Visionary Guide V2

Internet Strategies For The Visionary Thinker

1 Copyright 2006 Randy Gaulding – All rights reserved

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Copyright 2006, by Randy Gaulding

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without the expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author.

LIMITS OF LIABILITY / DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY The author of this ebook has used their best efforts in preparing this material. The author makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this material. They disclaim any warranties (expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. As always, the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other professional should be sought. Randy Gaulding, individually, or corporately, does not accept any responsibility for any liabilities resulting from the actions of any parties involved.

This ebook contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and treaties.

Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material in prohibited.




Introduction

I have helped hundreds of clients and friends with their Internet marketing questions. Most of the informational material and tools found on the Internet are about creating an online business, i.e. write effective emails, creating a web site that draws audience, hypnotic formula for writing a sales letter, and write an ebook the fastest way. These are good tools to have depending on your task at hand. What about; why would I use blogs vs. mini web site, or what is a squeeze page and how is it used, and what is the difference between lead generation and email marketing. I am working on the Internet 7 hours a day with clients and after all this time and all these years, I haven’t found one document, or one book that would explain all the different actions one can take in promoting a business on the Internet. The Internet is changing every day and new visionary ideas are popping up. The constant within this change is that there is change. Let me show you something you may have missed about Internet marketing.




How to Use This E-Book This book doesn't need to be read cover to cover like a traditional book. You can skip to whatever sections you think will provide you with the most benefit. If you're new to Internet marketing it may help you to follow the natural progression of each section. The sections are organized to build upon previous ones. For your convenience, the ebook is available as a downloadable PDF. If you prefer to print-out a copy of the e-book, I recommend the PDF version because it is more printer-friendly. Why an E-book? Nothing changes faster than the Internet. With an ebook, I'm able to update with the latest information in real-time, while it's still relevant. If this e-book were published as a traditional book a lot of the information would be obsolete by the time it hit book shelves. As new tactics are developed and proven, I will update this ebook.




Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 About the Author ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Visionary Thinkers and Their Strategies …or .................................................................................................. 8 Internet Marketing .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Concept Validation ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Target Audience & Niche .................................................................................................................................... 15

Demographics ................................................................................................................................... 18 • G.I. generation: 1901 – 1924 ................................................................................................... 18 • Silent generation: 1925 – 1945 ................................................................................................ 18 • Baby Boomers: 1946 – 1964 ................................................................................................... 18 • Bridge-point: 1959 – 1964 ....................................................................................................... 19 • Generation X: 1965 – 1979 ...................................................................................................... 19 • Twixers: 1976 – 1984 .............................................................................................................. 20 • Generation Y, aka: millennial generation, aka: Echo Boomers: 1980 – 1999 ...................... 20 • 9/11 Generation: 2001 – present ............................................................................................. 21 Other Narrow Demographic Groups .............................................................................................. 21

Perceived Value of a Product or Service ......................................................................................................... 22 Strategies and Tactics .......................................................................................................................................... 24 What is the Difference between a Strategic and Tactical Approach to Business? ............................... 24

A Correct strategy can make all the difference in your future. .................................................. 28 5 Internet Marketing Strategies .......................................................................................................................... 30

Lead Generation (OPT-IN) .................................................................................................................... 30 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM) .................................... 30 Joint Ventures (JV) ............................................................................................................................... 31 E-Mail Marketing ................................................................................................................................ 31 Affiliates Programs ........................................................................................................................... 32

Online Tactics ......................................................................................................................................................... 33 Direct Response Websites .............................................................................................................. 33

Sales Letter Website ....................................................................................................................... 33 Membership Site .............................................................................................................................. 34 Affiliate Site ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Review Site ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Topic Site ......................................................................................................................................... 34 Discussion Forum Site .................................................................................................................... 35 Corporate Site .................................................................................................................................. 35 e-Commerce Site............................................................................................................................. 35 Squeeze Page ................................................................................................................................. 35 Directory Website ............................................................................................................................ 36

Internet Marketing Tactics ................................................................................................................................... 36 Domain Name .................................................................................................................................... 36 Testimonials ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Pop-Up/Pop-Under/Pop-Over/Hover Ad ............................................................................................... 37 Auto-responder Email Sequence ................................................................................................... 37 EZine .................................................................................................................................................... 38 JV Email Request .............................................................................................................................. 38 Affiliate Email ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Email Signature/Signature Box ....................................................................................................... 38 Testimonials about OTHER products ............................................................................................ 39 PodCast/Video Blogging .................................................................................................................. 39 RSS/Blog ............................................................................................................................................. 40 Publish Articles ................................................................................................................................. 40




Article Resource Box / About the Author ............................................................................................. 41 Co-Registration .................................................................................................................................. 41 Audio ................................................................................................................................................... 41 Video .................................................................................................................................................... 41 Press Release ....................................................................................................................................... 41

OnLine Advertising ............................................................................................................................................... 42 PPC Ads ............................................................................................................................................... 42 Paid and Free Inclusion Directories ............................................................................................... 43 Ezine Ads ............................................................................................................................................ 43 Solo Email Ads .................................................................................................................................. 44 Banner Ads ......................................................................................................................................... 44 Sponsorship Ads .............................................................................................................................. 44 Blog Ad’s ............................................................................................................................................ 45 Forums & Newsgroups .................................................................................................................... 45 Niche Market ...................................................................................................................................... 45 Free Information ................................................................................................................................ 45 Directory of Related Information ........................................................................................................... 46 Tele-Class or Tele-seminar .............................................................................................................. 46 Free Sample.......................................................................................................................................... 46 Free Trial / Demo ............................................................................................................................... 46 Contests .............................................................................................................................................. 47 Survey .................................................................................................................................................. 47 Special Events ................................................................................................................................... 47 Relationship ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Refer a Friend ....................................................................................................................................... 48 Opt-In List ............................................................................................................................................. 48 Viral Information ................................................................................................................................ 48

Strategies & Tactics Matrix.................................................................................................................................. 49




About the Author

With more than 15 years of business development, sales and marketing experience in the Information Technology Industry, Randy is an accomplished Marketing expert. His vision and expertise in business development have driven notable enterprise growth in the retail, communications, and travel industry sectors.

Offering a blend of creative and business strengths, Randy has utilized his Sales and Marketing skills to create a number of successful Internet enterprises for himself and others. With a particular focus on empowering entrepreneur and business professionals to expand and develop their personal effectiveness, Randy has an exceptional track record, both on and off-line.

