In today's world, a business person simply can not dismiss the internet as a source of revenue. You have to consider that the money that you're leaving on the table if you don't advertise on the net is significant. I think many people are still stuck in the "old school" mentality of phone books and newspapers as the best forms of advertising, but that just isn't the case anymore. You have to use the internet. Why? Because your competition is, thats why. It all begins with creating a website to promote your business. You can use your website in a number of ways. Some of these ways include providing more information about your business and the products or services you offer, letting potential customers know how to reach you and even selling your products and services via the website. Here I will highlight the advantages of using a website to market your business and I'll outline some of some ways to make your website produce.
One great advantage to using a website to market your business on the Internet is that you can place descriptions and photos of the products or services your business offers. This is important because many consumers use the Internet when researching products and services. Having an online presence gives your business an advantage over the competition because consumers are much more likely to select your products or services over the products and services offered by your competitors who do not advertise online.
Another advantage to marketing your business on a website is you can use the website to not only market but also sell your products directly. Again this can give you an edge over the direct competition. Consumers who use the web to research products and services are more inclined to select a business that offers the opportunity to purchase the products or services online over a seller who doesn't.
Still another advantage to using a website to market your business is the ability to reach a large, worldwide audience. The Internet essentially knows no boundaries and advertising on a website means the business owner can reach competitors around the world instead of being limited to their general location. Advertising via other medium such as television, radio and the print media is somewhat limited and may only reach potential customers in a relatively small geographic area.
Another advantage to using a website to market your business is the Internet is available 24 hours a day around the world. This basically gives you a storefront that's open 24 hours a day. While your competitors may be limited to their regular business hours, your website will enable you to reach your customers at any hour of the day. This is especially important for reaching potential customers in other time zones and for reach customers in your own area who are simply too busy to shop for products or services like the ones you offer during regular business hours. Allot of customers work long hours and enjoy the flexibility of shopping online after hours.
One final advantage to marketing with your own website is you can actually make a profit from your website in in a variety of ways that do not involve directly selling to visitors. You can aeven generate income by selling advertising space on your website to other business owners who are looking for more business from the internet. However, you should be careful when advertising on your website. First of all you should not sell advertising space to direct competitors. This is important because this may cause you to lose potential business if potential customers opt to purchase product or services from competitors who advertise on your website. An ideal advertiser is one who offers products and services which do not directly compete with your own products or services but would be of interest to your potential customers. You should also take care not to place too many advertisements on your website. This is important because too many advertisements may detract from your business and may cause you to lose potential customers.
Online Marketing And Sales
Now that the Internet is a fixture as a marketing channel, you probably have been handling questions about what role online marketing or the Internet should play for your company. How much of your marketing budget should be used to fund it? What are the best ways to use online marketing for sales lead generation?
As a B2B marketing consultant I work with dozens of companies selling products or services to businesses. So I see what's working in regard to business-to-business marketing online, and what companies are spending. I'll share some of what I've learned with you.
Start with your website
If you've got an established website, I'll bet you're in your third or fourth round of redesigning it by now. When it first appeared, it was probably a messy collection of technical support information and difficult to navigate. Then someone in marketing turned it into an online brochure. Then you added a few bells and whistles to make it hip and easier to use. Now is the time to rethink the site's value to the bottom line.
Link marketing to the sales process
Use marketing tactics to drive prospects to your website, then give them the information they need online and encourage them to move forward in the buying process by identifying themselves. Think about individual users and what answers or solutions they are looking for on your website. Structure your messaging and linking to mimic their searching and buying processes.
If your website visitors know the product name or number, let them access information about the product that way. For example, let them get a list of products with clear technical specs and recommendations about which are best for common situations. Or if someone isn't sure what they need, show them a path where they can find all the products or services that are appropriate for their type of company.
Meet the visitors? needs
Invite people to visit for as long as they want, and delve as deep as they care to. Do you have shallow, top-line information available on your site? If they need more in-depth information, do you make it easy to find?
