Sophisticated marketers know that best practices in communication and collaboration technology are just as applicable to online marketing as other marketing domains. This article highlights four time tested techniques to enhance your online marketing

Tip 1: Develop a newsletter using a web service

Online communication is a critical factor in online marketing. The world has gone far beyond Outlook merge. There are now a myriad of templates where pre-configured content can be added.

Just type the search term "e newsletter" into Google or Yahoo and you will see scores of options available. With the template established, your newsletter's content can include announcements products or updates on shipping schedules. With this approach, you'll create professional looking material with a relatively small investment of time.

Tip 2: Conduct virtual focus groups

Getting user feedback is a crucial ingredient in the development of any good online marketing campaign. Traditional focus groups are expensive and difficult to logistically organize. Just securing a group of a dozen folks in one place it itself rather difficult. However, there are other ways of holding focus groups that are generating traction.

Using a free conference calling service is a good way to conduct the event. Recent years have witnessed a number of companies launching conference calling services that offer teleconferencing for free. By using such a free conferencing service for your focus group, you can hold your focus group via the phone and save significant time and expenses.

The more advanced conference calling services provide audio capture. Having the conference audio enables you to concentrate on the what the participants are saying. After the conference call is done, the audio can serve as a permanent resource for capturing you user feedback.

Tip 3: Use data based decision-making practices

One of the most important trends in the last several years affecting online marketing has been the escalating reliance on evidence driven decision-making. As a marketer, you would be well served to develop a set of measurable metrics that can be tracked over time. Examples might encompass open rates on email campaigns or click through rates on other web tracked initiatives.

The old adage "you manage what you measure" is absolutely valid for online marketing. Having a set of rigorous metrics that you keep track of is necessary for creating improvement.

Tip 4: Hold virtual product demos

The best online marketers know that new products need rigorous testing and refinement before they can be fully launched. Product demo sessions are a useful way of gathering that feedback. Desktop sharing can be a particularly powerful way of accomplishing this.

Of course, you could just e-mail out the product demo information to every participant by way of an e-mail attachment. But a desktop sharing application allows you the ability to control how your product is perceived. The newer services enable you hand over control over to other participants which in turn allows your product demo to be more interactive.

Many desktop sharing applications cost little to use or are free. Some are bundled into the conferencing systems provided by conference calling companies. In other cases they are stand-alone service. Either way, this is another area where your online marketing can stand to benefit.

Successful online marketers are increasingly adopting the same time-tested and proven tactics that have produced outstanding marketing results in other fields. Whether it be intelligent online newsletter campaigns or clever use of conference calling technology to hold focus groups, there are a number of effective strategies available to help your efforts. And the best part is that most of these tips are either free or cost relatively little to implement.