Randy has been using emerging technologies like Blogs, Podcasting and Video blogging as strategic marketing tactics with his clients. Using these technologies also requires knowledge of using RSS feeds to syndicate client's information to the Internet.

Randy’s clients have come from a varied industries; online ecommerce, professional businesses, publishers, MLM entrepreneurs, sports arbitrage, online dating, real estate investors, progressive learning centers, physicians, health guru’s, food and wine experts, natural and alternative health experts, Reiki masters, Fung Shui masters, internet marketing experts and seminar presenters.

Randy is an Internet Marketing Strategist and a Certified Expert in Strategic Marketing Plan Development, Search Engine Research and Ranking, Affiliate Marketing, Ebook Marketing, Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Copywriting, Statistics & Analysis, Pay-Per-Click Campaigns.

Randy is also a certified “Retirement Coach”.




Randy lives in Dallas, Texas.

Visionary Thinkers and Their Strategies …or

(The Secret World “Outside the Box”) What I am presenting here is the “Answer of the day”… It has two parts…The good news answer and the bad news answer. Oh, by the way, the question has already been asked – the minute you bought this book. “Well, what’s the question?” you might ask at this point. And THAT answer is… “How do I make money on the Internet?” of course! Okay, getting back to the answer of the day - Which do you want first – the good news answer or the bad news answer? I think you may already see where this is going…Well, just play along with me for a minute, all right? How about if we start with the bad news answer first? That is (Insert drum-roll here…) Your old assumptions about how to sell on the Internet will not work the same today as they did one year ago (Darn; you were hoping I wouldn’t say that, weren’t you?). Ok – now for the good news answer…yes, there is some good news. You CAN make money on the Internet, Virginia – excuse us, Santa Claus – Only there IS a hitch.




You will have to open your mind, open your thoughts to a new way of marketing, and then create a way to look for new possibilities. There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Just a new way of looking at things. And, after all, I am here to help. So, let’s get started, shall we? Visionary Strategies and Tactics are not new gimmicks; they represent knowledge we have had for some time; it’s just that now, they need to be viewed and applied in a different, more creative way! One of the keys to successfully applying them, from a marketing perspective, is that you must discover new avenues to reach your target audience and capture their attention. Each year, for the past five or six, your audience has become more and more astute looking at Internet marketing. Consequently, you must also be much more aware of the need to communicate more effectively with them. You must find a way to entice them to come back to your site, over and over again. How about we get started?




Internet Marketing

Have you noticed, there are millions of web sites up and running now? Of course you have – you’d have to be dead between the ears to have missed that!

So, Mr. businessman/entrepreneur, how will you get the results that you are looking for? AND, is it even possible to have a business on the Internet and create income?

As you might imagine, in my business I get this question often. Usually, it comes in the form of “Are you making money on the Internet?”

My answer is always a resounding, “YES – absolutely!”

There is a difference, though, between marketing, making money, and selling and, knowing that difference is what will determine what you take to the bank.

Simply by having a website up does not mean you are going to “sell” anything.

Think of it this way - Your web site is a visible “vehicle” to hold images, text documents, audio and video recording. Really, said another way, Web sites are “instruments” to sell products and services.

When thinking about using the Internet for a business, you must have a pretty clear idea of what your objective is. This actually takes careful planning and the creation of an effective marketing plan. Believe it or not, this is just as important when you build a website as it is if you were planning to build a brick & mortar business.

This seems like as good a time as any to explain the difference between marketing and selling. Since this is a critical piece of knowledge, let me put it as simply and concisely as possible. That is – and you can quote me on this - “Marketing is




everything that you do before you accept payment before a product or a service”. Let me repeat – it is that important!

Marketing is EVERYTHING you do before the money changes hands between you and the customer.

Now I am not the first person to say this – and I won’t be the last – but it is one of the most critical things to “get” about being in business.

Marketing means using strategies and tactics to reach your target audience pull them to your web site, encourage them to purchase your product or service, and bring them back again and again.

Creating a web site can be fun, educational, somewhat frustrating at times and can provide great conversation in a small group of people. BUT, (and it is a big but) - it is meaningless if nobody knows that you have created the site.

In the course of my working with hundreds of clients, nationally and internationally, I have gathered numerous successful strategies and tactics which have helped me help my clients to build and grow thousands of successful businesses on the World Wide Internet.

As we continue, and if you pay close attention, you will learn the difference between Strategies and Tactics. In addition, you will learn that BOTH are required to make your business successful.

Now, if you have spent any time surfing the Internet for information about marketing, you know that you will see and hear mostly about marketing tools that will help you in developing your site, creating content to capture your visitors’ attention, and handy gadgets and gizmos that will help support, manage, and analyze your marketing efforts.




I may touch on a few of these tools, but the information I ‘m going to share with you will discuss the things I’ve found to be the most effective Internet strategies and tactics around.

First things first. You need to know that pretty much everything related to Internet marketing revolves around three key things:

• Concept Validation

• Identifying A Target Audience/Niche Market

• Perceived Value of A Product/Service Remember, what I am going to help you discover is how to create a “Visionary Internet Plan” by using the correct strategies and tactics. I will not be designing your website. That gets done by you or a web designer you hire. Notice, I said “web designer.” Believe me, one of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they are hiring a “marketing expert” when all they are hiring is an “artist type” with a good eye for design who thinks something looks “cool” but has NO idea how to market or sell anything.

And, remember, you heard it here…If you are using a Web Designer, it is still your responsibility to understand strategies and tactics and be able to define and direct your Web Designer to build a site that will “sell”.

So, be sure to keep all that in mind when you hire that guy or gal to build your site; Their job is to do what they do best – design. Rely on yourself and the sources we will be talking about to market your product or services. Another advantage of being clear about this is that when you realize that all they are doing is “design” work, and you are doing the heavy thinking, your cost will remain lower and you will have more control.




Make sure you are clear about this with your designer. You need to be able to communicate your strategy objectives and to fully explain the tactics that you want to use, or it will be impossible for the designer to build a site that will achieve your goals.

Hopefully, by the time we’re done here, you’ll be clear about knowing your target audience, your niche, and how to sell your product or services much better then they ever would.

Oh, yes, one other thing. If you plan to make a business out of this, be sure that you or someone you can easily communicate with and who is very reasonable who will be able to make changes to your website. Having a website does require being able to update and keep things current and if you have to continually go back to your web designer to make those changes, it could end up costing you a pretty penny. Now, if cost is not an object, than, not to worry – However, if you want to be able to be economical in running this business, be sure your designer builds your site in such a way that you can go in and make updates and changes periodically.

