The 5-Step Web Site Marketing PlanWritten by Bobette Kyle
Do you have a marketing plan for your site? If not, it may be time to think about developing one. A marketing plan helps you make right day-to-day and long term decisions. Without one, your site is less likely to be a success.Creating a marketing plan need not be scary or difficult. It does not require a marketing degree or a lot of experience. You do, however, need to put some quality time into your plan. Building your plan is a five step process. ** Step 1: Gather and analyze information. ** You will need information about your company, competitors, customers, and other industry players. This includes all you can find about how Internet is currently being integrated in your industry with respect to products, promotions, pricing structures, and distribution channels. From this information, you can complete industry and SWOT analyses as well as identify your target customers. ** Step 2: Verbalize your main challenge(s). ** Write down main Internet-related challenges you want to overcome. Referring to these main challenges will help keep you focused while developing your plan. You may even want to write your challenges down in question form - "How do we _____________?" When completed, your Web site marketing plan will answer question "How do I address these challenges?" ** Step 3: Develop your Web site objective(s). ** The objective addresses "big picture". Your objective answers question "How will I overcome my main marketing challenge(s)?" in broad, general terms. If your company’s main site-related challenge is figuring out how to use your Web site to help build client business, for example, an objective for your Web site marketing plan could be "To enhance online client service as well as build site awareness and interest with clients." ** Step 4: Create strategies. **
| | Maximum Marketing - Minimum BudgetWritten by Bonnie Jo Davis
Two years ago I started my small Virtual Assistant business with a non-existent marketing budget. I borrowed marketing books from library, read countless articles on Internet and joined a professional trade association of my peers. I learned hundreds of marketing techniques and one valuable lesson. The lesson I learned is that financial ruin of large companies is often achieved by incredibly expensive and glitzy marketing plans that do not take into account company's ability to earn a profit. Over time, I found that most effective marketing techniques that allow a company to make a profit are those that are inexpensive or free. What a fantastic discovery for me at that time! This knowledge, combined with hard work and excellent customer service, enabled my small business to expand at a phenomenal rate.When developing your marketing plan be aware that frugal marketing techniques take more time and a great deal of personal creativity but they DO produce results! Following are a few of my most successful frugal marketing techniques: Website It is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars on a beautiful website. Some of most effective and interesting websites I have seen were built on a frugal budget. Far more important than cost is content of a website. At a minimum your website should include your company name, contact information, tagline or slogan, company/owner biography, a list of services, a client list or list of testimonials, articles or press releases you have written and any interesting information related to your business that might be of help to your visitors. It is essential that you use a paid web host and not a free service. Free hosting may exclude you from search engine listings and may brand you as a neophyte in your field when that impression may not be correct. Inexpensive hosting is available and many hosts provide free or low cost web templates that will give your site a polished and consistent look. For a list of affordable web hosts visit Web Host Directory and Host Review. Having a well-developed website will help you leverage results of your other frugal marketing techniques and, in long run, will save you money by reducing overall cost and shipping of your marketing materials. Public Relations Create a press release and submit it to your local newspaper. Highlight unusual aspects of your business and educate reader about your business and your industry. Do not simply promote your own company, but promote industry as a whole. Position your business as unique in that industry by explaining, for example, how your company takes a novel approach to delivering products or services. Take same press release and format it for Internet. Submit it to as many free press release sites that you can find such as LocalBusiness.com, PRWeb.com and USA News. For added impact, search Newslink website to find other community newspapers in your state that might be interested in your business news. Follow standard press release formatting and be sure to add that you are available for interviews in your contact information section as this opens door for feature interviews during slow "news" weeks for local papers. Send out a press release every quarter or at least twice a year. Always include your website's URL in any marketing materials and press releases. For more information about press releases including formatting visit Netpreneur Exchange, Infoscavenger and Pertinent Information. Contests Sponsor local or on-line contests by providing a prize. This could be one of your products or a coupon for two or three hours of your services. In return you will receive valuable free publicity. Find local contests, which would welcome your participation by scanning your community newspaper. Target on-line contests by surfing for well-established companies that compliment your own. For example, if you sell wine glasses, you should seek a company that sells wine and offer a set of wine glasses as a contest prize. Another option is to search for e-zines (on-line newsletters) that cover a topic related to your business and ask editor about partnering to offer a contest to readers with your product or service as prize. You can find e-zines by searching on-line directories such as BestEzines.com, The Ezine Directory or Ezine Search.
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