Building a revenue-producing online
brand takes an investment in time, resources and viable partnerships!
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There is no shortcut to success - it takes plain old blood sweat and
tears! If you listen to the Charlatans and digital snake oil types you'd
think fortunes were being made by simply launching a web site and using a
free search engine submissions service! This is far from the truth!
We tell clients it's a rapidly maturing marketplace, millions are being
invested in marketing daily and they will have at least 3-4 entrenched
competitors! Use targeted interactive campaigns to reach customers who can
respond immediately to their message.
Want to learn how an interactive marketing company builds a campaign?
Well here are ten short steps we recommend to our clients!
1. Identify clearly defined goals for an
interactive marketing campaign - whether your goal is brand
awareness, web site traffic, downloads, registration, online e-commerce
sales, etc.
2. Analyze your competitors carefully what
appears to be working for them and what isn't - leverage their
investment in marketing resources! But, be aware that they are doing the
same; so trademark your core brand (company name, taglines, etc.) and
secondary brands (product names, unique processes, etc.).
3. Utilize Search Engines and Directories to
bring highly qualified traffic to your web site. Be prepared to
invest 3-6 months in this process to achieve page 1-3 listings in the top
ten Search Engines. Carefully develop content, keywords, targeted doorway
pages and a submission process that involves manual submissions to the top
ten engines - this is where 85 percent of the traffic originates.
4. Develop a "net buzz" using
Newsgroups by announcing your company, new products or services
or some type of a limited offer to this influential group of "early
adopters." We don't advocate spam of any type - so manually submit your
post to each Newsgroup. Indicate that it is a commercial announcement,
carefully monitor the Newsgroups and respond back to people's comments.
Remove any Newsgroup from your list that indicates that they aren't
interested in your solicitations.
5. Utilize banner advertising to develop brand
and lead generation - it works well if you have the right content
and make intelligent media buys! We use multiple sources to purchase media,
including AdAuction, Flycast, 24by7Media and many others - enabling us to
purchase banner ad space that is typically 50-75% less expensive than what
we would get buying space directly from a top tier site or portal.
Also, look into your vertical market and find second tier sites that have
a decent amount of traffic but typically charge a $15-20 CPM (cost per
thousand impressions/views) rate.
6. Deploy a customer direct opt-in e-mail
campaign that incorporates a message and a unique offer that has
real value and meaning to a specific segment of your market. Track the
results by working with your interactive agency by doing an initial test
with multiple messages/offers to a small portion of your list; then select
the message/offer with the best return to use for the majority of the
campaign.
7. Create, deploy and manage a web site with
hard-hitting content that matches your overall marketing processes.
People read differently on the web. They don't want long paragraphs with
lots of text: they want information that is presented in digestible chunks -
build short/concise paragraphs with 2-3 sentences only with liberal amount
of white space in-between.
And, give them content that speaks to them - what you do, how you do it,
what it costs (or not) and how to contact you! I use CNet's site or our own
site as a reference point for web-enabled content
8. Build online brands that inculcate permission
based marketing - meaning, you want to build a long-term
relationship with your clients by providing knowledge that is useful. Then
ask them if you can continue to market to them by having them sign up for a
newsletter, subscription service, web cast, chat room or whatever process
you want to build to establish rapport and dialogue.
9. Build speed into all of your marketing and
ebiz processes - don't get hung up in the details! It is far
better to get to market with a few flaws in your marketing than not at all
or much later with perfection - the tide is rising and the market is
maturing at warp speed, so get your boat in the water!
10. Reference your established customers in all
processes - there is so much hype in business today to overcome!
Use your established customers as a touchstone in all marketing. It really
works - we all want to purchase products and services used by our peers!