Ok, ready to get started with the first of the three key things to know, Concept Validation.

Concept Validation

What Exactly Do I Mean by Concept Validation?

I’m sure that even if you’ve used the Internet well before you decided to create a site or create a business on the Internet, you may not have thought about what was going on in the background while you were using a browser.

What I’m talking about are all those words or phrases that you used, to search for vacation spots, your kid’s history lesson, and maybe even that great recipe you heard about on TV.




Well, over time, companies like Google, MSN/Overture, and few others, created a way to capture each word or word-phrase used and then put a matrix or data base behind the usage.

The end result is that they know exactly how many people search for any given word or word-phrase AND how often a particular topic is searched.

So, without going into a lot of detail about search engines, the point is, if we also knew how users were searching for information on the Internet, and how many times this information is being requested in a 24 hour period, we would know how exactly, being crystal clear, on how to market to these people. It’s pretty obvious that they would be our target audience.

For example; If you knew the ice cream truck came into your neighborhood three times in a single day, after a couple of days, if you wanted some ice cream, you would know when to be on your curb, waiting for the truck.

There are tools that will help you in determining how keywords/phrases are used. They will also help you in validating your concept based on how many time the word/phrase is used in a 24 hour period, and how often the word/phrases are used on other web pages.

Here are some that I have found to be particularly effective:

As an entrepreneur of the web, I have built many sites. I have also worked to get these sites ranked at the top of search engines. To be able to do this, you need to conduct extensive research to find the most popular keywords that people search for and then use those phrases on your site.




Here are a few tools that I used to create a list of keywords and determine which are search the most:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://www.digitalpoint.com

http://www.wordtracker.com

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

http://www.apogee-web-consulting.com/tools/keyword_tool.php

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/#

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/free-keyword-research-tools/8153/

To pull traffic to your web site to promote your services or products, you need to know what they are looking for and how they are looking for it.

Ok, time to move ahead to Key concept #2…

Target Audience & Niche

Who is Your Target Audience and What is Your Niche?

It’s really important to define and understand your Target Audience. From my experience of working with hundreds of clients, it is best to work on one target audience and one niche market at a time.

Now, at this point, you might very well say, “Yes, but, I have several ideas I want to market and have lots of different kinds of audiences I want to market those ideas to. How can I narrow it down to just “one Target Audience?”




Well, if you are a creative sort of person, you may very well have several ideas that you want to get onto the net ASAP; however, once you learn the process of how to market a specific service or product, bringing other products in behind it will be a piece of cake for a pro like you!

The business principle that most describes what I am talking about is this…”If you market to everybody, you will sell to no one.” Actually, I think I said that as a matter of fact! If not in the past, I am saying it now.

All kidding aside, if you are going to take the time and energy to build a web site, doesn’t it make a whole lot of sense to build the site that attracts the people you want to sell to? They are, after all, your target audience. Your message to them must be clear, with no confusing messages, unnecessary content, and other products that would not relate to their needs or which would distract them.

The next thing to think about is that your message must also relate to the “niche” in the market that you have decided to fill. Now, unless you have heard this term before, you may be asking what the heck is a “niche”. Well, some of you may be very clear what it is, but for those of you who want a little more background, it goes like this. A niche is a small area in a particular market that is not already being served by someone else or is being underserved. Here’s an example:

A client of mine was interested in selling natural health products. Within this product line was an Aloe Vera drink that she liked, used and it also was getting good sales.

When I asked her about her experience with this drink, she told me a story about being diabetics and how she discovered that the drink help her maintain her body levels. She also took the drink when she was pregnant and her results were very positive for her pregnancy, her doctors were amazed and it helped maintain her blood pressure.




Her focus, her target audience, her niche was diabetic pregnant women.

So, continuing on in the discussion about our target audience, one of the first things you are going to want to focus on are the benefits of your service/products and the part they will play in the design and execution of your message to your customer.

Now, your natural inclination may be to start with “the facts” or features of your service or product.

Things that you may believe make you stand out from all the others in your field. Well, facts and features may be informative and logical - but, and it is a BIG but, people buy on emotions. That’s right – your facts, data, features and statistics, maybe logical but they won’t create the kind of emotional response necessary to get someone to BUY your product. And, that is our aim, right?

Okay; let’s look at an example of “feature” versus “benefit”. This should help you get the idea.

Let’s say you are going to buy a new clothes washing machine. When you are talking to the sales person, he mentions that this is a front loading machine. Would you buy this because it is a front loading machine? Well, you might if you knew a LOT about why a front loading machine was better, right. But, if you didn’t, just by saying it is a “front loader” would not necessarily entice you to buy it.

Now, if the salesperson is good at his/her job, the first thing he or she will say after mentioning it is a front loader is, “…and, as you know, front loaders are much more energy and water efficient, which will save you lots of money on electric bills and water usage – something that will definitely make it worth the slightly higher price than the top loading model.”

Bingo, the sale is made and everyone is happy!




One more thing to keep in mind as you address and identify your target audience is knowing what are the demographics of your customer.

You can break demographics down in a couple of ways…ages, income or lifestyles.

Pay close attention to this; because how you market to a Baby Boomer (50-60 years old) would be quite different then marketing to someone who is 35 years old. Can you see that?

Why do you think that is so?

This is a list of demographics:

Demographics

• G.I. generation: 1901 – 1924

This “Can Do” generation survived the Great Depression and WWII. Established brands give them a sense of security. They are still active and vital. This is a generation of avid readers, who prefer sales by mail because customer service “isn’t what it used to be”. To appeal to this generation, don’t treat them as “old”. Customer service is key. They don’t want a salesperson; they want a friend in the business. Many have trouble with transportation, so catalog sales are a natural fit.

• Silent generation: 1925 – 1945

Even though the Silent generation has been financially conservative in general, they are now more willing than ever to spend money on themselves. This wealthy generation feels it’s now-or-never time to splurge for that big-ticket item.

• Baby Boomers: 1946 – 1964




This generation is busy. Boomers are juggling kids, spouses, parents and jobs, so anything that makes their lives easier or more convenient will appeal to them. They don’t have time to read lengthy marketing efforts. If you don’t capture their attention within seconds, you’re going to lose them.

They have a reputation for being image conscious and big spenders, but they demand products that will save them time or streamline their lives.

