The current state of the economy has created challenges for many small business owners. Some have returned to reducing their advertising budget to rescue their bottom line. They may be cutting their own throat. Promoting your product and self branding are necessary to combat the ongoing client attrition. With internet marketing, the possibilities are endless, from email marketing and using free classifieds to Article submission. The key element in any internet marketing plan is to identify your target audience. Read that last sentence again and let it sink in.
When you identify and direct your advertising towards the target market, you will attract the maximum number of potential customers per advertising dollar. If you have a top-notch ad campaign and you are marketing steak to a vegetarian crow, you are wasting your money. Direct your ad copy to a specific niche of your overall market. Once you have determined your target market, you must capture their attention and solve their problem.
People will not purchase a product because they want your product, they want what your product will do for them. It has been said that no one ever bought a drill who wanted a drill. What they wanted was a hole. The drill solved the problem. Cars solve the problem of transportation. Remember, people buy with their emotions and justify with logic.
Statistics show consumers rarely buy a product the first time see they it unless they know something about the company or the person offering it. Savvy internet marketers understand the importance of building a relationship of trust. If you look back at your own purchases, your repeat business probably went to the person or place that you know. You kindly know they provide and guarantee a quality product. They have earned your trust.
Market studies reveal the average person needs to see a new product or company a minimum of seven times before they will buy. So, the question is, on the internet, how do we build trust and continue to deliver our message once we have captured the attention of our target audience? More specifically, how do we do this and lower the cost maintained advertising spending.
We do this by trying to capture the customer contact information. Many marketers use a lead capture page. People who are really interested will give you their name and email address. It may also be helpful to have a free offer. Giving away information in the form of an eBook or report, in exchange for the customers email address will improve your opt in rates.
Having a lead capture page tied to your advertisement is essential to building your "Golden List" and continuing to deliver your message while building trust. The transition should be seamless from the ad, to the opt in page. Lead capture pages are simple to build, but what you put in them will determine your success.
Now, we have targeted our market, directed our ad copy towards our customer, and captured their contact information using a lead capture page. Now what? Part two, builds building trust over time. We do this by continuing to offer value, sharing information is one way to do this.
We give our customers information and in our case, we give information about building a business with internet marketing. We continue to do this whether they buy from us or not. This information is valuable to them and after they are led astray by others or tired of paying for what they can get for free, they will come back to you – the source they trust. You have built trust and not only that, you have positioned yourself as a leader.
As a leader, it is essential to share your knowledge and develop and empower your organization. You can do this one team member at a time, or you can leverage your time with automation. Using an email auto responder service such as Aweber is a great time management tool. When I build my lead capture page, I tie it to my auto responder so I do not have to spend all day writing and sending the same set of messages over and over. Aweber offers a very good product and delivers my emails on the schedule I set.
Advertising is absolutely necessary; there is no such thing as a product that "sells itself". If you are going to succeed in this economy you must continue to get your message out to the people who need to hear it. Harness the power of internet marketing.