Web Marketing Strategy: Let s Promote That New Web Site
Web Marketing Strategy: Let's Promote That New Web Site!
The actual technical and creative development of a Web site, and getting a working site up and running, is not the final part in Web project development. Somehow, visitors need to be attracted to the site-hence marketing communications also known as promotional strategy. The owners of a site for a small mom and pop retail store may not require 20,000 or even 100 visitors a month. However, if the new Web site is part of a new business process or is an e-company (i.e., an electronic commerce storefront like amazon.com), then developing a cohesive marketing communications plan is vital to promote the site after it has been launched.
A large Web site may spend thousands of dollars in media advertising monthly to promote itself to its target audience. On the other hand, a small Web site for a local florist may spend only $25 putting its Web address on its business cards.
Web marketing can be expensive in some cases, but there are also no-cost or low-cost strategies to make your site visible by both utilizing offline and online media vehicles.
Marketing Communications
Marketing communications or promotional strategy is part of the four P's of Marketing. Here's a refresher:
Product- What is your product/service? Who are your customers? How will you position your product/service so it will appeal to your customers?
Place- How will you distribute your product/service to your customers?
Price- How much will your product cost?
Promotion- What media vehicles (newspapers, magazines, direct mail, telemarketing, TV, radio, online/Web, etc.) will you utilize to promote your product/service to your customers (i.e., target audience)?
The four P's, including the marketing communications objectives for the product/service, are defined extensively as part of a marketing plan. The marketing plan will take into consideration all the business goals of the company and develop specific marketing objectives to achieve these overall goals. For the Web project, the project specification will function similarly to a business plan-including all the marketing objectives and communications objectives of the Web site.
Marketing Communications Objectives and the Promotional Mix
To implement marketing communications objectives, a promotional mix or combination of media to reach the target audience needs to be designed. The promotional mix assumes the following:
You know who your customer is-you've done research or know from past experience who they are (how old, how much money they make, where they live, male/female, etc.).
You understand the advantages of various media and media vehicles (or have an advertising agency you can consult with about it) and how they relate to your target audience.
With this in mind, a combination of various media and related media vehicles to reach the target audience needs to be identified. Examples of media and media vehicles utilized in the promotional mix include the following:
| Media | Media Vehicle |
|---|---|
| Advertising | TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, infomercials |
| Direct marketing | Mailings, telemarketing |
| Public relations | Press releases, publicity, trade shows, special events |
| Interactive/Web | Web sites, online banners, targeted e-mailing (spam) |
Each media vehicle has relative advantages and disadvantages in reaching a specific target audience or customer group-a multitude of resources and studies are available, including Neilsen. There are also different media costs, production costs, and a variety of considerations for each of them. A good marketer or advertising agency can develop a promotional mix that will include all these factors, ultimately taking into consideration both the effectiveness of reaching a specific target audience and the overall budget.
Promoting a Web Site With an Existing Promotional Mix
Once a new Web site is ready to be launched, the marketing machine should already be rolling. Whether the Web site is a new service for customers, version 2.0 of an existing site, or a completely new e-business, the existing promotional mix for your company should be utilized as the backbone of all marketing communications-why spend more money if you don't have to? Additional marketing resources may be needed to help push customers onto the site if it's a new e-business; however, the small to medium-sized business may only need to promote the new Web site through existing advertising and promotional campaigns.
There are some small adjustments that can be made with little or no cost to promote the new Web site:
Put the Web address (URL) on business cards, letterhead, yellow page ads, and any other advertising the business conducts on a regular basis.
Display signage at point-of-sale promoting the new Web site.
Send a mailing to all existing customers promoting the new Web site and the services provided online.
Send a press release to local/region newspapers promoting the site. If it's an e-business, regional and national trade magazines can be utilized.
If the business regularly attends trade shows, promote the new Web site there.
If it is a medium to large business, integrate the Web address with existing advertising campaigns.
These are just a few of the traditional marketing tools that can be utilized to promote the new Web site without spending an armful.
Marketing and Promotional Opportunities on the Web
So far, the focus of this discussion has been on understanding the promotional mix and how traditional media can be utilized as a means to promote a new Web site. As you may already know, the explosion of the World Wide Web has brought about an explosion of e-businesses, including our friends in the advertising industry.
Marketing and promotional opportunities on the Web are still evolving. Many people from the advertising and direct marketing communities have been trying to cookie cut the online advertising and marketing of Web sites into existing philosophies with little or no success. The World Wide Web is often equated with the Wild, Wild West, with few laws and all the control given to the consumer instead of the advertiser-something advertising agencies are not used to. The Web gives users the freedom to click away and avoid the advertising clutter they've been subjected to with other media, like TV and Radio.
As discussed in Part I of this book, successful Web developers need to be aware of the creative presentation of their web sites-give customers the opportunity to engage in an interactive experience that may encourage them to stick around and perhaps buy something. All the banner ads and targeted e-mails in the world won't keep customers on a boring, uninteresting site.
