Marketing Plan Combining Online Marketing and Offline for Greater Success - Part 2

Online Marketing Strategies

Online strategies have taken off in cyberspace. The Internet connects you with the rest of the world. At any given time, your information could be viewed by someone halfway around the world. With billions of people from all walks of life making up the audience here, you have a lot of room to move with marketing.

It can be daunting but never fear. Keep to the goal of your business and use marketing strategies to reach your target just like you would use offline strategies. One advantage of online marketing is because the audience is so large; they are designed to narrow down the focus for you so there is more hitting than missing with your marketing dollars.

This is the first thing an Internet marketer might ask you. Do you have an online presence? It is hard for people to find you if you do not have a stable location. A website provides that for you as a hub for your online marketing.

Even if you have a physical building where you do business, people in other places will interact with you via your website. A rule of thumb for websites is, MAKE THEM EASY TO NAVIGATE. A website that turns you in circles won't be visited very often. A website designer can guide you through this if you are not computer savvy. It is their business to know how to design a website for optimum performance and visibility.

Submit your website to search engines. Everyone uses search engines to find things online. It's like virtual Yellow Pages. When you register with the major search engines, there bots will crawl your website pages. If there is something searchable there, you will be found.

A much overlooked jewel in the absence of a web site budget is Squidoo. Seth Godin, the original Squid is a bestselling author, speaker, and founding member of Squidoo. His lenses are an excellent place to start. You can begin here and build your online marketing presence.

A blog is an online marketing journal or at least it began that way. Blogs are interactive. For every post you upload, readers can comment on it. This makes blogs a useful tool for businesses. Posting useful content and information about your business gives customers a chance to weigh in. You can use blogs for opinion polls, getting feedback on new product or service ideas and general feedback on how well you are running your business on and/or offline.

Blogs can be started for free. Sites like Blogspot, Blogger and WordPress let you set up a blog with them and offer step-by-step instructions to get underway quick. Blogs are also crawled by search engines so register your blog and provide quality content that can be ranked.

This is the newest tool in the online marketing arsenal. When there isn't enough time to meet in real life or you've lost touch with people, you can find them through social networking. Take your pick from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace to name a few. Each has its own pros and cons along with resources to help you connect with the right people for business.

Social networking sites don't like spammers so take the time to get to know people here. The point is to build a following of people who know and trust you. That will lead them to your website and your business.

Email marketing is like the direct part of online marketing strategies. You can again buy lists but the information you need can be gathered yourself with a few opt-ins on your website (there again, the website is useful). Visitors can get free newsletters full of useful information or a free catalog for signing up on your website. Make sure that you add a disclaimer that lets them know that the information they provide (name and email address) will not be sold. People don't like their information sold to spammers.

That is how you begin to build your list. As more and more people buy from you, your list will grow. If this is an offline business, ask customers for their email address at the time of checkout for coupons and newsletters.

It works for magazines and newspapers and also for online marketing article directories. The difference with online article writing is the use of keywords, what we call search engine optimization (SEO). Through keyword research, you can find the words most commonly entered into search boxes to find a business like yours.

Using those keywords in your articles helps them to get listed early (hopefully on the first page) in search results. Most people never look past the first or second page of results so this is a great way to advertise when done right. Articles can also be rewritten several times yourself or by using software to create even more articles easily to be uploaded to directories. Each article gets a resource box where you place your information including business name, website address, physical address (for offline business) and something about you.

EBay is the premier online marketing marketplace. When you can't find it in the store or want to find it cheaper, you turn to eBay. It has a great reputation and can work wonders for your business. EBay offers a lot of resources for sellers. Selling on eBay is another method for test marketing new products before offering them in your store. Customers provide feedback on your performance and you can use the forums to get tips on selling and meet other business owners.

If you don't know how to run a store from your website, use eBay. EBay offers members the options of three levels for eBay store ownership. Their tool package lets you set up your virtual store, manage inventory and conduct customer service easily. Use your website for content, ads (if you want more revenue) and showcasing new products available in your eBay store. Each can link to the other for ease of navigation.

In the world of business there are always new ideas just waiting to be exploited. Thirty years ago no one would have imagined that business could move into a virtual arena but it did. Niche marketing is one way to find those new ideas that could mean increased sales through targeted marketing.

Let's say that you are into landscaping. Well, landscapers do a lot of stuff. They plant gardens, design your yard, add water features, rock gardens, gazebos, pergolas and other things for a total aesthetic appearance. Maybe you want to narrow your focus by concentrating on one are of landscaping.

Niche marketing dictates that you perform research to see if the market you are looking to exploit is a viable market. Maybe you want to make designer rock gardens or walkways. Your strategies will concentrate on people who want those features on their properties and hopefully a new market will emerge.

Niche marketing is a caveat to starting a business using other online marketing strategies. After running your business for awhile you'll notice other possible products or services that weren't part of your original business plan that you want to pursue. Niche marketing can be used to grow a successful business in another direction.

Begin your own affiliate program. If you run a successful offline business, an affiliate program is one way to drum up more business with online marketing. Create ads that others will use on their sites to drive traffic to your business. Affiliate programs take a lot of time to set up and administer so hiring an affiliate manager is not a bad idea.

It will be the job of the affiliate manager to run the day-to-day operation of the affiliate program. Choose someone with a background in affiliate marketing who knows how to find new affiliates, keep current affiliates happy and implement an affiliate reward program.

Marketing is a part of any business plan. For marketing to work, it has to exemplify your business description and statement of purpose. Everything is geared towards making that business idea a reality.

Each of the marketing tools described in the above two sections can be implemented for both offline and online businesses. Your product or service will dictate how much tweaking has to be done to fit your business plan but you'll never know if you don't try it. With your business, an online website combined with a magazine column could start the influx of business from customers you weren't reaching before.

What keeps customers coming back? It's the customer service. For a physical business, online marketing strategies can help you provide better customer service as you find new customers. Corresponding through email may make responding to customer issues easier than an answering service.

Use the marketing tools in this report to increase your business success. Some or most you have heard of before but maybe never thought of using. Each tool can be expanded upon to meet your needs. Who knows, you might come up with the next hot marketing strategy.

Imagine the opportunities you will find by adding other marketing strategies to your arsenal? The first rule of business marketing is that there are no hard and fast rules beyond being ethical. Don't limit yourself.

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