Marketing Testing | Advertising and Marketing

Aug 02 2008

Marketing with the Internet

Category: Marketing — admin @ 1:28 am

Are you fully leveraging the power of the Internet with your marketing efforts?

It’s kind of amazing, but I still meet lots of small business owners who don’t think the Internet is crucial for their success. “I’m just a small local business. I don’t think the Internet is necessarily the right place for me to focus my marketing efforts.” I’m still hearing this sentiment from many a small business owner.

Hey, I was one of those people for almost a year with my own business. And I’ve set my stall out as a small business marketing guy.

Listen, whether you’re trying to get people’s attention from half-way around the world or just half-way around the block, you need to consider the power of the Internet. More and more people are turning to the Internet before (or in lieu of ever) turning to the yellow pages. That’s true even when they’re looking for things in their own town.

It’s a place where people go to begin gathering information to make a decision. It’s the place where people prefer to start when someone has made a referral or recommendation. It’s the place people would generally prefer to go after they’ve met you at a networking event and were interested enough to know more.

The Internet is not going away. In fact, the trends show us that it’s becoming a more and more integral part of the communication media we depend on. Anybody notice how interested the cable companies, phone companies, and cell phone service companies have become in putting out products and services that work with the Internet?

Are you fully leveraging the power of the Internet with your marketing efforts yet? Do you have a web site? Email newsletter? Blog? Podcast? Vlog?

Does the mere mention of all these terms intimidate and overwhelm you? Don’t let it.

You don’t have to do all of these things at once. Make this the year that you begin leveraging the Internet to grow your small business.

But, the power of the Internet is something you simply can’t ignore if you really want to take your business to great new heights. Make a commitment to learn more about this powerful, ever changing medium called the Internet. And then pull out your marketing plan and figure out how to make it fit into your strategy.

About the Author:

Kevin Dervin is the owner of KPD Marketing and creator of the ABCD Growth System. If you find this article useful, you’d probably enjoy Kevin’s FREE eZine called ABCD Grow. To subscribe, just go to http://www.ABCDgrowth.com and follow one of the links to the FREE Stuff page!

Tags: marketing ideas, marketing plans, marketing testing, marketing tools, small business marketing

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Apr 16 2008

Three Steps to Your Ultimate Marketing Message

Category: Marketing — admin @ 6:28 am

Have you created a core marketing message to use throughout all of your marketing efforts?

I’m not talking about some catchy slogan or play on words using the name of your business or the service you provide. It’s not some meaningless phrase like “we do it right” or “quality service you can trust.” Anybody in business can say those things and they’re really basic expectations anyway.

A core marketing message clearly and concisely communicates what you’re out to do and for who. It speaks to your ideal target market and gets them to respond and seek more information.

So many small business owners and professional service providers never take the time to create this for their own business. Most are creating a new message with every new “marketing campaign.” They’re constantly trying new ideas. And each new idea becomes a new chance to try and come up with that home run message that gets the phone ringing off the hook like never before.

What you need is an ultimate core marketing message that communicates directly and powerfully to your clients and prospective clients what it is they’ll get from your services.

Here are three steps to creating your own ultimate core marketing message:

1. Who do you want to help? Be as clear as you can on who your target market is. Take some time and define with as much clarity as possible who your ideal clients are. If it’s not obvious who your message is directed to, why would you expect anyone to get it?

2. What is the primary problem, issue, or challenge you would like to help someone in that target audience solve? This is really at the heart of your core marketing message. Most people are consumed with their own problems and looking for solutions to address them. So when you can clearly articulate a problem your client is dealing with, they’ll listen because you may be able to provide a solution.

3. What is the ultimate outcome or result that you’d like to help your target market produce in solving their problem, issue, or challenge? People what to know what it is they’ll get from knowing or working with you. When you’re prepared to demonstrate that you’re focused on delivering an outcome they’d be interested in, they will pay attention and want to know more.

That’s it. Now take your answers and boil it down to one or two clear sentences that you can deliver enthusiastically and passionately. Communicate it in everything you do from a marketing perspective, both verbally and in writing.

Forget the catchy slogans. Create and start using your ultimate marketing message right now.