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Information technology Directors’ Briefing Marketing on the Internet The Internet gives you access to a number of powerful marketing techniques. Most of them involve driving visitors to your website to help you win new customers. This briefing assumes you already have a company website. This briefing covers: • The opportunities for marketing online. • Online advertising and affiliate schemes. • Other online channels. 1 Email marketing Email is an effective way to reach new and existing customers at a low cost. • Include information about your company to build customer loyalty. • Send one-off messages containing special offers and voucher codes. • By collecting other information alongside their email address, you can send more targeted mailings. For example, email people who have not purchased from you in the last six months. 1.3Target new customers by renting email lists. • Only use lists where people have specifically agreed to receive unsolicited emails about a certain topic. These are called ‘opt-in lists’. • Use a reputable broker. 1.4You may need to use specialist software 1.1You can build a list of email addresses to market to. • You can only send marketing emails to people who have explicitly opted in to receive them. • Encourage customers to sign up to your mailing list by providing a prominent ‘sign up’ option on your website. • When customers order from you, ask if they would be happy to receive your newsletter. • You could maintain a different list of supplier email addresses. 1.2There are many ways you can use the email list(s) you build up. • Send regular newsletters containing information about your latest products and offers. England Updated 01/08/09 Directors’ Briefing to send your marketing emails. • You can use standard email software for small mailing lists (fewer than 20 addresses). Make sure you put the recipients in the blind carbon copy (bcc) field, so they cannot see each others’ email addresses. • For larger lists, use an online email marketing service. They are more effective at getting messages through spam filters, and should be able to manage your subscriber list(s) and opt-out requests. • Some agencies can take care of the Tread carefully If you do not know the rules, marketing on the Internet can backfire. A Sending unsolicited emails to unwilling recipients can get you into serious trouble. • Regulations require that you obtain recipients’ prior consent before sending commercial emails. • You must also provide a clear and easy opt-out mechanism in your emails so that recipients can easily remove themselves from your list. B When creating web advertising apply the same rules and standards as you would for print media. • Your advertising must comply with Advertising Standards Authority rules. C The use of blogs and discussion groups is a sensitive area of Internet marketing. Rules of etiquette apply which rule out heavy-handed commercialism. • Always be genuine on blogs and discussion forums. The power of these tools is that they enable you to connect with people on a personal level, putting a face on your business. • Do not expect to see sales increase overnight. Blogs and forums are soft-sell channels which allow you to demonstrate your knowledge and credibility. • Spend some time reading forum messages before contributing yourself. If you are unsure of whether to post something, it is usually best not to. 2 design, content and sending of your emails. This will cost much more. 1.5Think carefully about the design and content of your emails. • Make sure your subject line grabs the reader's attention. • Personalised, highly targeted content gets the best results. • Test your emails in common email systems like Microsoft Outlook and Hotmail. Make sure they look right and all the links work. 2 Online advertising You can pay to have adverts on other websites promoting your business. When users click these adverts, they are taken to your company website. 2.1Display advertising involves showing banners or images which promote your website. • Banners are eye-catching areas on the screen which draw attention to your products or services. • They can include images, text, animation and even sound and video. • Adverts can have an interactive element which encourages users to engage with them. For example, the ad could expand or reveal text when the mouse hovers over it. • Pop-ups are windows which open on the user’s computer unprompted. They can annoy people and are best avoided. • Overlays are graphical adverts which appear on top of the page. They are best used carefully, as they can annoy users by obscuring content. • Display advertising is usually charged by the number of impressions, or views your advert get. You could pay anything from £10 per 1,000 views. 2.2You can advertise your website on search engines. This is called search marketing. • The most common form of search marketing involves displaying text adverts on search engine result pages. • This is called ‘pay-per-click’ (PPC) advertising, because you pay each time someone clicks one of your adverts. • PPC advertising is the most targeted form of online advertising, and therefore highly “ Regular email marketing is all about building relationships over time. It’s about turning strangers into friends and friends into clients. Sean McPheat, MTD Sales Training ” Directors’ Briefing • • • • effective. For example, a Google search for ‘piano lessons’ would return adverts for piano teachers. The cost of PPC adverts is normally determined by a bidding system. They could cost anything from 10p to £10, depending on competition between advertisers. Costs are controllable because you can set a maximum amount to spend. This means you can test PPC advertising at a relatively low cost. The best PPC advertising campaigns target many search terms with specific ads for each one. They can be time-consuming to manage. The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has a comprehensive guide to PPC advertising on its website (www.iabuk.net). 2.3You may be able to sponsor pages or sections on other websites. • Sponsorship allows you to customise a page or section of a website with your branding and links. • You could approach complementary websites to your own. For instance, a piano teacher could sponsor a ‘how to play the piano’ section on a manufacturer’s website. • Your business may benefit from being associated with other prestigious brands. • Sponsorship is usually a set price for a set amount of time. • As an alternative to paying for sponsorship, try and arrange a reciprocal deal. Offer to supply another website with interesting articles in return for credit and links back to your website. 