Their desire to look and feel young has fueled the fitness and sports industries. As they get older, they’re expected to purchase more financial services, insurance, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. There are an estimated 77 million Americans in this generation.

• Bridge-point: 1959 – 1964

Keep in mind that all of this is a generalized model. There is a somewhat subtle and permeable bridge-point between the youngest Boomers and the Oldest Gen Xers.

• Generation X: 1965 – 1979

This generation is decent, pragmatic, creative, strongly independent, self-reliant, and hard-working. They have a good work ethic – including a strong sense of company loyalty, as long as it’s reciprocal – and they want to get ahead, even though they aren’t as concerned with the trappings of “success” as earlier generations who were very concerned with financial and emotional security. They are hopeful that the future will be good to them, but they’re also shockingly realistic and honest about the struggles they’re going to face in a rapidly changing world of diminishing resources, an elderly society, and a culture dominated by, and designed for, “Baby Boomers”.




Concerned about their economic prospects, this group is responsive to marketing that focuses on product value. They’re reputed to be savvy and cynical about advertising and resistant to stereotyping by marketers (e.g. they don’t like being called Gen Xers). Confidence and trust has to be earned every time. They’re entering their peek earning years, raising families. They’re comfortable with computers, ethnic diversity, and they love to shop.

This “in-between” generation may have gotten a bad rap. Instead of slackers, they are survivors akin to the GI generation. They have survived divorce and dislocated family situations, razor blades in Halloween candy and violence on TV and in their lives. Because Xers were not supported by family, they turn to friends as the successful television show Friends demonstrated. But because of unstable family situations, they “long for a sense of belonging and family”, because they have been unfairly short-changed in this area. This is a group of approximately only 47 million.

• Twixers: 1976 – 1984

This is another bridge-point or sub-category between the youngest Gen Xers and the older Generation Y. These are the twenty something’s who’ve been so fussed over by their boomer parents that they can’t deal with adulthood. This group still lives at home with mom and dad and if they hold jobs, these young people have disposable income that’s probably not spent on rent or mortgages. They also have parents willing to spend money on them, too.

• Generation Y, aka: millennial generation, aka: Echo Boomers: 1980 – 1999

These are the little clones of the Boomers as they were in their youth, as if they were re-living their youth vicariously through them. Their young minds are being shaped to mimic Boomer’s




political and social values. They wear bell-bottoms, use drugs, and even revived “folk” music – though most don’t recognize it as such.

This is the most globally connected generation. They all watch MTV, they use the net, they see the same movies, and they are exposed to the world. They are very global and so are savvier about patterns, designs, colors from other cultures. They understand ethnic patterns.

They have disposable incomes.

There are estimated to be between 73.4 and 78 million children in this generation and predicted to rival the Baby Boomer generation in terms of sheer numbers.

• 9/11 Generation: 2001 – present

This will be a generation that values fitting in. During their formative years, 9/11s are over-protected – at home, because of the rash of kidnappings and Amber Alerts; at school, because of Columbine-type incidences; and in society, because of terrorism. An overprotected generation tends to be risk-adverse and therefore conformists as adults.

Other Narrow Demographic Groups

• Cablinasians: Mixed racial heritage

• Unmarried, Professional Women in their 30s and 40s: highly educated with disposable income

• Empty Nesters: Boomers whose kids have moved out freeing up disposable income




• Boomer Grandparents: Day-care providers to their grand kids

• Progressive Prioritizes: Women 25 to 29 with bachelor’s degrees who are prepared to leave their jobs to stay home with kids and then return to the work force when they’re ready.

• Blended Families: The kids of younger boomers who remarry

• Single Mothers by Choice: Women age 30 – 44 who have children without partners.

Ok, that’s it for Target Audience and Niche Market; on now to our third key concept, Product development…

Perceived Value of a Product or Service

One Service or Product will not make you SUCCESSFUL.

Early on in my Internet marketing education, I was taught that to be successful you must sell multiple products or services.

If you look at sites of the most successful Internet gurus, over the years, they have created many products to sell. It’s kind of the same things as if you had a store on the corner of the down town square; just selling one product would not meet your financial goals.

Another analogy I like to use for this is called a “product ladder.” Picture this - each rung of this ladder represents a product to sell to my existing and new customers.

Think about it…They start at the bottom – on the first rung. That is the beginning service or product. For example, you




could give them something that would cost them nothing but their name and email address and for which they would receive something of value like an information product. Meanwhile, this valuable “piece” of themselves is as good as gold to you since it will be used later for an email or sales campaign of some kind. AND, it cost you nothing to get it except something you created and gave them in exchange for their information. You both benefit; you get their information and they get something of value from you. The perfect business exchange – win/win.

The next rung might be an enhanced version of your service or product and something that has a higher value and a low price attached to. It could even be a similar product, but converted from an ebook format to a tele-seminar or a MP3 file with similar, updated information.

The next rung would be another product and one which only adds to your credibility with this customer, as well as adding dollars to your bank account. Is this beginning to make sense? I hope so. I have illustrated a typical “product ladder” below – I think that will make it really clear for you.

This is the overview of each step in the marketing process which builds trust and brings the prospect one step closer to becoming a client.

Call to Action Side

SEM Sales letter

Purpose of the Marketing

Marketing Tactic Used

Marketing Tactic Side




Now, just backing up a few steps here – remember, we talked earlier about marketing to one target audience at a time? Well, here’s the case of how you would take the same product you marketed to the first “target audience,” make some minor adjustments, and then market it to a new, totally different target audience. Why not. If 80% of the material is the same and you only have to modify the 20% that reflects the next target audience, you have created multiple products. You’re on your way to a dynasty of delights for multiple markets!

Let me give you a perfect example of this – Have you been to a toy store lately. If not, take a quick trip to one and go to the game aisle. Look up Monopoly. Yeah, that’s right – it’s been around forever AND it is marketed to an enormously broad market – of many different target audiences. Let’s see, the last time I looked there was …

Monopoly Property Trading

Monopoly Spongebob

Monopoly the Disney

Monopoly Star Wars

Ok, so I think you now get the picture about multiple products, target audiences and how growing your business takes some strategic thinking…speaking of which – that brings us to our next subject – Strategies and Tactics. Onward!

Strategies and Tactics

What is the Difference between a Strategic and Tactical Approach to Business?

Let’s answer this question, shall we – along with why we are asking it in the first place? Like, why do we care, right?




Well, both strategies and tactics are important and both are required to make your business a success – but, all too often, business owners and managers spend too much time on the smaller, tactical issues rather than on the larger, longer-range, strategic ones. Let’s take a look at what the encyclopedia says about these two critical marketing concepts.

