"I'm at a loss on how we can properly market our business on the Net,"
Karen explained. "We've established an impressive marketing presence
in print media and I don't want our home page to look shabby or sit
there with no response."
Karen's words sound familiar to many entrepreneurs. By now just about
everyone knows that a website alone will not draw many visitors. Your
on-line presence must be promoted tirelessly. Free classifieds are everywhere.
They also take hours each day to place.
Posting to newsgroups can be profitable, but it's important to know
the group. Willy-nilly posting of commercial messages can get you into
trouble fast with the on-line community.
The same goes for broadcasting hoards of unsolicited email messages.
Rather than finding lots of interested prospects, you may well find
your mailbox jammed with hateful replies and a suspension notice from
your provider.
What's a busy small business person with limited resources to do? Thankfully,
there are several very effective on-line marketing methods that are
relatively easy and quick. Here are three of my favorites, all well
regarded by people who do lots of on-line marketing.
Promote Off-Line.
Include your URL in all the printed and broadcast advertising
you do. Don't just add your website address in tiny print at the bottom,
as some businesses do. Spread it across the page so it can't be missed.
Tell the reader or listener WHY they should check out your on-
line presence. Give them a benefit for finding your page. Supply them
with helpful information or a discount that they can't find out about
any other way. Hand out a one-sheet about your website. Include your
URL on your telephone hold message.
Use the public's current interest in exploring the Net. Whereas many
people won't read your brochure or analyze your newspaper ad, many will
enthusiastically click through your web site. Use the opportunity to
expose more people to lots of details about your company, services,
and products.
Build an Email List of Your Customers.
While a great many people hate unsolicited email, it's perfectly OK
to send email notices about your products or services to people who
have shown an interest in your company or bought from you in the past.
Recently, when I called a self-publisher to order a book, he asked
me my email address along with my credit card information. At first
I thought he might want it just for notification of delivery purposes.
But a week later I started receiving his email newsletter providing
me with helpful tips and information on his latest publications. I find
the newsletter helpful and am more likely to remember him and buy from
him in the future.
Email newsletters are very simple affairs. Simply write a letter to
your customers providing them with helpful tips. Include information
on your products and services.
Remember that letters are still regarded as personal forms of communication.
Make your newsletter's tone conversational, friendly, and informal.
Electronic mail is the marketing tool of the very near future. We haven't
gotten all the bugs sorted out of it and many people do get irritated
at receiving mail they aren't interested in. BUT, email is cheap, conserves
natural resources, and doesn't pollute the environment. That's a combination
of strengths that will ultimately overcome all challenges in a very,
very big way.
Write Articles.
Finally, write articles for one or more of the thousands of new on-line
publications. The Net is about information. People come to their computers
to learn something. Use what you know about your business to be the
expert that many people are looking for.
It doesn't matter what your area of expertise is--baseball, auto repair,
tax law, growing beautiful flowers--there are hundreds of thousands
of potential customers on-line interested in learning more.
"But I'm no writer!" I hear you exclaim. You don't have to be. As veteran
on-line freelance writer Gary Christensen says, "Look at it as writing
a page of instructions." If you can write a page of instructions on
how to do something, you can be a published expert. (By the way, check
out Gary's marvelous list of links to the editors of on-line publications
at http://www.site-city.com/members/e-zine-master
)
If you still don't feel comfortable putting your wisdom down on paper,
call your local college English or Journalism department and ask for
a capable student to "ghost" write it for you. Take a cue from the many
celebrities and famous business executives who write books with the
help of a professional author.
Before you get discouraged over the difficulty of getting the word
out about your business on-line, consider adding these three marketing
options to your promotional arsenal. There are more than a few entrepreneurs
doing very well by using nothing more than one or two of these smart
and efficient techniques.
Grayling provides marketing advice and copy writing for those wanting
to succeed at business.
Visit http://www.yourbizwiz.com
for more FREE advice and for all your e-commerce solutions!
YourBizWiz.com provides FAST Low-Cost Hosting and is committed
to your Online Success.
Grayling Lathrop is YourBizWiz!
Email him for FREE advice here:
or call him at (517) 447-4080.
