Most business owners do not explore new marketing strategies
until they experience a sharp decline in their revenue.
Avertising campaigns are not evergreen. They evolve and grow,
improve and degenerate. Most work at home, or small business
owners shell out a substantial amount of money for a good ad
campaign and then let it run dry.
The first strategy for success is found in the way you view the
advertising campaign's purpose. A good advertising campaign
needs to do three things. First, it needs to collect data on
the market. Who is buying. What is hot, and what is not.
Second, it needs to collect vital information about the people
who make a purchase from your website. This can be compiled
into a profile that helps you determine how to best reach your
target market. It is a market research tool that helps
determine what types of advertising works, at what times of the
year.
Third, it should `brand' your name and logo. A successful
advertising campaign will imprint the company name and logo
onto people's subconscious. This increase their `decision to
buy' response when they visit the website
For example, online shopping increases dramatically just before
Christmas, but only if the payment gateway is fast and easy to
use. However, if the user must leave the website to use the
payment gateway, like paypal.com uses, then the statistics do
not change. However, the payment gateway does not effect sales
in the summer.
You'll notice that no aspect of an advertising campaign is to
sell the product – that is your website's job. A successful
marketing campaign manager never measure's an advertising
campaign's success based on sales.
Large corporations will tell you that a successful advertising
campaign may run for months before the results appear on the
income statement.
The advertising campaign should be reviewed often, and compared
to new methods, in the hunt for new `hot markets.' However, hot
markets burn out very quickly. The whirlwind of change that
continuously sweeps through the marketplace is a powerful
balancer. It gives small businesses an edge over the elephants
that move slow and react to change in months, not weeks.
This is true, but there needs to be balance. Always keep 80% of
the marketing budget in the tried and true marketing methods –
even if they do not offer the big rewards. The other 20% of the
marketing budget is free for exploration of new advertising
mediums. Don't discount anything. Look at the fortunes made
when youtube.com and myspace.com skyrocketed to fame. For a few
months, advertisers were raking in millions.
It is also important to keep a finger on the pulse of the
population. There is a time to brand your company, and a time
to break away from the pack and create a new image for yourself
like Calvin Cline did with their underwear commercials.
The important thing to remember is to focus. Calvin Cline
didn't try to sell underwear to all age groups, they focused on
a narrow niche. Work at home and small business owners need to
learn this lesson – niche marketing is the secret to making
millions.
The potential is expansive. Clever competition and new
technology should be seen as marketing tools, not threats.
Staying on the cutting edge is all about innovation and
creativity. Money is no longer the #1 element to success. Many
small businesses are becoming international on small budgets.
Mark Walters - Is a third generation
entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing
videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at
http://www.cashflowinstitute.com/videosignup.htm