Marketing Strategy - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A marketing strategy serves as the foundation of a marketing plan. A marketing plan contains a list of specific actions required to successfully implement a specific marketing strategy. An example of marketing strategy is as follows: "Use a low cost product to attract consumers. Once our organization, via our low cost product, has established a relationship with consumers, our organization will sell additional, higher-margin products and services that enhance the consumer's interaction with the low-cost product or service."

A strategy is different from a tactic. While it is possible to write a tactical marketing plan without a sound, well-considered strategy, it is not recommended. Without a sound marketing strategy, a marketing plan has no foundation. Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to reach marketing objectives. It is important that these objectives have measurable results.

A good marketing strategy should integrate an organization's marketing goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. The objective of a marketing strategy is to provide a foundation from which a tactical plan is developed. This allows the organization to carry out its mission effectively and efficiently.




Tactic Method - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A tactic is a method employed to help achieve a certain goal. Tactics are the actual means used to attain a goal.

Okay, got the picture now? Strategy is the overall plan; tactics are the way to make the plan happen.

Here’s an example: You have an ebook called “Laws of the Universe”…You want to sell this book online.

So, you identify your strategy as “Search Engine Marketing (SEM)” – that is selling your ebook on line. The tactics appropriate to SEM are numerous – some of which include creating a sales letter site, writing articles to attract customers to your site, creating a press release to do the same. Everything you do – all Marketing in other words, would be appropriate to your strategy called “SEM”. The attached Strategies and Tactics Matrix will show you tactics under different strategies.

Now, let’s look at another kind of strategy. Supposing you wanted to hold seminars and coach people. Then, your strategy would be trying to build a “list” of people to whom you could market. That would be a strategy called “Lead Generation.” In this strategy, the tactics would be somewhat different. You would want to build credibility and give your customers something that would entice them to give you their information in exchange, say, for a gift or an electronic product that they want. You give them the “freebie,” they give you their name and you add them to your “list” for future marketing purposes.

Starting to get the picture? There are actually only about 5 main strategies and there are many tactics that fit inside those main strategies.




The most important thing to remember about all of this talk about strategies and tactics is this…Having a strategic marketing plan can make the difference between success and failure. It is the one thing that will consistently reduces the uncertainties associated with trial and error, hit or miss marketing. It is very much a “roadmap” to your success.

You know yourself, if you’ve ever found yourself in unfamiliar territory, a map can be critical to your getting to your destination on time and intact.

Believe me, the Internet is a challenging and competitive environment. While it’s true that lots of people make money, lots of people don’t’ – and if you want to be one of the ones who does, thinking strategically can make all the difference.

Let’s take a look, now, at two important keys aspects in the marketing process; The Marketing Plan and Constant Reassessment.

Marketing Plan

Internet marketers approach their sales with a planned marketing outline for a step by step approach. Successful Internet entrepreneurs understand that, in selling, it is the way that they do things that sets them apart from their competition.

Having a thought out, strategic Marketing Plan in place will allow you to achieve your goal. That plan could even include multiple strategies which could lead you to what you want to accomplish. Identifying the strategy though, remember, is just half of the battle. Once you’ve selected your strategy, you actually have to do something.

A strategy is thought out and it gives focus to your tactics.




The clarity that comes from adopting a strategic plan can be tremendously empowering because you are able to compare available tactics against the strategy and determine very quickly which are appropriate and which are not.

Constant Reassessment

The second aspect is constant reassessment. Since change is the ONLY constant in your business success, especially on the

Internet where everything changes minute by minute; and since you can only be undermined by change if you fail to adapt to it, you will ONLY be successful by seeing change as an opportunity.

A Correct strategy can make all the difference in your future.

I can’t emphasize this enough. When creating your online business, taking a strategic approach can provide the path for you strategic improvement as well.

It will allow you to set up a reliable method of testing every step of your process. Without this strategic testing, you may act on the basis of what you wish were true rather than what is true, and we all know where that can lead, don’t we? Ever wish things were not the way they actually were? Not real productive, is it? I think it’s called “wishful thinking” and it doesn’t put much in the bank.

There’s yet another reason why having a clear strategy is key to your growth and prosperity: its called innovation.

Too many times, business owners like us feel that they are constantly responding to market forces that are beyond their control. A major reason for this is that these owners and managers are often managing, based on data collected in the past. They actually spend way too much time trying to interpret historical information that has already lost its relevance over time.




Business that adopts a strategic approach to growth and development tracks what they’ve done – and that information is only part of the data they evaluate when making forward-looking decisions.

Strategies are based on research and analysis of market factors which help define customer needs, competitive supply levels, and other market-making trends.

On Customer Focused Business

In the United States today, growth of market share is increasingly dependent upon clear, values-driven, business strategies.

Businesses who do not think about how to improve their customer relationships, who don’t open themselves to new markets, or fail to re-position their unique selling proposition (USP) in a relevant and compelling manner, are doomed to stagnation, declining share, and eventual failure.

It is essential in today’s marketplace to lure customers and clients away from competitors in order to continue growing. For those business owners and managers not fiercely guarding their existing client/customer relationships, and aggressively going after new ones, this means they are under siege.

Their sales will decline.

Making sure that you have a well-defined strategy will allow you to be more creative in how you approach prospective customers – maybe even open up entirely new, never-before explored, markets. Innovation in positioning, products, and service can lead to significant breakthroughs and, more importantly, make you the only player in the field – even if only for a short time.




5 Internet Marketing Strategies

Lead Generation (OPT-IN)

Your list of customers collected is worth pure gold in the form of sales. This strategy focuses on building a list of potential customers, then converting them into customers that are purchasing over time. This is a long-term strategy that requires patience, discipline, and time to build the relationship that makes people trust you and buy from you again, and again.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Designing a site that is search engine friendly should be an objective of every business on the Internet that wants to do business.

Search engines are the most common way for Internet surfers to search and purchase on the net. There is a statistic that 85% of all people who use the Internet use search engines as their primary way to look for information. By using keyword/key phrases that is related to your business services or products can improve how search engines rank you. You want these keywords in the domain name, your page titles and page text, your ALT tags for graphics and your page headers.

Because search engines can bring significant volumes of traffic to your site, you must understand how the major search engines work and how the design of your site can influence the indexing of your site.

The strategy of SEO/SEM is to drive traffic to your site as mentioned above.

