marketing Archives

Niche Marketing vs. Internet Marketing Niche

Comparing niche marketing and an Internet marketing niche is equivalent to comparing apples with oranges. Apples and oranges are both fruit. Niche marketing and an Internet Marketing niche are both forms of Internet marketing but as different as apples are from oranges.

The term ‘niche marketing’ means selling a specific product to a specific type of buyer. There are far less competitive niches than an Internet marketing niche. Most niche markets are more open to the latest marketing strategies, as well. Small niche markets are not over stocked with gurus and wise men and are much easier for the beginning marketer to break into. A niche market allows you to promote your own niche product or that of a niche affiliate product. There is a niche market for anything and everything you can imagine. All it takes to break into a niche market is a good idea, a good product created by you or someone else that will appeal to certain people, some advertising and the desire to succeed.

The Internet marketing niche, on the other hand, means that you will be promoting your own Internet marketing product. This is a very crowded field of endeavor and really difficult to break into. It’s a world filled with gurus and wise men who have been playing and winning the game for a long time. This doesn’t mean that it is impossible to cash in on the Internet marketing niche because, of course, you can. It is a world still built on demand and that means that if you have a product that can compete and if you have the willingness to play hard ball with the big boys then you can succeed at the Internet marketing niche game. Just be aware that there are easier niche market nuts to crack.

The Basics of Direct Email Marketing

Marketing through email has become a very popular way of marketing today. With the advent of the Internet, technology has broadened the scope and ways of marketing.

Email is short for electronic mail. This is one of the main reasons why people use the Internet. About two decades back, no one actually realized that electronic mail would become very useful and eventually be a focal point in relationships, both personal and business.

The whole email system lets people communicate with each other all the time. Early email marketers used the listings of email subscribers to be able to send their proposals and advertisements. However, not many people become amused with this fad. Sending unsolicited email or what we refer to as “spam” is a definite a “don’t” in email marketing.
This article tries to give tips on how to effectively use email for marketing and how to use it properly.

Email marketing can make or break your reputation as a marketer and the reputation of the product which you are promoting. Here are some of the ways on how to do email marketing:

-Integrate

Email marketing should be integrated into the whole marketing plan to promote a certain product effectively. Email marketing can be one of the ways and is not the only way to market a product. An array of marketing techniques should be employed by a marketer to be able to get around the market.

-Build relationships first

Getting into the email marketing bandwagon has its downsides, if it not done properly. People will get irritated if one floods a mailing list with advertisements which are not needed. In sending advertisements in e-groups or other such kinds of groups, one should be able to assess the general needs and concerns of the members before he actually plunge into a barrage of email marketing endeavors.

-Information

Email marketing, is most effective if it is part of a wider marketing scheme. Email is at its best if it is used to spread useful information for the target audience. The body of the email should contain pertinent and updated information about the product or the service. Just like in any form of marketing, email marketing should be planned and executed with care.

-Don’t send unsolicited email

One of the most irritating and agitating things about email is spam. If one is thinking about using spam mail to be able to market his product, he must give it a second thought. A lot of people hate unsolicited mail and usually won’t even open the message containing such messages. Spam will not only be a waste of time and effort from the part of the marketer, but will it will have an effect on the image of the product and the reputation of the marketer as well.

People avail of email services to be able to receive information and substantive mails from people whom they know or trust. The approach that an email marketing should be built in this line.

-Service

There’s an impression that direct email marketing is done by promoters to be able to escape from certain realities that come along with other forms of marketing. The fear of rejection is one of these harsh realities that are avoided by using email as a marketing medium. To be able to get the attention and more importantly, to be recognized seriously, an email marketer must be able to follow up quickly on the requests of his prospects. Service is the only thing that can improve the first impression towards direct email marketing.

-Permission

Spamming is not a good thing to do. It is also considered illegal in some states. However, when one asks permission from the receiver to send a marketing proposal through email, direct email marketing takes another step forward. A survey shows that people who were initially asked for permission to receive certain proposals were more interested to read the emails, as compared to the response towards unsolicited email.

