Online Marketing Strategies
Once your site is ready for visitors, you can start including your URL (Web address) on your existing advertising, your letterhead and perhaps even the window or door of your store or office.
Online marketing is available from a variety of sources and in a variety of formats (graphical, rich media and textual advertising). The small business community is embracing online advertising, including search engine marketing and local media.
When you buy offline advertising, you probably consider several variables, including:
- Target audience
- Geography and reach
- Cost
- Ad size and format
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Buying online ads is very similar. You must consider the same elements, but now have even more flexibility in reaching your desired audience. The trick is choosing the right combination of advertising methods that will be most effective for your business model.
A. Internet Yellow Pages and Pay For Performance
One of the first forms of advertising you used was probably a listing in your local telephone book. Now business directories are online and more powerful than ever as you catch people searching for the exact products or services you sell.
These directories allow customers to search for your business name, a specific product or service and geographic areas, such as a city, state or country. A business can increase its visibility by purchasing enhanced listings, a link to its Web site, geographic targeting and a tie-in with the printed yellow pages.
When a customer does a yellow pages search, the first listings that appear are advertised listings.
The top (Tier 1) results use the pay-per-click (PPC) model. Pay-per-click is basically an auction for position. The more you are willing to pay for a click to your site, the higher your ad will be placed. Unlike some other forms of advertising, you only pay for a pay-per-click ad when a potential purchaser clicks on it.
Within PPC, ad order is also determined by what region you are advertising in.
B. Banner Ads
Chances are you see banner ads every time you surf the Internet. Banner ads are graphical promotions or advertisements that are displayed on sites to deliver a message and "drive" traffic to your Web site. When users click a banner ad, they are sent to your site. There are several types of banner ads:
- The first has only text and static images and is generally created in a standard image format such as JPEG or GIF.
- Animated banners are generally created using animated (or layered) GIF files, or created in Flash. Other animated formats include Java and DHTML. The common element in animated banners is that they illustrate some motion in order to catch attention.
- Interactive banner ads allow viewers to interact with the ad by using a mouse. Often an interactive banner will encourage the user to experience the ad more fully by rolling over the mouse or clicking.
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Banner ads come in several sizes. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has proposed voluntary ad size guidelines for publishers and advertisers and most publishers can accept one or more of these sizes measured in pixels:
Rectangles and Pop-Ups View
300 x 250 - (Medium Rectangle)
250 x 250 - (Square Pop-Up)
240 x 400 - (Vertical Rectangle)
336 x 280 - (Large Rectangle)
180 x 150- (Rectangle)
Banners and Buttons View
468 x 60 - (Full Banner)
234 x 60 - (Half Banner)
88 x 31 - (Micro Bar)
120 x 90 - (Button 1)
120 x 60 - (Button 2)
120 x 240 - (Vertical Banner)
125 x 125 - (Square Button)
728 x 90 - (Leaderboard)
Skyscrapers View
160 x 600 - (Wide Skyscraper)
120 x 600 - (Skyscraper)
300 x 600 - (Half Page Ad)
Pop-up Ads example
Another kind of banner ad that you may have seen is called a pop-up ad, which opens automatically in a new browser window when a page is visited. Recently new browser software and toolbars have included pop-up blocker functionality, but not everyone has installed pop-up blockers. Pop-up ads are considered by many consumers to be annoying, but many marketers believe they are effective. You’ll need to make your own decision about pop-ups based on your target audience.
Targeted Banners
Many online yellow pages, directories and search engines accept graphical banners. Some of that banner inventory can be keyed to display based on a specific keyword search.
For example, when someone searches for "tennis equipment," a banner ad for a tennis pro shop would be displayed along with the search results. Some online directories, can design your banner ad and place it strategically on their site. They can also serve the banner only within the cities or regions your are targeting for customers. That's target marketing.
Full Page Interstitials
Some online publishers will accept full-page banner ads. These are often called "interstitials" and appear between different pages of a Web site.
Costs
Banner ads inventory are often bought and sold on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions basis. You pay a specific amount for every 1,000 people who see your ad (there is usually no guarantee on how many people actually click on your banner).
CPM rates range from $1.00 or less for untargeted inventory to $45.00 or higher for popular or highly targeted sites.
C. E-Mail Marketing
Tapping the Power of E-mail
For many Web marketers, e-mail is the most important vehicle in gaining and strengthening customer relationships. E-mail is also the most popular Internet application. But using e-mail effectively takes knowledge.
How To Use E-mail
E-mail is faster and more economical than traditional printing and postage. You can use it to respond to inquiries from your Web site and to send out promotional offers. You can create an e-mail newsletter, or "e-zine," and send it to a group of individuals on a regular basis. In fact, if you create a large list of "readers," you could even get advertisers to pay to be in your e-zine.