SEO focuses on optimizing web pages to get listed in search engines “organically” (i.e. without the use of a Pay-Per-Click search engine). It is a sub-set of SEM.




SEM includes everything that drives traffic to websites from search engines. This strategy is very large and has many tactics, with new ones emerging every month.

Joint Ventures (JV)

Joint Venture marketing is the secret key to uncovering the hidden asset of your ability to contact millions of people, quickly. There are many resources to Joint Venture with.

With the right Joint Venture, you can put your product in front of a very large (often targeted) group of people to generate an enormous number of sales in a very short amount of time (even overnight). Instead of spending your marketing money up-front, you give it to the JV’s who send you the people who buy your product.

The major difference between JV’s and Affiliates is the size of their list and reputation.

Joint venture endorsement marketing should be approached from a scientific marketing standpoint... you should do careful market research to find all the businesses that are attracting your type of prospects and customers. Joint venture endorsements should be focused on results--not general effect.

E-Mail Marketing

Email is one of the most important forms of communications you have with your customers, potential customers and niche market. Email is widely accessible and accepted form of business communications. Email is used to build your community online, sell products and provide customer service.

Once you have created your database of clients, potential clients, email marketing becomes a powerful strategy to use.

One of the greatest benefits of email strategy is the speed in which you can communicate.




Affiliates Programs

You may already know this well know fact; referral business is the easiest and most efficient was to grow your business. When doing an online business, affiliate program enables you to capitalize on this concept.

There are many different affiliate programs associated with the Internet. These programs very in terms, reliability, and amount of commissions offered. All affiliate programs pay for referral business, but in different ways. The most common program is commission based.

Today’s affiliate programs the focus is on getting good affiliates who are going to perform and giving them the tools to a great job. Your greatest advantage of an affiliate program is to expand your sales force to thousands of people.




Online Tactics

Direct Response Websites

Web pages aren't just for geeks any more. If you're in business, the chances are good you'll be involved in building a Web site in one way or another. But what if you don't know HTML from H20? Or a browser from Bowser?

Every online strategy uses a website. The most important part of your website is that it’s designed to get a direct response - to sell your product or service, capture a lead, or get traffic from a search engine.

Whatever Internet marketing strategy you choose to use, your website will ultimately be your key to success. The type of website you create depends on the strategy that you use.

Sales Letter Website

A Sales Letter website that is designed to do one and only one thing – SELL! There is a well thought out and proven method on how to create a Sales Letter web site. It looks like a direct mail sales letter but with a header graphic, headline, content of the letter, an image of the product and a link to buy now.

Since this type of web site is design to sell, there are no links to other websites. Your logo and contact information is listed at the bottom of the page along with a copyright statement.

Your visitors have two choices when they come to your sales letter; they either purchase your product or leave. After a visitor purchases your product they are sent to the thank-you page to download the product.

A Sales Letter website you can carefully target who your top potential clients are and provide them with valuable information and the urgency to purchase now.




Membership Site

A membership site is when anyone pays to access information you publish in a password protected area on your site. You can offer exclusive articles, information, or even a service (like software, games, ebooks, or music).

As a product most membership sites cost money to join. The design is much more involved and can require special software to restrict access to the members-only area.

Affiliate Site

An affiliate website offers products and services on their website for a commission. They choose merchants that fit within the context of their site's offerings.

Affiliates enter into an agreement to place links on their websites that lead to the merchant, for the purpose of promoting goods and services. In return, affiliates can earn commissions on click-through leads, or purchases made through their sites.

Review Site

A review website is based on content that is reviewing others products or services. Sometimes referred to as “content site”. This is one of the more complex sites to build. It requires lots of content and information that will bring visitors back to your site for more information. You will have to be very creative to generate a revenue stream from this site.

Topic Site

A topic website that is dedicated to one topic and provides extensive information about the topic, related products, and reference sites. You will have to be very creative to generate a revenue stream from this site.




Discussion Forum Site

A website where people gather to discuss a particular topic of interest.

Corporate Site

Corporate websites offer content about their product and services. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives “the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for their work”. There are many types of businesses, and, as a result, businesses can be classified in many ways.

In most cases, this type of website is not particularly useful for Internet marketing– it is designed for a business or corporation and acts more like an on-line business card or brochure.

e-Commerce Site

An e-commerce website consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet.

A website (i.e.: Amazon.com or Ebay) that sells hundreds or thousands of products that are listed like a gallery with a picture, short description, and an order button that places the product in a shopping cart for the visitor to purchase later.

Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a web page that was created specifically to respond to a marketing campaign you are running. The action you want the target visitor to take might be to make a purchase, join a membership, view live demos, participate in a survey or leave their contact information. The squeeze page is geared towards a conversion or converting the searchers into buyers.

Your squeeze page should emphasize the benefits of your offer; it should speak to your audience. The squeeze page should have a dynamite headline that grabs their attention.




Your squeeze page should create a sense of urgency - get your visitors to do what you want them to do NOW. If they leave your site without making a purchase, it is often unlikely to have another opportunity.

A squeeze page is a smaller version of a Lead Generation site. It is used to gather your visitors contact information and for you to give that visitor a gift.

Directory Website

A directory website which offers access to a categorized listing of other websites optimized for lookup, search or browsing. It specializes in linking to other websites. Web directories often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion.

Internet Marketing Tactics

Domain Name

Your domain name, in most cases, will be the first thing your customers see or hear about you or your product. For Search Engine Optimization (SEO), your domain name is the single most important item to use for optimization. Choose a name that includes your primary keyword phrase that people would use to find you in a search engine. Usually it explains what you, your product, or your business does and sets you apart from your competition.

Testimonials

Satisfied customers who give you testimonials are crucial to your success on the Internet. Visitors will believe others over you. The testimonial demonstrates that your claims are accurate and attainable by everyone.




This tactic lowers the readers guard to the ground so they will accept everything you say after that as true. If you don’t have testimonials, give your product away to prospects in exchange for their testimonial. Then, once you start selling, always ask for one from your new customers.

Pop-Up/Pop-Under/Pop-Over/Hover Ad

Even though most people don’t like pop-ups, they are still the most effective way to get people to sign-up or opt-in for a free offer. A hover ad looks like a pop-up that drops down in front of the current browser window to display an advertisement. It cannot, however, be blocked by pop-up blockers. The down-side to a hover ad is that it can’t be controlled as well as a pop-up. You can set a hover ad to appear when someone clicks off your page.