2.4New types of online advertising are being developed all the time. • Users tend to filter out online adverts, so new ways to attract their attention are constantly being developed. • The IAB regularly updates its advertising guides. • If you use a web-design agency, they may be able to advise on the different types of advertising available. 3 • Test different types of advertising online. You can add tracking codes to your adverts to see which ones work best. • Consider consulting a specialist online advertising agency. Look for an agency which is a member of the IAB. 2.6There are some easy ways to get the most out of your online advertising. • Many advertising programmes allow you to run a few ads without any long-term commitment. So you could sign up and see what sort of response you get. • Try out alternative banner designs and measure the clickthrough rates to see which work best. • Be as targeted as you can. Tailor adverts to the audience, and make sure links lead to a relevant page. • Bring in the experts. An agency can help you put together an advertising plan so you spend your budget wisely. 3 Affiliate schemes An affiliate scheme rewards websites which send you new business. 3.1Your affiliates will be anyone else who runs a website. • This can include your existing customers, shopping comparison sites, bloggers and more. • Your affiliates place links to your site on theirs. • Each time somebody clicks the link to your site and buys something, the affiliate earns a commission. • Commission levels vary, but are generally a percentage of the order value. 3.2Benefits of an affiliate scheme include: • You only pay when you make a sale, so your return is guaranteed. • The additional links to your website can improve your search engine ranking. 2.5It can be difficult to decide which methods of advertising to use. 3.3You can run an affiliate scheme through an affiliate network. • A mix is often best. For instance, you can use PPC adverts to target specific search terms, and banner advertising to raise awareness of your brand. • Using a network means you do not have to develop your own affiliate system. This usually the easiest way to start an affiliate programme. • A network can track sales and “ People don't consume media in single channels, so make sure you’re advertising across multiple channels to get the most effective exposure. It’s vital to ensure that, whatever mix of channels you use, your advertising creates a consistent brand image and that your marketing messages are relevant to the specific target audience. Stuart Aplin, Steak ” 4 Directors’ Briefing commissions for you. • Affiliate networks include TradeDoubler (www.tradedoubler.com) and Commission Junction (http://uk.cj.com). 3.4Some affiliate programmes may be targeted by fraudsters. • Ensure you have some way of tracking unusual activity. For example, have you made a large number of sales through a particular affiliate? • Affiliate networks usually have checks in place to protect against fraud. See the IAB website (www.iabuk.net) to download a comprehensive guide to affiliate schemes. (www.blogger.com). • There is a guide to business blogging on the Movable Type website (www.movabletype.org/documentation/ business-blogging/checklist.html). Good examples of business blogs include Moo (www.moo.com/blog) and Avis (www.wetryharder.co.uk). 4.3Take part in online conversations. Expert contributors Thanks to Sean McPheat (MTD Sales Training, 0800 849 6732) and Stuart Aplin (Steak, 020 7420 3500, www. steakdigital.co.uk). • You can raise the profile of your business by participating in online discussion forums. • Use search engines to find discussion groups or forums relevant to your industry. • Unsolicited advertising on forums is usually regarded as spam. Instead, get involved and answer queries. Your reputation will grow over time. 4 Word-of-mouth marketing 5 Measuring response Word-of-mouth marketing is as effective online as it is offline. Building a buzz of personal recommendations may not cost much, but it can bring in lots of new business. The usual test of marketing is the number of sales that result. Measure and analyse customer response to your site. 5.1Track visitors to your site. 4.1Generate positive online coverage for your business. • Consider encouraging relevant bloggers, websites and online magazines to try out your products. • It is impossible to guarantee positive coverage and reviews, but if your products are good then the chance of negative coverage is small. • However, always be upfront and genuine. Most bloggers can detect deception a mile off, and will happily write about your efforts to curry their favour. 4.2Start a blog of your own. • A blog is like an online diary. It allows you to put a human face on your business. • It can demonstrate what goes on in your business — with pictures of staff, information about your processes and more. • You can generate interest in forthcoming products by writing about them, or offer tips on how to use your products in different ways. • Allow readers to leave comments to create a real dialogue with your customers, and elicit valuable feedback. • You can set up a blog for free using a service like Wordpress (www.wordpress. com) or Blogger • Online marketing is the most easily measured type of marketing. • You can see exactly where your visitors have come from, and what they do on your site. • Use web analytics to track visitors in detail. Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) is comprehensive and free. • Examine which keywords visitors use to find your site and amend your site accordingly. • Track how visitors find your site, so you can see which of your advertising methods is working best. 5.2Monitor the number of website visitors who convert to customers. • It is relatively easy to create a large volume of traffic, but it is better to create a smaller number of relevant visitors with a high conversion-to-sale ratio. • You may wish to establish some other key performance indicators. For example, the number of visitors per week or average spend per visitor. Published by BHP Information Solutions Ltd, Althorp House, 4-6 Althorp Road, London SW17 7ED Tel: 020 8672 6844, www.bhpinfosolutions.co.uk © BHP Information Solutions Ltd 2009. ISSN 1369-1996. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without the written permission of the publisher. This publication is for general guidance only. The publisher, expert contributors and distributor disclaim all liability for any errors or omissions. Consult your local business support organisation or your professional adviser for help and advice.