Email is just one of the tools to be able to promote through the Internet, and by far, it is one of the most popular and most effective. There are a lot of unwritten rules towards doing direct email marketing but everything leads back to giving quality service to the prospects and clients.

The Network Marketing Niche

Many people dream about going into business for themselves. They wish to quit the rat race of the 9 to 5 scene and strike out on their own. If you are a people person, then you may want to consider the advantage of going into network marketing. Network marketing is all about people helping people both with building a business and selling your products or services.

Network marketing is a business that you can start on a shoestring, and with a lot of hard work you can achieve financial and personal freedom. You will no longer have to answer to a boss at a regular job because now you are your own boss! If more than 13 million of the people in the United States are working in the field of networking marketing then something has to be going right. Just know that there will always be scams out there especially if you are fishing on the Internet! You have to do your homework and recognize which network marketing companies are legitimate. Also, a big difference can be made in how you choose to market your own network marketing business.

Network marketing is also commonly known as multi-level marketing or MLM. You have probably all heard of that at one time or another. Let us take a look at exactly what network marketing is. Network marketing usually offers consumable products and services to people that are used in a short period of time. As stated before, you can get involved in networking marketing at a very low price. It also helps you build residual income. Network marketing involves more people than ordinary direct sales companies, and it helps to leverage other people’s time. Network marketing is not just another “get-rich-quick” scheme. In times past if a person wanted to carve out their niche in network marketing they used to have to beat their “warm market” to death! Today, with the use of modern technology, is is not that way at all. The world is your entire market thanks to the Internet. You can also use such tools as conference calling, and now that Skype has come onto the scene it has opened many new vistas of opportunities! The crux of network marketing is still sharing the opportunity as well as your products and services with as many individuals as possible. Forget snail mail and mailing out postcards to introduce people to your network marketing business. Now e-mail is readily available and you can reach thousands in an instant! There is no better time than the present to begin your career in network marketing.

The key word of network marketing is leverage. You can make the most of your time and your money by introducing people to your business opportunity and making a small percentage off of their efforts. A network marketing business should be easily duplicatable. This is what will ensure your success. The people that you have brought into your business can learn from your success and copy it.

As can be seen, a networking marketing business can be very profitable. However, it takes dedication and hard work in the beginning. If you put your whole efffort into your home business, then you will soon reap your rewards!

Nation Branding and Place Marketing – VII. Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

VII. Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

How can a country (region, state, city, municipality, or other polity) judge the efficacy of its attempts to brand or re-brand itself and, consequently, to attract customers (investors, tourism operators, bankers, traders, and so on)?

Marketing is not a controlled process in an insulated lab. It is prone to mishaps, last minute changes, conceptual shifts, political upheavals, the volatility of markets, and, in short, to the vagaries of human nature and natural disasters. Some marketing efforts are known to have backfired. Others have yielded lukewarm results. Marketing requires constant fine tuning and adjustments to reflect and respond to the kaleidoscopic environment of our times.

But maximum benefits (under the circumstances) are guaranteed if the client (the country, for instance) implements a rigorous Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control (MIEV) plan.

The first task is to set realistic quantitative and qualitative interim and final targets for the marketing program – and then to constantly measure its actual performance and compare it to the hoped for outcomes. Even nation branding and place marketing require detailed projections of expenditures vs. income (budget and pr-forma financial statements) for monitoring purposes.

The five modules of MIEV are:

1. Annual plan control

This document includes all the government’s managerial objectives and (numerical) goals. It is actually a breakdown of the aforementioned pro-forma financial statements into monthly and quarterly figures of “sales” (in terms of foreign direct investment, income from tourism, trade figures, etc.) and profitability.
It comprises at least five performance gauging tools:

I. Sales analysis (comparing sales targets to actual sales and accounting for discrepancies).

II. Market-share analysis (comparing the country’s “sales” with those of its competitors). The country should also compare its own sales to the total sales in the global market and to sales within its “market segment” (neighboring countries, countries which share its political ambience, same-size countries, etc.).

III. Expense-to-sales analysis demonstrates the range of costs – both explicit and hidden (implicit) – of achieving the country’s sales goals.