Auto-responder Email Sequence

The sequence of predetermined email messages sent automatically from an auto-responder (email program) can turn one-time visitors into repeat customers. They can be used to follow-up after a subscription or purchase, automate your customer service, create automatic follow-up promotions, or deliver a multi-part mini-course.

An auto responder is a program located on a mail server that is set up to automatically send a preprogrammed reply to an email address that sends mail to it. This reply can be a single message or a series of preprogrammed messages.

One of the major benefits of using an auto responder is the immediate response, 24 hors a day, 7 days a week, 365 day a year. Auto responders are a real time saver, eliminating the need for manual response of routine request. Another advantage is the ability to schedule multiple responses at predetermined intervals.




EZine

Publish an online newsletter or ezine (electronic or email magazine) on a topic related to your business. You can write the material yourself or collect it from other sources. Your subscribers will appreciate the information and many will become customers.

Ezine, or electronic magazines, is the online versions of magazines. They are content rich and content information regarding a certain topic in the form of magazine articles and features stories.

There are web-based e-zines that have only an online presence. These e-zines are accessed through their web sites. Web-based e-zines tend to be graphically pleasing.

JV Email Request

Use this type of email to show potential joint venture partners that you're serious about your business -- and show them how they can benefit from aligning their business with yours to develop new profit streams.

Affiliate Email

Use this type of email to persuade potential affiliates from the top sites in your industry to join your affiliate program. Their sites will give you the exposure, traffic, and sales you need!

Email Signature/Signature Box

Develop an informative signature and use it to sign all your e-mail messages and discussion group postings. Your signature is like leaving a business card or free advertising wherever you go. Use them to announce a new product, special event, award, website, free report, article or anything of interest. You’ll be surprised by how many people will click on a link in your email signature to go to your website.




When you are writing articles, posting to a blog, creating a press release, or making a comment on someone else blog, always leave your signature box. This will generate a link back to your businesses. This also helps in link popularity. This is creating a mini advertisement for your company and its product and services.

Testimonials about OTHER products

Offer product testimonials to top sites with related products in your industry. More than likely, the owner of the website will put your testimonial on his website with a link back to your website. This builds your status and credibility as an expert in your industry. The links back to your website generate additional traffic and increase your Google Page rank and position in the search engines.

PodCast/Video Blogging

This technology automatically distributes audio and video programs over the Internet using a publisher/subscriber model. It automatically transfers material to the user, like an independent producer of a radio show. This is like an audio version of an RSS feed (blog). It can be used to deliver regular audio or video messages to your customers, prospects, and target audience.

Many information entrepreneurs and other sites are incorporating downloadable audio and video content on a regular basis to encourage repeat visitors.

This is becoming very popular because people can download and listen to the content while driving, working out, sitting on the porch or traveling.




RSS/Blog

RSS stands for Rich Site Syndication; RSS is a powerful tool, and the publishing choice of the future. A blog is a chronological publication or online journal of posting to a web site. The blog can include text, images, links to video files, links to audio files and links to other web sites.

Writing the content for your blog is referred to as blogging (posting).

RSS provides web masters and content providers a distribution vehicle for their content that is guaranteed to be delivered. This distribution channel makes it easy for individuals to access the most current information, but also for other site owners to publish the syndicated content on their sites as well.

It allows you a quick way to post news, thoughts, interact with people, and more. It brings search engines to your site on a regular (even daily) basis. It creates links, brings traffic, and can be used for announcing product releases, and even marketing messages.

Publish Articles

Publish your own online articles to increase your credibility as an expert and increase the number of links to your website. Use a ghostwriter if necessary. This is the best method for creating incoming links to your website. Write 10 articles and submit them to the major article websites, topic related websites, and ezine publishers. Not only will your articles be found on the websites where you submitted them, the search engines will also pick them up and will help get your name and website ranked higher in the search engines.




Article Resource Box / About the Author

Develop an informative resource box or “about the author” and use it at the bottom of all of your articles. Your resource box is like leaving a business card or free advertising wherever you submit your article. Use them to announce a new product, website, free report, article or anything of interest. You’re website traffic will increase and your search engine rank will increase because of all the links back to your website. You’ll be surprised by how many people will click on a link in your article to go to your website.

Co-Registration

Establish co-registration or co-marketing agreements with other businesses that complement yours or who serve the same target market. By joining together, you can share marketing costs and benefit from each others’ reputation and traffic. This is often accomplished through multiple ‘opt-in’ options when requesting more information about a topic on either of your websites.

Audio

Add audio to your website to round out your presentation. An audio message from you or a recorded testimonial makes more points than visuals alone.

Video

Add video to your website to make it come alive. Video and Audio messages are 68% more effective than audio alone.

Press Release

Press releases are designed to inform news media of events concerning your company that the public might consider newsworthy. A press release is a standard form of communication with the media.




To improve the changes that your story will interest journalist enough t publish it, you must make the journalist’s job easier by presenting your press release in an appealing format and style.

Make your products or services newsworthy; send out a press release and tell the media about it. You’ll gain free public exposure and the kind of credibility no advertising can buy. Online Press Release services make it possible to send out a press release to every media contact world wide and to be listed in all of the major search engine “News” pages. The links to these search engines alone can increase your search engine listing for your entire website, not to mention all of the exposure to the media.

OnLine Advertising

Advertising increases your visibility online and creates links to your website. You can buy advertising on other websites, search engines, directories, ezines, email, banners, pop-ups, and even blogs. One shot advertisements are rarely noticed and deliver little or no results. Plan on running a consistent series of ads; if possible, a minimum of 3.

PPC Ads

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) generates targeted exposure for your site, product and services. You are expanding your reach with contextual advertising. You are paying for exposure on surfers search results pages, based on keywords sponsorship. Businesses can bid on specific keywords or phrases that their search engine listings appear only when a searcher conducts a particular query.




If the searcher clicks on a particular listing, the business pays the amount the bid for the click, and the results is a targeted lead. Targeted lead is the key.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are used to market your product on a large scale, using search engines and other websites. You are charged a fee every time someone clicks on your ad that is displayed for your specific keyword phrase. The fee is determined by how much you bid on that keyword phrase to be displayed. One ad for a popular keyword phrase can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month. The search engine or website that displays the ad depends on which pay per click (PPC) search engine from whom you purchased it. Usually, one PPC search engine displays ads on many other websites. Google AdWords are not only displayed on Google world wide; they are also displayed on Amazon.com, AOL, CompuServe, Earthlink, AskJeeves, Shopping.com, AT&T Worldnet, About.com, Lycos, The New York Times, InfoSpace, HGTV.com, Foodnetwork.com, business.com, and more.

