier to “sell” a prospect once you get them to call or come into your store. In 2-Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details – and get “closed” by that representative.
Your design must be eyed catching and informative, but don’t try to close the sale by explaining all the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.
Marketing can be as simple as 1-2-3 when you know the basics. By no means have they given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!
Posted 3 months ago at 2:33 pm. Add a comment
Attract More Visitors to your Site
While the methods and techniques for attracting customers online are limitless, there are some basic fundamentals that still hold true. Integrating these basics into you’re online marketing will help drive customers to your business.
Customer Attracting Basics
Three of the most important basics name recognition, providing something of value, and repetition.
* Name Recognition – Let’s look first at name recognition. This means that your future client recognizes your company name and connects it mentally to the industry in which you operate. The more often your soon-to-be clients see your name concerning your market niche, the more comfortable and secure them will feel with committing to you.
* Provide Something of Value – Providing something of value to your clients can include several things. It could include a free gift, advice, information, invitations to events or special offers.
* Repetition -The more you repeat information and a company name to your prospects, the more likely they are to have confidence in and remember your company. Familiarity breeds favorability.
Top Ten Customer Attracting Methods
Now that we have covered the basics of attracting customers, we will look at some of the methods that apply those fundamentals: * Give away something of value – People love free stuff. If you offer a free gift to visitors just for providing their email address, you will be amazed at how much traffic you generate – it will be well worth the investment. The gift could be something as simple as a well-written report, or a free trial of your product or service.
* Search engines – The higher that you rank on the search engines, the more traffic you will generate. Ranking higher on search engines requires you to employ as many of the methods covered here as possible, with all of them linking to your website.
* Pay Per Click – The PPC method is not free, however it is very effective. Even if you have a small allowance in your marketing budget, PPC is often worth the investment. However, you must properly manage this portion of the campaign or you will quickly blow through your PPC budget with little or no success.
* Email Signatures – By simply including a one-line promotion as your website address as a signature file on all your email accounts, you can generate significant traffic to your site.
* Blog Posts – Blog posts are a great free way to promote your site. Include the same email signature when you post to blog sites and again you have a free ad running your own blog is also a great way to attract a following.
* Message Boards – Once again, including a tagline when you post to message boards will draw people’s attention to your website. When you post regularly to message boards you employ those name recognition and repetition fundamentals.
* Classified Ads – While there are both free and paid classified ads online, this is yet another avenue to market your business. Be sure to promote any free gifts that you are offering in your classified ads
* Article Marketing – This is an essential portion of any online marketing campaign. It employs all three of the fundamentals we have discussed. A good article provides free valuable information to the reader while repeating your company name and therefore making your name more recognizable. Article marketing is also a great way to help boost your search engine rankings.
* Social Networking – Any of the social networking sites allow you to do exactly what the name suggests…Network. If you’ve employed the signature file, you have effortless customer attraction.
* Magazines – Both online and offline magazine advertising as well as public relations activity will increase your traffic.
The customer attracting methods outlined here will dramatically increase your audience, and using them simultaneously will exponentially boost your customer count. When your potential clientele sees your company name in multiple places, it builds trust and confidence. You may be unable to do all of them by yourself today, but make a start: your business deserves it!
Posted 3 months ago at 1:47 pm. Add a comment
Promoting your Site with Success
Anything new in the market needs to be promoted to gain familiarity with the masses. Once your website is created, you would definitely like it to be noticed by visitors. This is where website promotion comes into the picture. Though time-consuming, website promotion helps in attracting the attention of the audience to your website. It is essential to promote your website by using correct sources. Following was the steps that can lead to successful implementation of your promotion program.
Internet Directories:
It is a good idea to start promoting your website by listing it in the popular internet directories. With major internet directories recognizing it, the job becomes easier to attract a significant quantity of traffic, thereby increasing your website ranking. Moreover, submitting to the internet directories is effortless. However, you cannot be assured about the acceptance of your website submission. For guidance, it is always helpful to go through the directories to understand the different ways.
Furthermore, getting started with the free Open Directory Project (ODP) can be a very wise decision, providing your website has something unique and good content to offer. It is recommended that you follow the advice offered on ODP for a perfect beginning. Identify the suitable directories and ensure your website listing. Please note that major directories like Yahoo! Might charge you for their services.
Search Engines:
When your website gets included in the ODP, start getting to know the search engines – like the basics of their algorithms – to promote your site farther. By designing your website in a search engine friendly manner and identifying the SEO tactics, your promotion campaign can go a long way. Thereafter, submit your website to the popular search engines and witness huge traffic within no time.
Other Sources:
Other techniques of website promotion include banner ads, link reciprocals, E-mail signatures, Usenet advertising and writing newsletter articles, which can also help considerably in successful promotion.
With the above information, you are now ready to promote your website successfully !
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago at 10:17 pm. Add a comment
