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Internet Marketing A. Basic Principles - what's your marketing mix?I. Marketing ModelBefore you begin the online marketing process, have you analyzed your organization and its environment using some standard analysis technique, such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)? Then, consider the following 7P's, extended from the traditional 4P's model: 1. Producer Does your page convey clearly the nature of your organization? Should a mission statement or statement of purpose(s) be on your Webpage? 2. Purchasers Do you need a special page or special features on your site for ethnic or foreign language groups? Is your page accessible to the disabled? (See section on accessibility below.) 3. Product Which of your existing products or services should be featured on your page? Which cannot be delivered in whole or in part via your page? 4. Price How much can your organization afford for the Web site? Consider site design and maintenance, as well as Web server costs. 5. Place What new products or services are made possible for the first time by your page? Could any of your clients use your information 24 hours/7 days per week, even when your offices are closed? Consider posting answers to FAQs. 6. Promotion How does your message have to be adapted to the Web environment? Is the Web the best or only place to send this message to this client group? You still need newsletters, press releases, direct-mail pieces, telephone, fax, and personal contacts. Is your Web address on all your promotional pieces, business cards, and stationery? 7. Probing Is someone in your company answering, noting, and analyzing email and telephone messages received from Web site contacts? Instant market research! (More under responsiveness, below.)
[Based on: Fine, Seymour H. Marketing the Public Sector:
Promoting the Causes of Public and Nonprofit Agencies. Transaction,
1992. (DANA HF 5415.122 .F56)]
For further reading, consult:
II. Library ResourcesSome useful books are:
B. Extending Your Reach - who's your target?I. Directory ListingYou can usually be added to a business directory for free. Here are several Web directories of companies and organizations; more may be found on the Company Research Guide. [http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/company.shtml]
Also, consider being listed on a directory that is hosted by your trade association; check with the ASAE Gateway to Associations [http://info.asaenet.org/gateway/OnlineAssocSlist.html] II. Meta-tags and Search EnginesWhat are meta tags? Keywords and descriptive terms that identify your Website, used by search engines to index Web pages. Below are the meta tags for this page:
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Promoting your company on the Web" /> To get a quick idea of whether your site has been indexed and where it ranks on several major search engine sites, use PositionAgent Free from Microsoft bCentral. [http://www.bcentral.com/products/position_agent.asp] Many search engines offer free registration of your Website on their site. Many firms will register your Website for a fee with multiple search engines. Here are three which will do it for free:
If you want to spend some money after all, here are several ways to do so:
III. Link ExchangesYou can sign up with other related Websites so that the group as a whole can promote the sites associated with it. Check out:
And then there are banner exchanges:
Many more may be found at
Free Banner Exchange Programs
[http://www.prospector.cz/Banners/]
IV. URL Redirection
Should you have a long or less-than-memorable domain name, there is a way to help your users find you: register a URL that will redirect your visitors to the actual location. Take a look at the short URLs available from V3 Sub Domains.
[http://home.v3.com/free-sub-domains.shtml]
V. Domain-name RegistrationYou can now register a new domain name with more characters than before - 63 characters instead of just 26 - and you might want to consider registering your domain name in other countries or TLD's. [http://virtualexpress.net/domain_name_registration/domainnamefaq.html]
C. Developing your community - why should anyone return?I. Value-added InformationContent is king. If there is no useful information on your site, no one will return, not for all the bells and whistles (or spinning globes and flashing lights). But some basic content is often forgotten in the midst of annual reports and product descriptions.
II. Usability and NavigationStart by browsing the many articles in Usability News, a newsletter from the Software Usability Research Laboratory at Wichita State University. [http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usability_news.html] Then look at the examples in Seven Steps To Easier Web Navigation from SoftMedia Artisans. [http://www.smartisans.com/articles/web_navigation.aspx] For more tips on usability and Web design, go to Jakob Nielsen's useit.com Website. [http://www.useit.com] Finally, more links may be found at the Usable Web. [http://usableweb.com] III. AccessibilityThe U.S. Government is requiring that all Federal Agencies developing electronic products abide by Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act Of 1998, which calls for comparable (not equal) access to information and data by all users. Even without this directive, it is recommended that your Webpages be accessible to the visually impaired, and you can start with some Quick Tips from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. [http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/QuickTips/]
IV. ResponsivenessIf you invite your visitors to send you e-mail, be sure to reply promptly. It is very annoying to receive no answer, so assign someone to handle e-mail (just as you would handle phone calls). To reach a new audience, you could use targeted e-mail lists:
Instant Marketing discusses some new services for Internet marketers. [http://www.informationweek.com/746/mkt.htm] V. InteractionYour organization can develop an online community through the use of forums or discussion groups, from simple e-mail to collaborative workspaces to multimedia interaction. Start with the resources for Community Building from the Benton Foundation. [http://www.benton.org/publibrary/toolkits/community.html] Very few firms offer free hosting services for virtual communities:
VI. Affiliate MarketingA percentage (usually 5%) of purchases made at selected online merchants will come back to you. The following are examples of book dealers offering this feature:
Many other affiliate marketing programs may be found at LinkShare [http://www.linkshare.com/clients/] VII. "Localization"At some point in your corporate growth, you may extend your offerings to the world at large. How do you account for foreign exchange, international shipping arrangements, and the translation of your Website content into other languages? You might wish to consider the services of firms which specialize in "localization," or adapting your Website to local usage, language and culture around the world. Here are a few of these service providers:
D. Other Resources
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