How to Promote Your
Products on the Internet
Reaching Customers Worldwide
Dr Mark Brown
UQ Business School
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
Three Ways to Promote Online
Spend a lot
Spend a little
Spend somewhere in between
How to Promote
Without Burning
Through Your Cash
Email Marketing
Search Engine Marketing
Linking Strategies
Web 2.0 Marketing
Affiliate Programs/Pay
-
for
-
Performance
Multiple Strategies
You probably don’t
maximize your
existing customer or
prospect base
Plenty of products
and companies
available to help
with good email
campaigns
Can be much more
precise with email
communications
Email Marketing
The Golden Rules
Don’t send SPAM!
Get consumers’ permission (i.e. Opt
-
in,
not Opt
-
out)
Provide something of value
special offers, newsletters,
announcements, greeting cards,
reminders, incentives
Carefully segment your market
Get help with copywriting/creative if
you can afford it
Always
measure response
Keep testing, try out new things
Outsourced, Hosted, or In
-
House
Access by any
web browser
Database
connectivity
Recipient profile
Event triggering
Design
templates
Bounceback
handling
Detailed
statistics
What is Lifecycle Marketing?
Awareness of customer’s position in the
customer lifecycle
Customer
-
driven, not offer
-
driven
Sending highly relevant messages when
they are most effective
Highly targeted campaigns 18x more
effective than offer
-
driven campaigns
(Jupiter Research 2005)
Not everyone gets the same email or
same offer on the same day
Much of it can be automated based upon
customer behavior
Testing
Setting up timing tests
how often (within a certain period of time)
best days of the week
best times of the day
Carefully design your landing page
Remail strategy
Refine…and then refine some
more!
A Few Key Tips
Don’t send too often
(ideal frequency?)
Make it easy to unsubscribe
If possible, have it come from a real
person
Make sure people can reply
Take privacy seriously
Keep it brief
-
use links for more
detail
Avoid list brokers
Co
-
Registration
Rankings (“organic”)
Pay Per Click
Don’t focus on one and neglect
the other
Search Engine Marketing
Some Popular Search Engines
Search Engine Optimization
Process of “optimizing” both on
-
page and off
-
page ranking factors in
order to achieve high search engine
rankings for targeted search terms
Also refers to the “industry” that
has been created around using
keyword searching as a means of
increasing relevant traffic to a
website
Search engines rank sites using
differing criteria
They need to know your site exists
Search engines “index” web pages but
it takes time
Give yourself the best chance by
“optimizing” your site pages
Add new content as frequently as
possible
Create your pages for search engines
with as much effort as you do for
people
Improving Your Ranking
GOOD: Check out our
products
page for more info
about
webcams
BAD:
Click here
for more info about our webcams
Using Keywords
Pick a couple of keywords or phases to
optimize for each page
Use language your readers would use
Do not over use
-
avoid keyword stuffing
Try to put the keywords in hyperlinks
This influences relevance of pages you’re
linking to
Useful Keyword Tools
Keyword Density
http://www.webjectives.com/keyword.htm
http://www.keyworddensity.com/
Online Advertising Tools
Yahoo!/Overture:
http://inventory.overture.com/
Google:
https://adwords.google.com/select/Keywo
rdToolExternal
Google Webmaster Tools
http://www.google.com/webmasters
Many search engines use links to
a page to determine its page rank
You should carefully plan how
your web pages link to each other
Again, design site navigation for
both consumers
and
search
engines
Always have a html/text
-
based
site map
-
crawlers like them
Linking Strategies
Link Popularity
Both number and popularity of
inbound links is important
Anchor text is important
(i.e. the use of keywords in link text)
Popularity is for an individual page,
not a whole site
Search engines use different
popularity algorithms
How to Get Links to Your Site
Get listed in directories (eg. Yahoo!,
Open Directory
-
dmoz.org)
Different from search engines
Lists of sites organized by topic, usually
editorially reviewed
Establish reciprocal links with
community and professional bodies and
smaller government agencies
Syndicate your content
Have your management team (or maybe
any employees) create blogs that link to
you
Link Format
Text links are the most crawler
friendly
If you use image links, also use
alt text
Should be able to reach any
page from a text link
Resources
www.searchenginewatch.com
Check link popularity at
www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
PPC ads appear as “sponsored listings”
Bid on price you are willing to pay “per
click”
Usually have very good tracking tools and
statistics
Ability to control ad text
Can set budgets and spending limits
Google AdWords
and
Yahoo Search
Marketing
(formerly Overture) are the two
leaders
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Example
-
AdWords
If you don’t have a PPC strategy
Results in 1
-
2 days
Easy for beginners to set up
Can turn campaign on and off at
any moment
Can geographically target specific
markets
Still need to monitor your keyword
bidding and ad ranking
…GET ONE!