So, assuming that a new Web site is interactive and an enjoyable experience for the user, various forms of online marketing and promotional tools may be employed to further drive traffic to the site:
- Search Engines:The first marketing tactic involves registering with the major search engines and Web directories: Yahoo!, Lycos, Alta-Vista, Webcrawler, Metacrawler, Excite, Hot Bot, Info Seek, and America Online Netfind. Registering is easy and free, and with the proper integration of some keywords in the <meta> tags of the home page can be a very successful way of promoting the new Web site online.
- Cross-marketing:Swap links and banner ads with suppliers and other constituents the new Web site does business with. Cross-marketing can be an effective means of driving traffic to the sites of both parties involved. This approach is very effective with nonprofits and small to medium-sized businesses-it gets a little dicey if the competition shares the same suppliers, so be aware.
- Targeted e-mails:Send targeted e-mails promoting the new Web site to existing customers or people who have visited the site in the past. Several sites have employed automatic e-mails and news services to people who have visited a site and subscribed to it. This approach can be very effective in keeping past customers and potential customers informed of any promotions and company news.
"Spamming"-or mass e-mailing-is not a recommended approach for online marketing. Internet service providers (ISPs) as well as e-mail recipients are turned off by such activities. Most ISPs have employed systems to filter spamming and punish the spammers (i.e., the company that sent them). So try to avoid mass e-mailing.
- Banner advertising:Unless the new Web site has a decent sized marketing budget, online banner advertising may be an expensive option. The cost of banner advertising is based upon cost per thousand impressions, or CPM. For example, for every 1000 viewings of a banner ad, a cost will be applied to the advertiser. Web sites that employ banner advertising base their CPM rate on number of visitors per page and how much business the site generates. Sites can also track the number of hits an advertiser's banner receives to measure its effectiveness and adjust future advertising prices.
Exercises
Define Marketing Communications Objectives and a Promotional Mix
| a) | You are the president of a newly formed e-company selling books and music CDs online. If your Marketing Department has identified young college students as your business's primary target audience, what are some common media tactics (e.g., advertising, PR, direct marketing) currently employed to appeal to this target audience? Based on your experience, list some promotions and marketing ideas used to reach college students. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| b) | Develop a promotional mix for your new e-business. Think about the different media you will employ to promote your Web site at launch to reach your target audience and in what sequence (if applicable). For purposes of this exercise, your budget has no limitations. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| c) | What marketing strategies could you employ to keep the target audience coming back to your site? List your ideas. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Promote a Web Site with an Existing Promotional Mix
| a) | You are the Marketing Director of a large clothing catalog retailer preparing to launch a new online e-commerce Web site. Currently, your company markets itself through the following ways: 1) a monthly catalog mailing to customers, and 2) A large advertising campaign in sports-related magazines. What are some strategies to get your customers to buy online using these existing media vehicles? Be creative. What are some ways you can measure the success of your efforts? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Indentify Marketing and Promotional Opportunities on the Web
| a) | Using the catalog company example, the company now wants to drive new customers to the Web site with online marketing. Where and how would you promote your Web site to increase traffic and sales utilizing online marketing? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| b) | Search on the Web for a clothing catalog retailer-how have they promoted their site online? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| c) | What are some ways you can measure the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Exercise Answers
Answers
| a) | You are the president of a newly formed e-company selling books and music CDs online. If your Marketing Department has identified young college students as your business's primary target audience, what are some common media tactics (e.g., advertising, PR, direct marketing) currently employed to appeal to this target audience? Based on your experience, list some promotions and marketing ideas used to reach college students. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ | ||||||||||
| Answer: | As you may or may not know, the college population is a very diverse group of individuals. Traditionally, college students were considered to be very "brand loyal" purchasers of products and services (an example is the longevity in the popularity of Levi's jeans). Currently, these rules have changed and advertisers have been finding that brand loyalty is not the driving force-college students are more interested in products and services that deliver them more value for their money and quality. Levi's jeans have lost their appeal with Gen Xers to lesser known brands such as Arizona Jeans. Additionally, there are so many college students from other countries attending colleges in the United States that culture and other factors unique to a particular country come into play. So international marketing is an important consideration too. A marketer needs to consider all the demographics and psychographics (common personality traits and habits of a consumer group) of potential target audiences of the product/service. From here, a marketing communications/promotional plan needs to be tailored to take into consideration the characteristics and buying habits of the target audience with the most market potential. So developing a Web site selling CDs to an eclectic market such as college students needs lots of research to identify the most effective means of marketing communications to reach this audience. Maybe posting flyers or sponsoring music concerts at various colleges across the country is more effective than doing a national television advertising campaign promoting the Web site. Remember, there are no right answers when it comes to marketing a product or service, only different means of reaching the desired outcome. Obviously, some methods have been proven better than others-but even history is not a secure litmus test for changing consumer buying habits! So to answer the question, advertising in college newspapers, on-campus concerts, a promotions table in the college Student Union, flyers, and mailings to students are all effective ways that companies have employed to reach college students. Which method that is used depends on solid research (no dart throwing!) and a good product (in this case, an interesting and interactive online experience). | ||||||||||
