So you bought a domain name and also built
yourself a nice and shiny new website to
showcase your business. It's got loads of
info on it about how great you are, maybe
even an online shop with all your products.
But how do you tie this strange new world
of ecommerce in with your traditional
methods?
How do you utilise 'online
marketing' when you're not really sure what
it is?
Tell people about your website
You probably have a mailing list of
existing customers; every so often you
print a few thousand leaflets or Christmas
cards and send them out with reminders and
special offers. For the same cost as this,
you can tell these same people about your
website. Print the web address and get word
out; include incentives just like you
normally would, a promotional code for
example.
Measure the returns of your offline
marketing
Got a brand new range of sportswear in
your shop?
Create a custom page telling all
about it and print the URL on your flyer.
If people are impressed with your mailing,
they'll visit the page. Most importantly,
you can track numbers by installing an
analytics package on your website (like
Google Analytics).
Every time someone visits that particular
page, you know they've come because of
your leaflet.
Be sure that the page you make reflects
your mailing; customer experience is key
and by emphasising the connection between
what they get in the post and what they see
on their screen, you'll make visitors
comfortable with your brand.
Track visitor behaviour
Utilise cookies to track what visitors to
your website are doing (your analytics
package will do this). Maybe they land on
your special page but don't click through
to anywhere else. Maybe they get halfway
through the payment process and then give
up. With this information you can identify
problem areas and fix them. This is
something your offline marketing alone
could never tell you.
Build your online presence
Having a website and telling your
customers about it may not be enough to
make it profitable.
Think about how many
new people walk into your shop every day;
do the same number visit your website?
An online marketing strategy might be
necessary to give you a presence on the
internet, making sure you'll be found by
potential customers. This involves gaining
trust with the search engines so that you
come up in the results, or advertising on
other websites that your target market
visits.
Pay per click campaigns and search engine
optimisation strategies can be managed
yourself or by specialist online marketing
companies.
Pay per click is advertising on
the search engines (or other websites) -
paying to get onto the first page of
results.
Search engine optimisation
identifies keywords you want to be found
for and optimises your website so that it
appears high up in the natural search
results. If someone searches for
'sportswear' and you come up, you've got
yourself a new visitor.
This may all sound a little complicated,
but just think how many people search for
'sportswear' every day.
Hundreds?
Thousands?
These are all potential visitors
to your site, so investing in your online
presence really can pay off.
Gather visitor data and use it wisely
We've come full circle with our website
marketing; having a sign-up box on your
website to gather email addresses or other
details allows you to build up a mailing
list. Just like sending out leaflets, you
can send out emails (or more leaflets if
you like) with special offers and
promotional codes. Remind people about your
website, and strengthen awareness of your
brand.
If people have an account with you, track
what they buy and target your marketing
accordingly. Tailored promotions are far
more effective; think about Amazon.com's
'recommendations' feature. Using offline
methods in the online world can be the most
effective way of ensuring repeat business,
especially when you utilise all the extra
information your online strategy gives you.
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