Web 2.0 Marketing
Social Networking Media
Part of Web 2.0 phenomenon
Online social gathering places
Spreading from blogs,
podcasting, and messaging to
music and video sharing
Two Thirds
Of U.S.
Brand advocacy
drives business
growth
Brand advocacy
more important than
brand image or
satisfaction
91% of people likely
to buy on
recommendation
Economy Driven By WOM
Word
-
of
-
Mouth
Needs to be
remarkable in
some way
People must
want
to refer their
friends
Have an action
you want them to
take
(e.g. register,
purchase, visit site)
Viral Marketing
Video Sharing
Blogs
–
Why Use Them?
Search engine marketing
Direct communications
Brand building
Competitive differentiation
Relational marketing
Drive new business
Media and public relations
Reputation management
Position you as expert
Intranet and project
management
Set Strategic Goals for Blogs
For example…
We want to inform and educate our
customers and prospects
We want to provide entertainment for
our readers
We want to add a human face
–
a
personality
-
to the corporate mask
We want to improve customer service
and help customers better use our
products or services
We want to solicit honest feedback from
stakeholders
CEOs
–
People Want to Hear You
Podcasting
Why Is It Important?
Consumers are looking for quality
content on their own schedule
Advertisers cannot reach target markets
Traditional media is losing effectiveness
New media has not been exploited
Young segments are traditionally least
accessible
Newsprint declining
–
Blog readership
increasing
TV advertising disintermediated by PVRs
Radio audiences declining
–
MP3 increasing,
satellite radio
How Is It Relevant to Me?
Probably still a niche medium but
great potential
Podcasting provides opportunity to
talk with consumers at a more
conversational level
People trust individual voices more
than corporate voices
“Transparent” Marketing
Some people want to hear from you
and they can come knocking at your
door for content
How Do I Do It?
Need to spend a few hundred dollars
on quality audio gear
Essentially setting up your own studio
You want good sound quality
You want to be able to edit out the
‘ums’ and ‘ahs’
Consider the format
-
monologue,
interviews etc.
Some people even hire producers
Don’t just “try one and see”
-
do it for
six months and take a long term view
Places to Submit
On your own sites and blogs
iTunes
http://www.itunes.com
Podfeed
http://www.podfeed.net
Odeo
http://www.odeo.com
Yahoo
http://podcasts.yahoo.com
DigitalPodcast
http://www.digitalpodcast.com
Podcast Alley
http://www.podcastalley.com
iPodderx
http://ipodderx.com/directory
Podcast.net
http://www.podcast.net
Podcast411
http://www.podcast411.com
Podcast Pickle:
http://www.podcastpickle.com
…and many more…
Benefits of Podcasting
Gives the impression of
being Web 2.0 savvy (i.e.
at the forefront)
Providing content in a
form that consumers are
interested in
Integrates well with other
marketing activities
Podcasts are essentially a
Public Relations
opportunity
You can even pay to
advertise on other
podcasts if you wish (e.g.
kiptronic.com)
Affiliate Programs
Pay For Performance / Revenue
sharing
Amazon.com were pioneers with
their “Associates Program”
Many affiliate programs listed at
Refer
-
it.com
LinkShare, Commission
Junction…
Do They Work?
Source: DoubleClick, 2006
Conversion rates are not high but
they don’t compare too badly
Why Affiliate Programs?
Distribution is critical for most
businesses
A good affiliate strategy can
place your brand and products at
key locations on the web
Think of affiliates as valued
distributors of your products
-
treat them so!
Effective Programs
Step 1
Choose your offers carefully
Step 2
Match them to the target market
Step 3
Get creative
-
not just free
shipping or $$ off
Step 4
Consider offers that are exclusive
to your affiliate channel
Key Issues
Choosing a network
Reliable tracking and reporting
Payment and administration
Publisher distribution
Key Issues
Marketing your affiliate program
Forums and Blogs
Abestweb.com
Direct Marketing
Send actual products to your
publishers
Ask affiliates how they want to be
contacted
Web 2.0 and Affiliates
Items recommended
by community
members
Tags: user driven
categorization
Purchase by clicking
through affiliate link
Community also provides reviews
SUMMARY
You can establish a Web presence for
your company quite effectively on a
low budget
You would still do these things even if
you were spending a lot
-
just
outsourcing more or with bigger $$
You need to keep abreast of new
media developments as the business
environment is changing rapidly
It
will
affect you!
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