| b) | Develop a promotional mix for your new e-business. Think about the different media you will employ to promote your Web site at launch to reach your target audience and in what sequence (if applicable). For purposes of this exercise, your budget has no limitations. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ | ||||||||||
| Answer: | Let's say we received surveys from college students and did some focus groups and have nailed down a comprehensive marketing plan. Our research findings show that our primary target audience consists of college students who come from middle-class, working families and typically live in on-campus housing. They also are typically male (65% male, 35% female) and their music tastes are diverse: They prefer jazz and alternative rock. So we gave our research findings to our advertising agency and they came up with a promotional mix (a.k.a. media plan in advertising language). The major push to generate interest in our new Web site is going to be special promotions, including coupons and giveways to frequent shoppers. Here's our promotional mix:
Don't worry, there are no right answers to this scenario. Your promotional mix may look very different from the one just presented. | ||||||||||
| c) | What marketing strategies could you employ to keep the target audience coming back to your site? List your ideas. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ | ||||||||||
| Answer: | Since we mentioned earlier that typically college students are not the most brand loyal group of consumers, using couponing as a means of encouraging purchase is a viable option. The downside of using a coupon strategy is that it has historically discouraged brand loyalty-it encourages price sensitivity and an increased reliance on the future use of coupons by you, the advertiser, and your competition. But in our case, since we are launching a new Web site and are trying to generate visitation and hopefully purchase, a promotional mix dependent on couponing is a great way of encouraging that first visit. To encourage future visits to our site, we should follow the lead of a large-scale e-business retailer such asAmazon.com. They sell music CDs and offer price discounts on their products-so we could follow suit. Additionally, we could provide an outlet for our target audience to sample music online-the technology is available, and many music sites are already doing it. Our overall goal is to use price sensitivity or "value" through the use of a coupon strategy to draw visitors and give them an interactive and enjoyable experience so they come back in the future. |
Answers
| a) | You are the Marketing Director of a large clothing catalog retailer preparing to launch a new online e-commerce Web site. Currently, your company markets itself through the following ways: 1) a monthly catalog mailing to customers, and 2) A large advertising campaign in sports-related magazines. What are some strategies to get your customers to buy online using these existing media vehicles? Be creative. What are some ways you can measure the success of your efforts? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| Answer: | Of course, the first thing you need to do is put your Web address (URL) on all your marketing materials and advertising. Easy enough. If the goal is to have customers buy online, there are benefits for both you the catalog retailer and your customers as opposed to the traditional mail order way of doing things. The benefits for you the retailer doing business online include
The benefits for your online customer include
The aforementioned customer benefits need to be included in all your marketing materials and advertising. These are the reasons why your customers should buy online and the reasons why your online shopping experience is more convenient. |
Answers
| a) | Using the catalog company example, the company now wants to drive new customers to the Web site with online marketing. Where and how would you promote your Web site to increase traffic and sales utilizing online marketing? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| Answer: | Chances are if your catalog company is big, you have pretty high brand awareness. So assuming this scenario, you can do online banners on sports-related Web sites (i.e., the online versions of the magazines you already advertise with) and on the major search engine sites. As with our online music store example, you could do some price-related promotions and discounts to draw new customers. The real key is not just to draw people to your site but also to make your site appealing to customers so they'll come back again. Hopefully, this issue got addressed in the creative phase of the Web development project (seeChapter 12). |
| b) | Search on the Web for a clothing catalog retailer-how have they promoted their site online? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| Answer: | L.L. Bean is a very good example. They are so well known that they drive much of their e-business from existing customers who receive their catalog. L.L. Bean is a major national and international advertiser-all their marketing and advertising includes their Web address. Additionally, the site has employed all the necessary tactics to make a customizable, interactive online experience. The creative presentation of the site is what makes it so successful. Check it out atwww.llbean.com. |
| c) | What are some ways you can measure the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
| Answer: | Some very comprehensive Web tracking software is now available. Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition includes a comprehensive tracking component that can break down a wide variety of attributes and information relating to who is visiting your site, which Web site they came from, and how many hits your site receives at a certain hour of the day. Besides tracking software and "hits," you can analyze how well your new e-business is doing in generating sales. You can compare your online sales figures to how much business you do offline, through your regular catalog mailers and phone sales. Obviously, if you do a significant amount of sales online without drawing away business from your regular catalog mailer and phone business, you know your advertising campaign is working-new customers are becoming aware of your Web site. If your catalog mailer and phone business takes a slight dip in sales, you know your existing customers are now buying online. Most likely your sales figures would be in the middleof these two extremes. A good way of getting solid feedback is having a simple question on your online order processing form, such as "Where did you hear about us?" |
Self-Review Questions
In order to test your progress, you should be able to answer the following questions:
| 1) | (True/False) One of the "4P's" is:
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| 2) | (True/False) Suggested methods of internet marketing include:
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EAN: 2147483647
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