Paid and Free Inclusion Directories

Seek out online directories of businesses (online yellow pages) and others related to your business, and make sure you are listed in them as well. Many directory listings are free, and others are inexpensive. A listing on the largest online directory, DMOZ.com, is a must. It supplies information to all of the search engines and it’s free.

Ezine Ads

Ezines with a large number of subscribers in your targeted audience can be used to deliver a focused message. Your ad will be placed in one of three places: Top placement, Middle placement, or Bottom placement. Top placement delivers the best results and, likewise, costs the most. Ezine ads are relatively inexpensive compared to PPC ads and Banner ads. The cost is usually a flat fee for one or more ezine mail-outs.




Solo Email Ads

Some list owners (who have ezines) offer to send out an email, on behalf of you, to their list. The email comes from the list owner, but it contains your email message. This ad allows you to leverage the relationship that the list owner has with their subscribers. Like the ezine ad, you can pick an ezine that serves your target audience and deliver a focused message. The cost is usually a flat fee for one or more emails that are sent. This method of sending email to your target audience gets a much higher response rate than purchasing a list, sending bulk email, or SPAM.

Banner Ads

Banner ads are small advertisements that are placed on a web site. Companies usually develop their banner ads, find sites for placement, and then either purchase or trade banner space.

Banner Ad’s can be used to increase exposure, generate leads, increase traffic, or generate sales. The basic type of banners supported by all of the ad distribution networks are: standard image banners; HTML banners; interactive HTML banners; and Flash banners. The cost of a banner ad is either a flat fee for a period of time (like a month) or per impression (when the ad is displayed) or per click (when the ad is clicked). The banner ads can be purchased directly from the website or through a third party who works with a larger network of websites.

Sponsorship Ads

Text ads with a link to your website look more like information on a page and less like an advertisement. You purchase one sponsorship ad for one page or feature of a website. The cost is usually a flat fee for a period of time (like a month). These ads often get a higher response rate than a banner ad which can cost more.




Blog Ad’s

Owners of blogs with a large readership are now selling ads which are placed within the blog. The ads often look like news or an announcement about a new product or service. The goal of the ad is to get readers to your website. This is a very new form of advertising, and could become as big as email marketing is today.

Forums & Newsgroups

Become involved in the “online community” that consists of your target market. Participate regularly in forums, newsgroups, and mailing lists, and add your expertise to the pool of knowledge. Your involvement boosts your credibility as a source of information and shows potential customers that you’re not just in it for the money.

Niche Market

A unique niche for your product is critical. Find a new niche and fill it, or fill a successful niche better than anyone else.

Free Information

Most of the people on the Internet are looking for information. By offering free, valuable, and helpful information on a subject related to your business, you enhance your reputation and encourage people to visit your website, buy your product, or contact you. Your offer of free information can be the beginning of a profitable customer relationship.

Use the free information offer on your website or in your online ads to generate leads, increase sales, or build your opt-in list.




Directory of Related Information

Compile a list or directory of related useful information that your website visitors can use to find more information on your area of expertise or topic. Use this on your Topic, Review, or Membership website to gain respect, visibility, and search engine placement.

Tele-Class or Tele-seminar

Hold an informative tele-class or tele-seminar on your area of expertise using teleconference technology. Tele-classes give you a chance to establish a bond with dozens or hundreds of people all at once, and to show them how your experience can help them. They can be free and used to generate leads, or you can charge a fee to attend, just like an in-person seminar.

Free Sample

Make free excerpts from an ebook, article, or newsletter you’ve published available to download, or post them on relevant newsgroups, forum, and information sites. If you’re publishing good information, it will lead to subscribers and customers. Add information about your products or services at the end of the sample to tell the reader where to buy the full version or more of what you have to offer.

Free Trial / Demo

If you’re selling software, offer a free trial or demo version to show prospective customers how the software works. If you’re in a service business, offer to show how you work by performing a partial service.




Contests

Holding a contest brings visitors to your website, adds visibility to your name, promotes you or your product, and overall, gets a great response.

Survey

Conduct a survey on a topic related to your business. Post the survey on forums, discussion groups, newsgroups, email and even PPC Ads. Then publish the results when you’re done.

Performing surveys is a way to increase traffic to your site. People want to fill out the survey and see the results. The survey topic matter must be interesting. If you want to draw a very targeted audience, pick a topic to that market only.

Special Events

Grand opening, pre-opening, launch, pre-launch, and seasonal events (even on your website) all help to create and maintain an atmosphere of excitement and fun around your business. Schedule a pre-launch tele-class to demonstrate or announce your new product, and plan special events every couple of months to rekindle customer interest.

Relationship

People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Do everything you can to make each online transaction feel as human as possible. Use a natural conversational and personable language in your auto-responder email to confirm a purchase. Respond to people’s questions and problems with a personal touch and show genuine interest. Follow up to ensure full satisfaction (again, even an auto-responder email should feel as though it was a personal email from you).




Refer a Friend

Friends telling friends, is a tried-and-true method of expanding your list or customer base. Email is an easy way to spread the word. Another method is to give your website visitors the ability to refer a friend to an article, report, or other page on your website.

Opt-In List

Permission marketing is an extremely important tactic of Internet marketing. Permission marketing can be a valuable to any marketing campaign. Permission marketing is asking your target audience and site visitors for the authority to perform a specific task - their permission to send them something – email.

Build an email list from direct opt-ins and product orders for future use. Email is the surest way to inform people about your business, and your existing customers are your best source of

future sales and referrals. Keep building your list and stay in touch with them regularly.

Viral Information

Any type of information that is “self-perpetuating”, compelling people to share it with others via email or word-of-mouth, so that it spreads through a community like a virus – but a good one. The information can be on your website or in a free product that links back to your website.

Viral marketing, which is often referred to as “word-of-mouth” marketing, is a low-cost very highly effective way to market your business and services.

Viral marketing is one of your most powerful online marketing tactics, using the power of associations to spread the word.




Strategies & Tactics Matrix

This matrix shows you which Tactics go with which Strategies.

To use this matrix: Pick one and only one Strategy. Then pick the appropriate Tactics under that Strategy. You don’t need to use all of the Tactics.

Implement your Tactics and then launch your Marketing Campaign.

You can always create a new campaign using a different Strategy and repeat the process.

Date post:	20-Oct-2014
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