IV. Financial analysis calculates various performance ratios such as profits to sales (profit margin), sales to assets (asset turnover), profits to assets (return on assets), assets to worth (financial leverage), and, finally, profits to worth (return on net worth of infrastructure).

V. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate indicator of tracking goal achievement. The country should actively seek, facilitate, and encourage feedback, both positive and negative by creating friendly and ubiquitous complaint and suggestion systems. Frequent satisfaction and customer loyalty surveys should form an integral part of any marketing drive.

Regrettably, most acceptable systems of national accounts sorely lack the ability to cope with place marketing and nation branding campaigns. Intangibles such as enhanced reputation or investor satisfaction are excluded. There is no clear definition as to what constitute the assets of a country, its “sales”, or its “profits”.
2. Profitability control

There is no point in squandering scarce resources on marketing efforts that guarantee nothing except name recognition. Sales, profits, and expenditures should count prominently in any evaluation (and re-evaluation) of on-going campaigns. The country needs to get rid of prejudices, biases, and misconceptions and clearly identify what products and consumer groups yield the most profits (have the highest relative earnings-capacity). Money, time, and manpower should be allocated to cater to the needs and desires of these top-earners.

3. Efficiency control

The global picture is important. An overview of the marketing and sales efforts and their relative success (or failure) is crucial. But a micro-level analysis is indispensable. What is the sales force doing, where, and how well? What are the localized reactions to the advertising, sales promotion, and distribution drives? Are there appreciable differences between the reactions of various market niches and consumer types?

4. Strategic control

The complement of efficiency control is strategic control. It weighs the overall and long-term marketing plan in view of the country’s basic data: its organization, institutions, strengths, weaknesses, and market opportunities. It is recommended to compare the country’s self-assessment (marketing-effectiveness rating review) with an analysis prepared by an objective third party.
The marketing-effectiveness rating review incorporates privileged information such as input and feedback from the country’s “customers” (investors, tourist operators, traders, bankers, etc.), internal reports regarding the adequacy and efficiency of the country’s marketing information, operations, strengths, strategies, and integration (of various marketing, branding, and sales tactics).

5. Marketing audit

The marketing audit is, in some respects, the raw material for the strategic control. Its role is to periodically make sure that the marketing plan emphasizes the country’s strengths in ways that are compatible with shifting market sentiments, current events, fashions, preferences, needs, and priorities of relevant market players. This helps to identify marketing opportunities and new or potential markets.

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2005 edition) describes the marketing audit thus:

“… (I)t covers all aspects of the marketing climate (unlike a functional audit, which analyzes one marketing activity), looking at both macro-environment factors (demographic, economic, ecological, technological, political, and cultural) and micro- or task-environment factors (markets, customers, competitors, distributors, dealers, suppliers, facilitators, and publics). The audit includes analyses of the company’s marketing strategy, marketing organization, marketing systems, and marketing productivity. It must be systematic in order to provide concrete conclusions based on these analyses. To ensure objectivity, a marketing audit is best done by a person, department, or organization that is independent of the company or marketing program. Marketing audits should be done not only when the value of a company’s current marketing plan is in question; they must be done periodically in order to isolate and solve problems before they arise.”

Nation Branding and Place Marketing – VII. Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

VII. Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

But maximum benefits (under the circumstances) are guaranteed if the client (the country, for instance) implements a rigorous Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control (MIEV) plan.

The five modules of MIEV are:

1. Annual plan control

I. Sales analysis (comparing sales targets to actual sales and accounting for discrepancies).

III. Expense-to-sales analysis demonstrates the range of costs – both explicit and hidden (implicit) – of achieving the country’s sales goals.

3. Efficiency control

4. Strategic control

5. Marketing audit

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2005 edition) describes the marketing audit thus:

Are You A Marketing Octopus or A Marketing Worm?

