5 Smarter Marketing Tactics
By Sue Chandrasekera, Interspire.com
Introduction
Feel bombarded by elaborate books and tactics for
web marketing lately? Try starting with the basics. In this article I
have listed some points to hopefully get you thinking about the simpler
things that can enhance your marketing efforts -- without spending a
dime.
1. Stand out
Headlines are for grabbing reader's attention - so use them to emphasize your product/services main benefit. Test different headlines in your ads and web page to find the most effective one. Evaluate the headlines that attract the most readers (by measuring your web site performance, see last point) and then assess the headline and try to incorporate similar headlines in your press releases, newsletters and other marketing arsenal.
Headings should emphasize a USP (unique selling point) that is a distinct advantage over your competitors, because the best way to stay ahead of your competition is to promote a distinct advantage your customers cannot get from a competitor.
You shouldn't have to wrack your brain to find a USP for your product/service. If you can't think of a distinct advantage of using your product, then it might be time to add one. You can differentiate from your competitors in simple yet effective ways -- for example, if you are offering design software, why not include free design articles and sample portfolios when they purchase? It's all about adding value..
2. Use your existing clients to attract new ones
One of the best ways to sell to more people is the social proof theory, which basically means that by showing how many other happy customers have purchased from you, you're essentially eliminating any doubts that your potential customers have in their mind about your products. Testimonials from happy customers are a great way to provide your potential customers with social proof, and you should make an effort to source as many as you can.
A good philosophy when dealing with customers is to follow up after they have completed a transaction. This shows that you are interested in more than the sale and you can also use the follow up as a good opportunity to ask the customer what they liked best about your product.
On all of our product web sites, we include 5 optional questions in a "mini survey" that our customers can fill out just after they've purchased from us. We ask them what they like about our product, what they would change, and also what other products they'd like us to develop. This is surprisingly simple yet powerful knowledge that puts you one step ahead of your competitors..
3. Set your price intelligently and up-sell
Demonstrate a low cost for your product or service throughout your site by breaking down the price to its lowest increment. For example "$1,000 per year" may frighten customers away whereas "Enjoy all of this for less than $2.75 a day" allows customers to reason that your offer is both affordable and cost-effective.
Up-selling takes place in the sales process when a potential customer is at their most receptive stage to an attractive offer that will prove cost-effective to them. Ideally, this is the time just before they complete their order. You could offer them 50% a special limited price for adding extra related products, upgrades to better products and so on. This pre-transaction phase should be taken advantage of, as it gives you the opportunity to increase your sales without needing more potential customers!
4. Don't jumble features, benefits and offers.
Make sure you express the main benefits of your product before you list the features. People buy with their emotions, and benefits appeal to emotions. Features appeal to logic which can sometimes make people talk themselves out of purchasing.
When we purchase a product or use a service, it is almost always because we hope to obtain a benefit from it - such as making more money, loosing weight, being happier, etc. A feature represents what the product is, whereas a benefit describes what the product does and how it can improve our situation - it's important that features are outlined, however the benefits need to be the ones grabbing the attention.
Never advertise your benefits without alluding to an offer. It will provide a reason for your potential clients to take action right there and them and also guide them to a transaction. Go further and differentiate the offer from your competitors - take advantage of your advertising and make your customers an offer they will think twice about refusing.
5. Measure your web site's performance.
Collate the evaluation of the above marketing efforts together and any others you may have by using a program to measure, track and graphically display your web site statistics. Your web site statistics - along with your order statistics - can help you to workout your visitor-to-customer conversion rate amongst other things.
Do some research on how your web site statistics are measured, what they mean and what it means for your web site. Most web sites have visitor statistics already installed, so if you don't know how to get to yours, you might just need to ask your webmaster where they are.
Shown below are three important statistics (of many) that will give you a good measure of your site's performance.
Conclusion
It is important to recognize and understand the basic points that will help improve your marketing before jumping too far ahead with more complicated marketing strategies. Many elaborate web sites fail in this respect, so it is indicative that most of us are overlooking what should be obvious.
To tie it all together, you should invest some time in measuring the performance of your web site - regardless of whether you have an elaborate marketing strategy in place or you're just starting out. Measuring your web sites performance will allow you to assess, amend and experiment with different marketing strategies.
Remember, for all the marketing resources out there -- and no matter how many guides you read -- every web site is different and there is a large element of trial and error needed to truly optimize your marketing efforts.
