Strategies support your objective. Your strategies define general approaches you will take to meet your objective. For example, strategies to support above objective could include 1) improve online communication, information, and education, 2) build awareness of and interest in your company on Internet, and 3) communicate Web site’s existence and advantages to existing clients.

Tactics are where action takes place - these are things you will do to bring your strategies to life. Tactics for strategy 2 in above example (improve online communication, information, and education) could include 1) sharing experience and observations in your industry through participation in discussion boards, 2) offering an email newsletter, and 3) listing/submitting your site to targeted search engines and directories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marketing Planning Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The specifics of developing a marketing plan vary according to source. All can be effective when used correctly. Some sites and software that can help you in developing your marketing plan are below.

Sites

eSOLO’s Marketing Action Plans, http://www.esolo.com/mapslist.php3 , can help you to come up with strategies and action plans (tactics) to support common marketing objectives.

The Web Site Marketing Plan's Marketing Plan Resources page, http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/sr3.htm , includes several links and descriptions of sites with marketing plan information.

Software

Each of these software titles takes a slightly different approach to developing a marketing plan.

- Plan Write® for Marketing, http://www.businessplansoftware.org/marketing_plan.asp

- WebQuest Pro, http://www.webquestpro.com/

- Marketing Plan Pro, http://www.bplans.com/marketingplans

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Other Articles in this Series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In this, first article of series, I discussed elements of a marketing plan - objective, strategies, and tactics. In remaining three articles I will take a closer look at objectives, strategies, and tactics you can consider for your Web site.

Part Two: "Your Web Site's Objectives" http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/sr8.htm autoresponder: mailto:ObjectiveArticle@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com

Part Three: "Strategies for Your Web Site Marketing Plan" http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/strategies.htm autoresponder: mailto:StrategiesArticle@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com

Part Four: "Choosing Tactics for Your Web Site Marketing Plan" http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/TacticsArticle.htm autoresponder: mailto:TacticsArticle@WebSiteMarketingPlan.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright 2002 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.

Bobette Kyle has over 10 years experience in Corporate Marketing; Brand and Product Marketing; Field Marketing and Sales; and Management.

The four part Web site marketing plan series is based on Bobette's book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing for Small-Budget Businesses", http://www.booklocker.com/books/711.html http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com

So basically, what is a brand? Your business name can be your brand, but it must tell public exactly what you do. If it doesn't, you must create a brand, and feature that in all your advertising. It should be first thing people see when they visit your web site.

The web site - http://ListsAreUs.com - gives a good example of branding. On first page, without having to arrow down, you immediately know what web site is all about. All of their advertising, which is specific to market they wish to reach, carries this brand.

If you are to succeed in your online business, you must have a brand that will not only be remembered, but reinforces what you are trying to promote. But that is not all that must be done.

Newsletters and Ezines, specific to market you wish to target are an excellent way to reach potential clients. While your ads should be brief, as people scanning a publication may skip by your ad, it must be compelling. This is where your brand is so important.

A web site with a minimum of information however, will normally not obtain your goals. Face it, you got them to visit your site with your ad, and now they are looking for answers. If they don't find what they are looking for, odds are they won't come back. While your ad must be brief, here you can (and must) tell entire story.

Branding is critical to your business. Once you get "your" brand to be a household name for your target market, you are well on your way down road of ecommerce.