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9/6/2008 - FOUR ELEMENTS FOR LAUNCHING YOUR NEW MARKETING PROGRAM IN THE INTERNET
by Eric Gagnon
Extracted from BMI Business Marketing Institute (http://www.businessmarketinginstitute.com/tmn080508.html)
Whenever you're starting a new marketing program, either for a new product, or for any new promotion in your marketing plan, your Net-based marketing efforts act in two ways for new market launches:
First, as a "backstop," your Web site serves your other, offline marketing efforts, such as print advertising and direct mail, when prospects link to your site after they see your ad or mailing piece.
Second, your online marketing efforts are an active marketing channel all their own, if you run keyword search marketing programs using Google AdWords and other search site programs.
The ease of Internet search is transforming your prospects from yesterday's passive trade publication page-flippers into today's active product information seekers, as more and more of the potential prospects in your market use Google and other search sites to actively research the products, companies, solutions, and applications they are interested in purchasing for their companies. Even if you're not running keyword search advertising, your potential prospects will use the Internet to search for products such as those sold by your company anyway, so you need to button up your company's Web presence.
According to an article written by Josh Stailey of The Pursuit Group, 85% of industrial buyers access supplier Web sites, and 83% tap Internet search sites like Google during their buying process. Josh adds, "buyers find and short-list suppliers based on their Web presence even before making contact. The decision has been made before you are even aware...and you'll never know you failed to make the cut." There's much more in Josh's article that's important to all of us B2B marketers, and you can access it here.
In any new market, the degree to which any interested prospect can readily find your product, and the critical first impression you make with your marketing presentaton means the difference between getting the lead, or losing it to someone else.
Four Principles to Developing an Effective Online Marketing Process
The fact that any potential buyer can now use the Internet to find and buy your product can also make it easier for you to sell them your product, if:
1.) You make it easy for them to find you;
2.) You quickly explain to your Web viewer how your product solves their business problem;
3.) You give them all the information they need that answers their most likely questions on your product;
4.) You establish an ongoing communications channel to open a continuous dialogue with your prospect
Effective online marketing requires solutions and facts, not hype: One of the major consequences of Web users searching out the products they're interested in buying is that this activity places a premium on clear presentation of factual information about your product or service, and not the usual marketing buzzwords found in most company product brochures.
Web searchers want the hard facts about your product, and are certain to compare the information you provide on your product side-by-side with the information your competition provides on their products. The more clearly you present your product's major, compelling benefits, and aplications to these searchers, the more you'll eliminate the doubt that your online marketing program could have been more effective for your new market.
Make it Easy for Potential Prospects to Find You
Start your online marketing program off right: When entering a new market with an existing product, but with new messaging and positioning that's customized for this new market, it's a good idea to create a sub-site under your main Web site domain to handle all of the Net marketing activity for this new market.
By hanging a relevant, easily-entered term at the end of your company's Web address, like so: www.duramco.com/chemical and printing this URL on your ads, in your mailing pieces, and in all of your offline marketing projects for your new market, you'll drive potential prospects in this new market to the specialized Web pages you'll be creating for this new market. It's easy for prospects to enter, it keeps all your Web content in one location and, best of all, it's very easy to measure response to your marketing programs this way. Measurement is good!
About the Author
Eric Gagnon (eric@realmarkets.net), a director with the Business Marketing Institute, is author of The Marketing Manager’s Handbook and The CRM Field Marketing Handbook, and president of GAA ( http://www.realmarkets.net ), a marketing, sales turnaround, and product development consulting firm.
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