Online Marketing Strategies

This brief is to stimulate thinking and discussion. The objective is to increase sales. We need to do this sooner rather than later.

Three Golden Rules

1. Make the needs and expectations of our visitors the starting point four our web site. Focus on the benefits of our products, services and web site. Don’t focus only on our product descriptions.

2. Build marketing into our web site from beginning to end. Promotion won’t be effective if bolted on as an afterthought; our site’s design, content and the way customers can use it to communicate with us should all be planned with the market place in mind.

3. Content is king. How can our website help customers tackle problems
or improve their daily lives. If our web site doesn’t offer something worthwhile, people won’t visit it.

What counts as marketing?

Marketing is the management process of anticipating, identifying, and satisfying customer requirements profitably. It is more than simply promotion activity.

It includes:

• Analysing our markets and our customer’ needs
• Predicting and monitoring how these might change and develop.
• Designing our products and services that match our resources and skills with our markets.
• Ensuring we meet our own goals as well as satisfying customer expectations.

Our marketing mix: the ‘6 Ps’

What is it? How does this relate to our marketing objectives/strategy?

• Products
• Prices
• Place
• Promotion
• People
• Processes

Fourteen point to consider for successful web site marketing

1. Where are we now? Audit our position: benchmarking.
2. Where do we want to be? Are our goals defined? What do we expect our visitors to gain from our internet site?
3. Who is and who will be our audience? Market segmentation. We can’t be all things to all people. What is our target market?
4. How will we get from where we are now to where we want to be? What is, and where is, our action plan? What are our marketing objectives? Document them. S.M.A.R.T
5. Plan our content and services. Build relationships online. Tapping into communities.
6. People: Have we got what it takes? Ownership/involvement. Team building/incentives. Internal marketing.
7. Resources: Have we got the right resources? What do we need to do the job more effectively? Outsourcing?
8. Our domain name. How can we protect our online brand name?
Threats and opportunities.
9. Marketing Technology: Is our website accessible by all? Back office. Email, database, and mobile technology.
10. Design and branding. What makes a good home page? Navigation.
11. Risk Management: Testing our site. Monitor functionality. Ensure legal compliance. Data protection. Security.
12. Promotion and communication: don’t forget offline marketing
13. Keep our site fresh, appealing and up to date. Don’t forget AIDA
14. Monitoring, evaluation and continual improvement. Tracking and feedback.

What is your online marketing plan/strategy?