One of the greatest challenges to effectively marketing a business is determining which marketing method is best suited for your business.
Most people look at what their competitors are doing to market their businesses and then simply imitate that, whether good or bad.
The best marketing strategy does not involve selecting only one or two marketing approaches that we see others using.
The best marketing approach resembles an octopus.
An octopus is very effective at catching food with eight limbs. If the octopus loses one limb it may momentarily lose some of its strength and agility, but it adapts and continues on as an effective hunter and predator.
It’s the same with marketing your business. The more marketing approaches you use simultaneously the more successful you can become and the easier it is to continue growing your company.
You will continue to thrive despite the challenges that your competitors may face. No setback in any one marketing approach will ever devastate you or pose major problems.
Despite the many options available most companies use no more than two or three marketing methods at best to grow their company.
Few realize that there are over 100 methods for bringing in new business, for increasing web traffic, for selling more to existing clients, and for increasing repeat sales that their competitors are not using.
They basically imitate worms in their marketing attempts. A worm’s approach to life is singular. It does not use multiple limbs because it has none. Its existence is slow and labor-intensive. Very unlike an octopus.
The great thing about this is that most competitors are making this same mistake. They may be too busy, too shorthanded, or too myopic to do much more than hand out boxes of business cards and sit around talking ‘fish stories’ of the one that got away.
That is a marketing approach to avoid.
Don’t just settle for an ad in the yellow pages, your local newspaper, or on the radio.
Use as many marketing methods as make sense for your industry, your market, and your company. Then you will become a marketing octopus while your competitors remain marketing worms.

Building opt in list and affiliate marketing – effective internet marketing plan

Building opt in list and affiliate marketing have become synonymous to online success as an effective internet marketing strategy. For many online sites, building opt in list and affiliate marketing have proven quite profitable. Primarily because most online users are not exposed to any unscrupulous internet marketing strategies prevalent on the World Wide Web.

As an effective Internet marketing strategy, users are given the option to signup for information or service provided by a particular site. Building opt in list and affiliate marketing reduces the risk of spamming since the recipient voluntarily chooses to receive emails from a website. Plus, building opt in list and affiliate marketing provides a direct link to the subscriber that will help shape a formidable customer relationship that will keep on going.

The basics of building opt in list and affiliate marketing

Different websites have different ways of building opt in list and affiliate marketing. However there are some tried and tested formulas to help new affiliate marketers develop their own opt in listing for their site. The first and most important factor to determine in building opt in list and affiliate marketing is to establish the site’s target market.

Once the target market is established, building opt in list and affiliate marketing can be customized to meet their demands. This can be done using a variety of methods to convince site visitors to sign up for the site’s newsletter or e-zine. After signing up, the customer will begin to receive a variety of newsletters, e-zines and brochures that the customer had registered for.

Strategies for building opt in list and affiliate marketing

There are a number of strategies that affiliate marketers can use for building opt in list and affiliate marketing. One way of building opt in list and affiliate marketing is by purchasing or leasing a subscribers list from third-parties. This is usually done by affiliate marketers in order to get easy access to many people who have consented to receiving e-mails, newsletters and e-zines on various topics.

Although it is the fastest approach to building opt in list and affiliate marketing, this method does not provide a focused consumer group for building opt in list and affiliate marketing. In addition, it may cost an affiliate marketer more than what they expect to receive in sales. Fortunately, there are other ways for affiliate marketers to get the most out of building opt in list and affiliate marketing.

Enlisting for co-registration services is great for building opt in list and affiliate marketing. This service usually costs about 10 cents to 30 cents per subscriber but it easily translates into an average of three hundred subscribers daily to an affiliate marketer’s opt in list.

Writing articles is also an effective strategy for building opt in list and affiliate marketing. The articles can be published in various newsletters with specific links to the affiliate marketer’s site. This serves as a great introduction to potential subscribers that would encourage them to sign up for an opt in list.

Joint ventures are also a valuable strategy in building opt in list and affiliate marketing. Joint ventures are a hundred percent free and at the same time can add up to hundreds of subscribers to an opt in list daily.

Incentives for building opt in list and affiliate marketing

Building opt in list and affiliate marketing can also be encouraged by offering incentives to potential subscribers. This subtle form of encouragement for building opt in list and affiliate marketing often helps stir the interest of potential subscribers to sign up for the opt in list. There are a number of methods used in affiliate marketing to egg on potential subscribers to sign up.

