Online Marketing – Thirty Day Challenge

I’ve been quite busy lately trying to keep up with the thirty day challenge.  The challenge is designed to take you from nothing to earning your first $10 online in only 30 days.

The basic concept is not about the money, but the process involved to set up a website or blog and to use it and social networking to get indexed with the search engines, and selling an information product.

It’s amazing how much I’ve learnt already about social networking and the instructions given are very clear. I suggest that if you have approx1/2 hour per day to spare, jump online and give it a go. Thirty Day Challenge

Marketing Strategy – The 4 P’s

one of the first things I ever learnt about marketing was the concept of th 4 P’s. I came across this artcle by Nate Stockard and believed that it sums up the definition of the 4 P’s.

The Marketing Mix For Small Business Marketing

All marketing resources will eventually talk about your marketing mix, but what do they mean exactly? Marketing mix is a term that the marketing world tries to hold as a private term that only the industry knows about, but as a small business owner, you need to understand how to plan and implement your marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined as the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. These four areas make up the complete outline for product or service marketing. Once you have defined the variables for each P, you have a basis for proper marketing.

Market research will play a major role in each area of your marketing mix. You must understand what you are competing with in regards to products and pricing. Although you may have a new and unique item with an innovative type of distribution, you still must compare your product or service to existing ones.

Here are the four P’s of your marketing mix for small business marketing.

P #1: Product

The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product’s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.

P#2: Price

Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.

P#3: Place

Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.

P#4: Promotion

Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P’s will affect your promotion strategy.

Decide on the first three P’s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.

Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” – marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.

Marketing Mix – Using Email Newsletters

When devising your marketing mix or action plan, you need to include a variety of different options. I always recommend approx 5 different strategies to incorporate into your marketing mix.

Using email marketing is a rapidly developing method, allowing you to keep in contact with your customers and helping you to develop your relationship with them. Marketing Consultant Susan Burnash recommends the following guidelines to help you get the most from your email marketing campaign:

Good Planning and Preparation – The best way to prepare for an e-newsletter campaign is to start by creating your own editorial calendar.  Define your theme and topics in advance and then start an e-newsletter file to collect information you may want to include.  Whether it is an electronic file or paper one, you should add content ideas, pictures, industry or business news, event information, or anything that might inspire you and benefit your readers for an upcoming issue.

2.       Proper Brand Communication – The attributes that define your organization should set the tone for your e-newsletter.  Done well, your e-newsletter should be able to communicate your brand through your writing style, voice, logo, colors, fonts and choice of images, and content.  And if you are the brand, don’t forget your picture. Readers like a face to connect with a name. 

3.       Relevant and Valuable Content – Relevancy is the number one ingredient for a successful e-newsletter.  Relevant content can include: How To articles, Case Studies, Client Profiles, Industry or Business Trends, News Stories, Expert Advice.  If it speaks to what your readers want or need to know, you can’t go wrong.  And mix it up!  Write some content yourself, or hire a professional writer, and make sure to include content from, or links to, other experts in your field or business.

4.       Balance Between Text and Images – Using images to support your topic is a good idea, but because many people have images turned off, it is critical that your e-newsletter communicates equally well without them.  To test how your text works alone, turn off your images in your email client and send yourself a sample.  If the text is as effective without the pictures as it is with, it will be effective to all email recipients no matter how they have their email options set.  

5.       Click-Through Opportunities – Because e-newsletters need to be short and easy to read quickly, providing brief articles with “to read more” or “for the complete article” click-through links is a great way to go.  Summarizing or condensing an article serves as a teaser designed to drive readers to your website for a deeper experience.  It also enables you to get valuable click-through information about your customers’ behaviors and interest when you review your tracking reports.       

6.       Reader Engagement – E-newsletters should serve as a springboard for further conversation with your readers and you.  There are many ways to create an interactive relationship.  You should always include a Contact Us link to your email address or an online form that is easy to fill out.  You can also utilize polls and surveys.  All of these show your readers that you are interested in what they have to say and value their input.  But make sure you respond in a timely manner.  If you don’t, you may be hurting yourself more than leaving these items out altogether.  

7.       Tracking and Reporting – Keeping your email database current and monitoring the behavior of your customers are the primary reasons for sending out an e-newsletter on a regular basis.  If you aren’t using email campaign software with tracking capabilities, you are totally missing the boat.  Many of my clients use Constant Contact, My Emma, Blue Sky Factory, or Swiftpage.  All provide self-service options for those that want to manage their campaigns in-house or they can provide full-service options such as creating custom template designs, executing your campaign, managing your database, and reporting out results through campaign tracking.  

No matter how you go about it, you can see that by not using this method you are most definitely missing out!!

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” – marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.

Award Finalist!

I received an email on Sunday evening saying that I was a finalist in the 2008 Australian Home Based Business Awards!

Very happy and pleased with myself!

The awards will be presented on Monday 18th August at Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

I’ll most definitely keep you all updated on how I go!!