Web Marketing Guide

If you’re already in business, you know you have to spend money to make money. You may need to redistribute your marketing budget to free up funds for marketing online. Here’s a method to elevate your marketing analysis from guesswork to grand plan. First, make a four column list organized as follows:

• The first column lists all the marketing techniques you currently use.
• The second column lists the target market you reach with that technique.
• The third column lists how many new customers you think that technique brings in.
• The fourth column lists how much you spend per year on that technique.

If you’ve been in business for a while, you might have forgotten some of your recurring marketing investments. Here are a few examples to spark your memory: a Yellow Pages listing, signs, business cards and letterhead, logo design, a listing in a local business club directory, T-shirts for the girls’ soccer team, newspapers or other print ads, direct mail, local fliers, word of mouth, radio spots, billboards, and so on.

If you don’t have extra money to invest in developing and promoting a Web presence, decide which existing methods you can cut in favor of more cost-effective online marketing. If you duplicate your reach at lower cost online, you can put the difference into your Web site.

Remember

What you already know about marketing is true. Profit from your own success. Unless you’re starting a new business online, your new customers are going to look an awful lot like your old ones. You already know how to sell to them, what they need, and what appeals to their emotions.