Offering products and services in exchange for signing up is commonly practiced by many affiliate websites. Products may include special e-books or software that would be of interest to the subscriber. Another way to get subscribers to sign up is to offer them special services that are only available for site members.

Regardless of the incentive used for building opt in list and affiliate marketing, the most important factor to consider is how to keep the interest of the subscriber. Remember, it is just as easy for a subscriber to opt out of the list as it was to opt in to the list.

Internet Marketing Service—Just How Important it is to your Online Business Career

Online credit card application and approval.

Google AdSense.

Online payments through credit card transactions.

These are just some of the innovations integrated on the famous Information Superhighway—the Internet. It paved the way to the creation of one of the most lucrative business—the Internet marketing.

Internet marketing is just similar to traditional marketing wherein your primary goal is to promote and sell whatever products or services you have to offer for sale effectively. The only difference is that Internet marketing is using the Internet to achieve your business goal. Unlike in traditional marketing wherein you need to establish your business in a “physical market”, Internet marketing revolves on the concept of online selling, that is, the acquisition of goods and services through automated system.

In other words, you do not need an actual shop to display your products for sale. You don’t need to hire additional employees who will help you run your business. You can manage your online business without any actual shop or additional employees. All you need to have is a website that will serve as your “shop” where your visitors and clients can see your products and/or services for sale. The success of your business will largely depend on your website as well as the strategies that you will use to manage your Internet marketing business.

There was an Internet marketer who shared some of his expertise on Internet marketing. According to him, a website must address five specific aspects of Internet marketing in order to succeed. These are as follows:

• Getting people to visit your website.
• Getting people to stay at your website.
• Getting people to visit your website again.
• Getting people to have transactions with you at your website.
• Getting people to have repeated or multiple transactions at your website.

From these five specific aspects, you may conclude that Internet marketing is about getting people into your website and do transactions with you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to earn revenues from your Internet marketing business if your website (which serves as your shop) cannot convert its visitors into loyal customers. Thus, your business objective now is to get more people to visit your website and possibly persuade them to make purchases of anything that you offer for sale.

This is where Internet marketing services comes into action. Such service, together with your marketing strategies, will help you get a majority of the Internet traffic to go to your site and convert them not just into sure but also into “repeat” buyers.

Just how important Internet marketing service is to your online business? Consider the following instances and learn how Internet marketing service affects almost every aspect of your Internet marketing career:

• At the earlier part of your online business, you are required to have your own website. As mentioned earlier, your site must attract people that could be your potential clients. Thus, you need to avail of different Internet marketing services that will help you make your site as attractive as possible to the Internet public, such as website design and development, content building, search engine optimization, keyword research, and others.
• Part of your Internet marketing business is advertising. You need to promote your products and/or services effectively so that you will be able to get more people who will make transactions with you. Services that are associated with advertising your online business include newsletter, e-mail marketing, online press releases, mailing lists, article marketing, affiliate marketing, and others.
• There is no single Internet marketer who succeeds without partners on his side. Thus, you need to get the services of your online partners (ad serving firms, professional marketing strategists, and others) who are willing to lend you a hand in achieving your online business goals.

All of existing Internet marketing services serves a common ground to all online entrepreneurs—that is, to ensure that Internet marketing industry exists continuously, thus giving everybody the opportunity of earning online. Without this Internet marketing services, the existence of this lucrative industry will probably cease, the dream of a five- to seven-digit revenue will remain to be a dream forever.

If you have plans of getting involved on Internet marketing, be sure that you are aware of the services and keep your online business alive and kicking.

Why Do You Need To Join An Affiliate Marketing Network?

Affiliate marketing is the latest trend online. With so many products to sell and services to offer, sometimes displaying it on one site isn’t enough. Thus, advertisers or merchants need affiliates, some sites which are willing to display ads for a particular cost. On the other hand, this is an opportunity for potential affiliates to earn extra income online.

The easy way to earn from affiliate marketing is to join an affiliate marketing network. Joining poses several benefits to both the advertiser and the affiliate. For the advertisers, this opens a new door of opportunity to get more leads and sales, get higher return on investment and pay only for results. Affiliate marketing network lessens the risk of venturing into marketing without proper management and guidance.

