Attracting customers to your site

Part 1: Marketing and Social Networks

What you can ask me

MarketingWeb designSearch Engine OptimisationPay Per ClickUsabilityAccessibility

What is Marketing?

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (www.cim.co.uk ) definition is:-

“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitably.”

OK, what is Marketing?

Identifying (researching) needsProduct conceptThe whole productThe priceAdvertisingSales supportetc

Marketing VS Sales

Different departments?Marketing creates the opportunity to sellSales - the presentation, upselling, cross selling, and the closeMarketing supports the sales processMarketing makes sure sales staff are knowledgeableMarketing creates Point of Sale assetsMarketing negotiates priceMarketing maximises after sales returnsMarketing feeds back refinementsCaptures customer informationetc

Mind mapping

Marketing Basics

Market ResearchMarketing PlanMarket SegmentationCompetitionUSPProduct/Price/Place/PromotionUnique Sales PropositionFeature/Advantage/BenefitObjectivesStrategy

Market Research

Your market research should show: The size and requirements of the market (and details of assumptions made)

Existing competition

Competitors’ strengths and weaknesses

The advantage your business has over the competition

An informal conservation with a prospective customer may give you useful information. It will also tell you the language – vocabulary –that customers use when talking about your product or service.

Marketing Plan

Where are you now?

Where do you want to be?

How are you going to get there?

Marketing Segmentation

Market Segments Talk to each other (Crossing the Chasm)

Universe – the universe is the amount and all types of potential customers (e.g. “the general public” or “holiday-makers”)

Segment – the next step is to segment your universe. What different types of customers are there? Can you categorise them? (by age / sex / income / location etc.)

Locate and quantify – where are your customers to be found? How many are there? Are there enough?

What do you need to know about your customers? (Buying habits and patterns, likes and dislikes, needs and wants etc.) Never assume!

Analyse the results – What do your findings tell you?

Marketing Segmentation

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?

Relate customer requirements to your product information. Identify “benefit” messages for each target market. You can now match customer types to your product information. This enables you to identify specific sales messages to be aimed at different customer groups. A picture framer may want to project different messages to retail and trade customers.)

Record keeping – recording details about regular customers is essential. Such information helps you identify which are your most profitable markets, how buying patterns are changing etc. (A holiday lettings business produced an analysis of clients taking holidays at particular times of year and now uses this to fill specific vacancies.)

List the market segments or customer types that are within your Universe:

Competitors

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?

All businesses have competitors – either direct or indirect. A tyre and exhaust business competes directly with others. However Parker Pens™ compete indirectly with Ronson Lighters™ in the giftware market.

You need to know who and where your competitors are. Identify their range, specifications, pricing, discount structures, promotional activity, delivery arrangements, minimum order quantities, terms of trade etc. You need to know their strengths and weaknesses – as well as your own. This can be done as a SWOT analysis to identify opportunities and threats.

Competitors

As with your customers you need to go through a process to be aware of your competitors and their influence.

Universe – Every possible competitor

Segment – Identify the different types of competitor (size, resources, geographic coverage, business category and target markets). – Remembering both direct and indirect competitors.

Locate and quantify – Where are they? How many? What access do your customers have tothem?

Research – What do you need to know?

Analyse results – What does your research tell you?

Do a SWOT see below! analysis identifying your competitors’ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Does this present you with opportunities?

Look at your product profiles and identify your USP (Unique Sales Proposition) see below!. This will help you differentiate your business from the competition.

Keep records on the competition – record monitor and update this information.

Unique Sales Proposition

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?

USP’ means unique selling proposition. Your USP can help your customers save time when buying a product or service. Your USP says why your product or service is different, and stands out from the competition. You can use different USPs for different products and markets.

To attract attention you must be BETTER, FASTER or CHEAPER than your competitors. Every business needs a USP for its products / services. Identifying your USP helps you to focus on the key benefits that sell your products or services and contribute to your profits. You should use your USP in your promotion and sales activities. (See also AIDA)

To see USPs in action, look at a TV advert. This is the most expensive advertising media and the point needs making quickly!

If your customers are switching to competitors or buying purely on price:

Have you identified the USPs for your products and services?

Are you communicating your USPs clearly to customers?

Unique Sales Proposition

USP is an easy concept to understand, the issue is to make it work for your business.

Before you start to use it, it helps to know:The features of the product or service you wish to promote

How and why the customer uses the product or service

Features of your competitors’ product or service

You may already have this information from your own experience, from your sales team or from past market research. If not, call a few customers and get their help – most customers are happy to tell you why they bought your product. Make sure that they are representative of all your target customers and encourage them to give you an unbiased view.

The 4 Ps

USP is an easy concept to understand, the issue is to make it work for your business.

The ‘Four Ps’ is a useful structure for looking at your marketing operation and for planning campaigns.

There are basically four elements that you can change to encourage audiences – the Product, the Place, the Price, and the methods of Promotion. Here are some examples of the kinds of marketing planning that fall into each category.

The 4 Ps

ProductWhich of your products and services could be made more appropriate for your target

customers?The actual product you provide

The actual product you provide

The atmosphere in your premises

The way your staff relate to customers

The facilities you have

PlaceWhere and when is your product delivered?

Would any of your products/services be more successful via different outlets?

Are the products/services available at the right time for the target customers?

Where can people find information about the products/services?

Where & how can people buy?

