7.2.4 Developing Your Marketing strategies 1. overview of marketing strategies Your marketing strategy is the final process of your plan Your plan must include both short-term and long-term strategies in order to succeed Short term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary boost in traffic Although these techniques are very important to your over-all plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied upon Short term marketing strategies include Purchasing advertising Bulletin boards gines Long term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream of targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce results even years down the road Long term marketing strategies include Lists Content long-term strategies, you will drive a steady stream of targeted traffic to your webie b By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy, using both short-term and 2. fully understanding the unique culture of the internet Three words help define the unique culture of the Internet --"free, " "information, "and privacy. "Of course, the Internet has chang ged dramatically from the days it was the sole playground of grad students and computer geeks, but some of the culture has remained Businesspeople need to understand its peculiarities, and then leverage these to land sales 1)The Attraction of"Free Free"has always attracted starving grad students laboring on master's theses from the windowless dungeons of University Library. Perhaps socialist smoke from professors' pipes makes academics believe the world can run on free services, I don ' t know But"free is beautiful"is deeply imbedded in the online culture. Rage that the Internet has been taken over by"Commercial Interests"(spit out those words when you say them) is past, but the expectation of"free"is still with us. (Of course, "free"has been a magic word for direct mail copywriters for decades, but that ruins my grad student myth, so keep it quiet.) As you plan your company's Internet strategy, "free"should play an important part in it Offer something free and the world will beat a path to your door. Better yet, offer many things free, and become a Destination Site. Then sell them something while they pass by Here's the simple strategy:(1) Attract people to your site by giving away lots of free information. Then(2)let people know about your products and services. Learn this rhythm of giving something away, and selling something. The strategy works 2)Information Is the Currency of the Web The quest for information drives the Web. Oh, yes, people like entertainment and Community (be sure to spell Community with a capital C, mind you), but don't underestimate information Businesspeople and serious shoppers are driven by their need for information far more than their desire for games and chat This means that your site must be information rich Don't worry about offering too much information; there's no such thing Oh, there's information overload, so you need to offer the information in digestible chunks and provide a carefully designed navigation system to get your visitors quickly where they want to go. But don't skimp on information Are you annoyed by those companies that don 't tell you key details you want to know? Like We dont want to say everything on the Web, "those marketers whine. " We want to force people to give us their phone number so we can make the sale on the phone What theyre doing, though, is sending potential customers scurrying along to their competitors who understand Internet culture well enough to satiate this hunger for information Find more subtle ways to encourage visitors to leave you their contact information, like a free7.2.4 Developing Your Marketing strategies 1. overview of marketing strategies Your marketing strategy is the final process of your plan. Your plan must include both short-term and long-term strategies in order to succeed. Short term marketing strategies are those that bring you a temporary boost in traffic. Although these techniques are very important to your over-all plan, they are only a temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied upon. Short term marketing strategies include: ▪ Purchasing advertising. ▪ Bulletin Boards. ▪ Search Engines. Long term marketing strategies are those that bring you a steady stream of targeted traffic over time. These strategies will continue to produce results even years down the road. Long term marketing strategies include: ▪ Opt-in Lists. ▪ Freebies. ▪ Content. By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy, using both short-term and long-term strategies, you will drive a steady stream of targeted traffic to your website 2. fully understanding the unique culture of the internet Three words help define the unique culture of the Internet -- "free," "information," and "privacy." Of course, the Internet has changed dramatically from the days it was the sole playground of grad students and computer geeks, but some of the culture has remained. Businesspeople need to understand its peculiarities, and then leverage these to land sales. 1) The Attraction of "Free" "Free" has always attracted starving grad students laboring on master's theses from the windowless dungeons of University Library. Perhaps socialist smoke from professors' pipes makes academics believe the world can run on free services, I don't know. But "free is beautiful" is deeply imbedded in the online culture. Rage that the Internet has been taken over by "Commercial Interests" (spit out those words when you say them) is past, but the expectation of "free" is still with us. (Of course, "free" has been a magic word for direct mail copywriters for decades, but that ruins my grad student myth, so keep it quiet.) As you plan your company's Internet strategy, "free" should play an important part in it. Offer something free and the world will beat a path to your door. Better yet, offer many things free, and become a Destination Site. Then sell them something while they pass by. Here's the simple strategy: (1) Attract people to your site by giving away lots of free information. Then (2) let people know about your products and services. Learn this rhythm of giving something away, and selling something. The strategy works. 2) Information Is the Currency of the Web The quest for information drives the Web. Oh, yes, people like entertainment and Community (be sure to spell Community with a capital C, mind you), but don't underestimate information. Businesspeople and serious shoppers are driven by their need for information far more than their desire for games and chat. This means that your site must be information rich. Don't worry about offering too much information; there's no such thing. Oh, there's information overload, so you need to offer the information in digestible chunks and provide a carefully designed navigation system to get your visitors quickly where they want to go. But don't skimp on information Are you annoyed by those companies that don't tell you key details you want to know? Like price, for example? "We don't want to say everything on the Web," those marketers whine. "We want to force people to give us their phone number so we can make the sale on the phone." What they're doing, though, is sending potential customers scurrying along to their competitors who understand Internet culture well enough to satiate this hunger for information. Find more subtle ways to encourage visitors to leave you their contact information, like a free