Plan to make offers that will entice prospects to identify and qualify themselves. Can you create a free guide for choosing among your products or services? Can you offer a whitepaper to show how their kind of organization is using your product or service to solve problems? You can use it as bait for having your visitors share their names, titles, company names and contact information. Capture this information in your lead management and lead nurturing system so sales people can take advantage of it.
Just don't make visitors sit through a Flash(r) animated commercial every time they visit your site. You may think it's cool, but it just wastes their time.
Email marketing
Sending email to people who have expressed an interest in your products or services is a very cost effective way to market them. Many of my clients are shifting a large portion of their direct mail dollars into email.
Give some serious thought to what you plan to send and how frequently. Sometimes I feel more like a punching bag than a prospect or customer as I get slugged with too many inappropriate offers too often by companies who think they are doing "customer relationship management."
Newsletters - online vs. print
My clients report great success with online newsletters-- both their own as well as when they advertise in an industry newsletter. Why? Because the folks receiving the newsletter have opted-in or requested the free subscription and are more likely to read it and notice your ad, article or sponsorship.
Some people would prefer to receive a printed version of your newsletter instead. So if you want to be able to communicate with these people you need to print and mail some copies in addition to those you email. Don't forget print's advantages: it stays on someone's desk, it is there in his or her briefcase during the train ride home, and it can be handed to a colleague, where email is deleted with a few clicks. Make sure the sales phone number is prominent so the sales department sees the benefit directly.
Directories
Most print directory publishers are online as well, frequently offering you exposure in both mediums for the same price. Keep in mind that directories are often where buyers look when they are seeking new suppliers and have immediate needs. Some directories rank high as authority sites in search results and lead to more visitors.
Publish fresh content on related websites
Industry websites need online content to attract and keep visitors. Many refresh their content daily or weekly. This gives you plenty of opportunities for editorial contributions. Use the article publishing websites for growing links, but don't miss the opportunity to create custom-written articles for the top websites in your industry.
Email the online editor, asking him/her what they are looking for and offering to supply appropriate articles, releases or contacts for possible interviews. You might be surprised at how receptive online editors can be.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and advertising online
Your online ad budget should be focused on targeted audiences-- on vertical industry, publication and association websites already serving the markets you wish to reach. Then, not only are you creating awareness with the right audience, your click-through rates will increase significantly.
If you advertise directly with a website publisher, rather than simply running your online ads on the home page of the website, consider placing your ads only in special sections that relate to your products and services or linking them to appropriate keyword searches.
How much to budget for online B2B marketing
Over the last few years, I have been finding that business-to-business marketing clients have increased budgets from 20% up to about 35%, depending on the size and competitiveness of their market. Online Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad rates such as those on Google, Yahoo, and MSN have been increasing as well, further inflating the spend for online marketing. Building links to your websites may look like a drain on the budget but it's a must in today's competetive online space. (Please note that this doesn't include funding e-commerce such as online order processing-- that usually comes out of sales or operations budgets.)
Where is the money coming from? Occasionally it comes from larger marketing communications budgets. A proven technique for getting a larger budget is to plaster the conference room with all your competitors? ads, emails, web pages and literature, then invite your boss in to discuss your budget. When he sees everything the competition is doing, he might just have an impulsive response and boost your budget!
However, funding for online marketing usually is reallocated from other media. For example, a number of my clients have shifted half or more of their direct mail budget to email and cut out marginally producing trade shows and secondary advertising buys to free up money for Internet-related expenditures.
Conclusion
Online marketing won't replace your print advertising, direct mail, trade shows, public relations and other marketing tools. Instead, leverage online marketing to reach your prospects and plan for it in your B2B lead generation and marketing toolkit.
Both Omar Martin & Mac H Mcintosh are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Omar Martin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Sales and Negotiation, Email Advertising and Business Promotion. Omar Martin is a sales expert dedicated to training and developing high performance sales leaders in every industry. He is an internet marketer and sales page designer whose sales experience, skill level and coaching ability has benefited thousands of sal. Omar Martin's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.
Mac H Mcintosh has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Business Promotion and Business Loans. M. H. "Mac" McIntosh is described as one of America's leading B2B sales and marketing consultants. Find out how he can help get more high-quality leads and turn them into sales with. Mac H Mcintosh's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
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