Hi there, Internet marketing offers us all great tools for getting our products or services to the masses for little cost apart from some work on our part.
But remember those internet marketing tools are only as good as the operator (and that’s you) and even though there are many programs out there to effectively ‘automate’ some of your internet marketing activity you still need to make sure you don’t lose sight of the fundamentals, the key one being …..
The Individual That’s YOU
For us it’s about being human and that offers up a distinct advantage over an automated program – so listen up, get the basics right first off. Being human means you are totally unique, the way you communicate, you write, you tell a story etc etc – that means as we all know the internet is all about communicating information in a unique way – so that’s your strength – use it!
The Worldwide Shop Window Opportunity
Your shop window if you like is open 24 hours a day and operating in every country in the world. Whatever anyone wants these days (even if they end up buying locally offline) is to use the internet as it was intended as a huge information resource after all most of us check out items we want, comparing prices, availability and quality and the really great thing is being able to discover that really ‘hard to find’ item is actually available – wow that’s neat.
For traditional offline businesses most are now promoting themselves online as well. the sheer power of the internet touches all our lives whatever age you are –hell even my mother who’s 91 uses internet banking and often shops for gifts for us and her grandchildren online. So just imagine in 5 years time what the worldwide internet audience will be – after all there’s still some countries including parts of Africa with little or limited internet – but times are a changing, so now the time to really secure your presence.
Things change in seconds online, but there are some principles of marketing that always stay the same, the primary one of these is the fact that you’ve got to know your audience, your target market.
Who Is Your Target Market?
Before launching your online product or service, you’ve got to thoroughly research your market just like in the offline world. Many companies operating offline would look to hiring an experienced research consultant to consider and evaluate their market. The whole point is to understand exactly who your target market is. This includes demographic information and sure-fire ways to reach this demographic.
Online Surveys
But here’s the really great news if you’re a little Internet savvy forget the consultant, you don’t need him, it’s no problem. With the right skills and tools, anyone can find all the information they need by themselves. One way to do this is to do an online poll or survey (surveymonkey.com is a great service, just Google it) to gather information; drive traffic to your survey with an adwords campaign. You may not get the depth of detail that you would with a full-scale marketing campaign, but you’ll glean valuable information that will help you reach your audience better
Forum & Online Community Research
Search out the online forums and newsletters etc you’ll gain valuable insight as to what your prospective clients are searching for and need. You’ll be amazed how with just a little work and thought you’ll get a ton of valuable information.
How To Speak To Your Audience
Once you know who and how, the next step is to craft your campaign so that it successfully reaches them. There are a number of free, easy and effective methods for doing this. The whole idea is to find out where they are, and put your product or service in front of them. Considerations include the design of your site, where to put your ads, the wording of your content, interactive tools and other marketing tools such as videos.
Site design & Content – Get it Right
The look of your site is extremely important. If you surf online for a while, you’ll notice that certain topics use certain design features. Every niche has its own set of preferred colours, types of lettering, graphics and so on. For example, if you want to reach an older audience, you need reserved, muted colours. Younger people prefer bold colours and designs that are busier.
Your site’s content is essential. Once you put it in front of your target audience, you need the content to convince them of your authority and the value of your product or service. It needs to speak directly to them and give them the information they’re looking for.
Consider the Demographics of Your Anticipated Audience
Your audience will also determine the tone of your content. Some topics, which are of interest to more conservative audiences, should use formal language. Others should use language that is more emotional or peppered with slang and idioms. For example, medical niches should have content that sounds authoritative and empathetic. If you’re selling skateboards, you should use slang and expressions that young people use – make sense? You must interact with your audience and build trust therefore you must relate to them & them to you.
Don’t forget Design
Finally, you should take into consideration how the site is designed. For most niches, it’s a good idea to use audio or video clips, but it’s very important that they be appropriate for the niche. To take the previous example of a skateboard site, you would want to avoid using classical or country music! Instead, go for the most popular punk or rap music that skateboarders are likely to relate to.
When doing marketing campaign online or off, it’s essential to understand your audience. Your site and content should speak directly to them. This is what’s going to make your advertising successful and get them to buy your products or services.
Tony