The 4 Ps

PriceIs the price right for the target customers?

Would you be more successful with a particular target customers if a “package” was offered?

Would they value the products/service more if you it was a premium product?

Does your discounting policy meet the needs of your target customers?

PromotionAre you saying the right things to the right people, using the right channels?

What would happen if you used different tactics to communicate with people?

Remember that any changes you implement in these ‘Four Ps’ should arise from clearly understood customer needs.

Feature, Advantage, Benefit

The television HAS a Remote Control, WHICH lets you change the channel from

a distance, SO you save time.

Traditional Marketing

Telesales

Direct Mail

Press Ads

PR

Exhibitions

Radio

Cost, reach focus.

oil rig components, cheaper phone calls, double glazing, clothes

E-Marketing

The use of digital technologies to help sell your goods or services.

Benefits of E-Marketing

Reach (as usual)

Potentially lower cost (really?)

Easier to measure/evaluate the results effectively (definitely)

Flexibility (definitely)

Your marketing message is always available (definitely)

e-Marketing campaigns can be more engaging (definitely)

Personalisation (definitely)

What is your marketing mix?

Who is your target market?

What are your objectives? (SMART)

What is your budget?

E-Marketing Channels

Website - A location on the World Wide Web

e-mail – An electronic version of a letter or hand written note.

Blog’s - A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news.

Podcasts - Is a method of publishing files to the Internet e.g. audio or video file.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) – Allows websites that want to allow other sites to publish some of its content.

SMS Messaging - the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or IP address.

Online PR – Traditional PR extended online.

Pay for click – Google adwords

Other sites - ?

E-Marketing Channels

Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;

Brand loyalty

Increasing customer expectations

Not getting lost in the crowd

Establishing and maintaining virtual relationship

Are you ready to do it?

Implementing a e-Marketing plan

Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;

Evaluate:

The relative strengths and relevance of different marketing options.

Ensure that all your chosen marketing options fit together

Ensure that your e-Marketing plan fits into the overall marketing strategy of the business.

Legal implications of your actions

Plan:

Are there any training and technology needs.

Implement:

Put in place the things you need to implement the strategy e.g. training

Monitor measure and evaluate performance

Update plan

Examples

Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;

Wiggly Wigglers – A gardening company which releases regular podcasts on various gardening topics.

Here it goes again - The music video was filmed in one continuous shot and was uploaded to YouTube, where it has been viewed over fifteen million times. The videowas popular enough to earn a Grammy award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" in 2007 and the YouTube 2006 Video Award for "Most Creative Video" .

Will it blend – A series of videos made for around £5-600 each by a US blender manufacturer, which were placed on the internet last year. Within just a few days, the first videos had millions of views. This had a significant impact on sales. The campaign aim was to help build brand awareness and establish Blendtec as the premier blender manufacturer.”

Web 2.0

Interaction/conversation not publishing

Customer Engagement

Mostly consumers, often segmented

Appealing to marketers

Effective?

Social Media

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information.

Increasingly used by business as a marketing tool.

Social Media Types

Social Bookmarks

Digg www.digg.com

Reddit www.reddit.com

Delicious del.icio.us

What do they do?

How can you use them?

Social Media Types

Social Networks

Facebook www.facebook.com

Myspace www.myspace.com

Linkedin www.linkedin.com

What do they do? (online gossiping and networking)

How can you use them? (advertising, engaging, networking)

Social Media Types

Facebook

www.manchesterdigital.com/about.aspWebsite with News, Events, Digital Jobs, Tenders. It is more formal and its members tend to be the owners of digital businesses. Averages around 800 visitors a day.

www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=manchester%20digital&sid=d7936699c741d97b59754c4a7e04cef2#/group.php?gid=6127014011MD Facebook group has 259 "friends", is less formal than the website and is used to promote MD its events etc. to a wider audiance and help people from the digital sector communicate/connect/network.

Social Media Types

Facebook

www.facebook.com/networks/networks.php#/pages/Digital-Marketing-Manchester/19610314120?ref=sFacebook group set up by MD members to promote a regular meet up of digital marketing people.

www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=manchester%20digital&sid=d7936699c741d97b59754c4a7e04cef2#/group.php?gid=27557553742Manchester Digital/MMU Business School ProDev Day event. Facebook was used as a way of recruiting digital companies and students to the day. Although not the only marketing channel used the day was a success with 600 students and around 40 businesses attending.

Social Media Types

Blogs

Blogger www.blogger.com

Twitter www.twitter.com

Gizmodo www.gizmodo.com

Technorati www.technorati.com

What do they do? (updateable news, syndication)

How can you use them? (SEO, industry monitoring, buzz creation)

Social Media Types

Media Sharing

Youtube www.youtube.com

Flikr www.flikr.com

What do they do? (upload and share media)

How can you use them? (virals, media distribution, media hosting,

SEO)

Social Media Types

Flikr

www.flickr.com/photos/mdda/sets/72157604946062922/Used to store images of an event.

Social Media Types

BlipTV

www.manchesterdigital.com/page.asp?id=3112Used to store promotional video material.

Other Social Media Sites

http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/

Characteristics

Is increasingly used by individuals & more recently businesses.

It is interactive.

Informational & chatty.

The Risks

Do you have the time?

Do you have the money?

Do you have anything interesting to say?

Who is listening?

You’re the boss!

Thank you