Spam Versus Unsolicited E-mail
Spam, named after a canned meat, is a term broadly used by consumers to define all unsolicited e-mail. There are actually a couple different levels of e-mail marketing and spam, and it helps to understand the differences between the various e-mail types.
True illegal spam uses e-mail lists harvested off the Internet. If you’ve signed an online forum, guestbook, blog (Web log) or Web site with your e-mail address, spammers use spiders to crawl the Web, add you to their lists and send you e-mails.
These e-mails are generally the ones you get for prescription drugs, fake jewelry and get-rich-quick schemes.
Consumers also get unwanted e-mails from opt-out signups. For example, a consumer signs up with an account at a certain company, he may forget to uncheck a box that says he wants to receive offers from partners of that company. That type of e-mail is called opt-out because the user must opt out to stop receiving those e-mails. Many users miss this checkbox and end up getting e-mail they believe is unsolicited.
Understand the CAN-SPAM Act (National and for your state, if applicable) and abide by the guidelines set forth in the act. Also, keep in mind that relevance of an e-mail communication is paramount. It is best if you have the permission to communicate with customers and prospects. This process is called “permission” or “opt-in.”
E-mail Lists
Some marketers are concerned about being perceived as spammers and therefore choose to use newsletter sponsorship instead of renting e-mail lists.
However, you can rent opt-in lists from e-mail list brokers that let you select list categories, such as art lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, golfers, business travelers, computer owners and others. E-mail addresses cost 10 to 20 cents per listing to rent.
Once you have the list, create an e-mail letter and send it out. Be careful that the list you rent is opted in for offers from a third party (you) if you choose to pursue this type of marketing. The federal CAN-SPAM Act does have some teeth. And, perhaps more importantly, customers may decide to never buy from you if they believe you are a spammer.
Autoresponders
An autoresponder is an e-mail message automatically sent to users when they request information. For example, a prospective customer clicks on a link on your site that requests a product specification sheet or a rate card.
Rather than typing an e-mail response, the autoresponder e-mails your pre-written message, product spec sheet, rate card and whatever other information you want to send.
Your Web design or hosting company can help set up autoresponders.
Your E-Mail Signature File
An e-mail "signature file" is the electronic equivalent of your business letterhead. It contains the pertinent information that prospects and clients need, including your company name, address, phone and fax numbers, and Web site and e-mail addresses.
Add this "signature" to the end of every e-mail message you send in one of two ways. One way is to keep this information as a word processing file and then "paste" it into your messages. The other is to create a signature file using your e-mail software that adds it automatically.
Important Dos and Don'ts of E-Mail Marketing:
- Do allow recipients to see your "from" address so they can reply
- Do include a "Subject" line that accurately describes your promotion/topic
- Do use compelling language and information to capture your reader in the first paragraph
- Do use an informational (rather than sales) tone
- Do include a link to your Web site in your e-mail signature file
- If you're sending an e-mail to multiple recipients and you don't want them to view the identity of the other recipients, do use the "BCC" (blind copy) line rather than the "To" line
- Don’t add an attachment to an unsolicited e-mail (many people won't open them, fearing virus infection).
- Don’t spam people with e-mail messages
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D. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing lets you employ a virtual army of marketers who will advertise your site and get paid only for leads and sales.
An affiliate is a Web site that promotes your goods or services in return for a commission rather than a cost per impression, sponsorship or cost per click.
You can set up an affiliate program by partnering with an affiliate network or by installing affiliate tracking software. There are costs associated with setting up either kind of program as well as ongoing costs if you choose the affiliate network option. The affiliate publishers get paid only when you make a sale (or if you are paying for leads, when the leads come in).
E. Link Sharing & Sponsorships
One inexpensive way to conduct online marketing is to share reciprocal links with sites that relate to your business but don't directly compete with you.
An added benefit to getting links from other sites is that, in addition to direct traffic from those sites, the search engines often move a site up in search results based on the number and the quality of the links pointing to that site.
So, links from reputable sites to your site are a valuable asset. While sending an e-mail to the site owner with a polite request for a link or reciprocal link might work well, the reality is many site owners ignore any unexpected e-mail and consider it to be spam.
If you really want a link, call the business with whom you are interested in exchanging links. Contact information is usually found in the "Contact Us," "Webmaster" or "Report A Problem" section of a site.
Know a Web site your customer base frequents? Consider a sponsorship on that site. You can sponsor one or more sections of content most related to your audience. In addition to banners, sponsorship packages sometimes include text links.
If you’d like more information about online advertising, try the
Interactive Advertising Bureau.
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