For the affiliates, joining an affiliate network makes earning money online a whole lot easier. Instead of going after many merchants for payment, the affiliate has only one contact for all the advertisers. Aside from the convenience, the affiliate marketing network will also extend support to the affiliates.

Affiliate Marketing Sectors

Affiliate marketing will continually grow as the need for more sales and leads continue. People are beginning to look at this type of marketing as an important aspect of pushing websites forward. More and more websites and online businesses are looking into one day joining the ever growing affiliate marketing networks.

The common affiliate marketing sectors include financial services, travel, retail, telecoms, mobile, broadband, gaming and even online gambling. Because of the increasing number of affiliate interested websites, the number of affiliate marketing networks also drastically increased. This means there will be more networks competing against each other.

UK Affiliate Marketing Networks

Affiliate marketing has become the trend in UK, as well. There are already a number of UK based affiliate marketing networks. Who are the major UK affiliate marketing networks and which one should you join?

The major affiliate marketing networks in UK include advertising.com, affiliatefuture.com, affiliatemarketing.co.uk, affiliatewindow.com, affili.net, brandconversions.com, buy.at, clash-media.co.uk, cj.com, dgmaffiliates.com, onlinemediagroup.co.uk, paidonresults.com, primeq.co.uk, silvertap.com, smart-quotes.com, tradedoubler.com, webgains.com and zanox.com. This is according to e-consultancy report.

These affiliate marketing networks all vies for merchants and affiliates. They will get an override commission for the sales so it would be best to have more merchants and affiliates on the network. The standard override fee is 30% although that still depends on the network. But whatever network you choose, whether you are a merchant or an affiliate, as long as you set things up properly, you will still get your share of higher sales.

When Email Marketing Does Not Work

Whether you are already involved in an email marketing campaign or are simply considering the possibility of launching an email marketing campaign it is important to note that email marketing does not always work. This means that sometimes despite your best efforts, or sometimes in spite of your best efforts, you email marketing campaign will either not generate the degree of success you anticipated or may not generate any success at all. This failure to generate success may be do to a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons may be a lack of interest on behalf of your target audience, failure to properly execute your email marketing strategy or poor planning in your strategy. This article will take a look at some situations in which email marketing is not effective and will offer some advice for dealing with these situations.

First we will consider why a lack of interest from target audience members can result in a failed email marketing campaign. Before investing time, energy and money into an email marketing campaign, it is worthwhile to hire a consultant to conduct market research. This research should provide valuable feedback such as demographics for the target audience and information on the probability these target audience members will be responsive to email marketing. This last piece of information in particular should help the business owner to determine whether or not to pursue email marketing as an advertising option. If market research indicates the members of your target audience are not likely to purchase the products or services you offer online or even use the Internet to research these products or services; investing in an email marketing campaign is not worthwhile. You may enjoy a small degree of success from this marketing effort but it is not likely to significant enough to warrant the time and effort required to achieve this small degree of success.

Another aspect of email marketing which can cause your marketing campaign to result in failure is the inability to properly execute your marketing plan. This is important because even the most well formulated marketing strategy can flounder if you are not able to properly execute these steps. For example, you may plan to use e-newsletters as a critical component of your email marketing campaign but if these e-newsletters do not appear to be professionally designed and written, frequently arrive late and do not offer valuable information, readers are not likely to invest in your products or services based on these e-newsletters. In each aspect of your email marketing campaign, you should strive to ensure the information you provide to your email recipients is informative, accurate and interesting. This type of copy is more likely to pique the interest of the readers.

Finally, poor planning can cause an email marketing campaign to falter. For example, if you were to issue a component of your email marketing campaign hoping to generate a huge interest in your products and receive a great deal of interest, you should be prepared to be able to sell your products. Not having enough stock on hand after you undergo a marketing effort can be a critical mistake because potential customers may lose interest if they have to wait for the products. This is just one example of poor planning causing problems but poor planning can cause a host of different problems including potential customers losing interesting, the creation of confusion regarding your products and services and even potential customers being angered by your email marketing.