Customers don’t buy products; they buy solutions to problems. And that’s the whole secret behind marketing. Your web site should be included as one part of a total marketing program.  And don’t rely on search engines alone to bring customers to your site.  Instead, focus on more traditional advertising tools and include your web site address (URL) on everything (business stationary, ads, commercials, etc.)  Traditional advertising should use short teasers designed to drive consumers to your web site where the main product information is presented and where they can obtain more detailed information.  It generally takes several positive contacts to make a sale. Your traditional ads should just catch their attention and draw them to your web site where more in depth information is provided to help close the deal. This visit can include printing brochures right from the web site and personal contact by either email or phone that they can request at the site.
 

Basics of Marketing

• Discover your customers’ needs - Don’t hunt for a product to sell. Instead, start looking for customers. Understand what they need, then build your business around them.
• Know your customers - What do they read? What TV shows do they watch? Write personal bios for your typical customers.
• Find their problems then find ways to fix them - A good marketing program is like aspirin. It finds out where a prospect’s pain is and offers a way to stop it. To discover where that pain is, try offering free advice.
• Find your prospects’ hot buttons and press them - Hot buttons are the basic motivations that drive a prospect’s buying decision. They can be problems or issues that cause a prospect pain and worry, or events that promise to bring them joy. Humans crave success, excitement, security, belonging, and, yes, sex. Addressing thses human needs in your marketing improves your chances of success.
• Listen to your customers - They’ll tell you what they want and expect. You just need to pay attention o what they’re saying.
• Get market intelligence - Pour through your competitors catalogs and web sites to spot what you can do better.
• Word of Mouth - The best of all marketing is word of mouth. Someone who is pleased with doing business with you and recommends you to a friend has a greater positive effect t than dozens of prime time TV commercials or paid celebrity endorsements. And the way to do this is to do whatever you can to keep your existing customers happy.
   

What the Research on Web Marketing Says

There is some research out on the relative effectiveness of different web site advertising options. For example:

• Etailers spent an average of $82 per person to acquire new customers last year vs. $31 per person for offline customers.
• 75% of web shoppers abandon their shopping carts without buying. Of those 75%, 39% skipped purchasing altogether, 26% bought from competitors, and 17% bought offline.

These are not carefully controlled studies and there are many extenuating circumstances, so don’t consider them definitive. Other studies compared the effectiveness of different web marketing strategies. We summarized their findings below to give you an idea of what has been done and how they ranked when compared with each other.
 

Percentage of respondents saying they used each method to find out about a web site METHOD % USING Search Engine 57 Email Message 38 Web Site Links 35 Word of Mouth 28 Magazine Ads 25 TV Ads 14 Periodical Articles 11 Vendor Catalogs 11 Newspaper Ads 9 Banner Ads 7 Radio Ads 2 Mail Ads 2 Web CMO Survey Rating the Overall Effectiveness of web marketing methods (Scale: 1-ineffective to 5-Most effective) METHOD EFFECTIVE NESS Search Engines 3.35 Opt-in EMail 3.34 Offline Advertising 3.04 Press Releases 3.00 Banner Advertising 2.85                     Percentage of respondents saying they used each method to find out about a web site METHOD % USING Search Engine 56 Web Site Links 83 Word of Mouth 28 Magazine Ads 71 TV Ads 57 Newspaper Ads 36 Mail Ads 31 Outdoor Ads 22

Marketing Your Web Site In this section, we’ll look at several different ways you can attract visitors to your web site and ways you can utilize the information your web site provides to attract and keep customers. Press Releases Write news releases about your company or site that, with luck and perseverance, may be published in news periodicals. Gather Market Research Gather valuable information from your customers and site visitors to use to improve your site and company’s sales. Customer Records Diligently store customer records, including support contacts and questions, to personalize the service your company provides to them. On Site Promotions Offer free products, services, and discounts to make visiting your site a rewarding experience.. Company Stationery Include your web site address on all your company’s stationery, brochures, and advertisements. Banner Ads Advertise your site on other related sites using banner ads that link back to your site. EMail Utilize opt-in email programs to offer customers and prospects special deals on clearance items or special services. EMail Newsletters Send monthly email newsletters with useful news and information about your industry or locality to those opting in. Link Exchanges Exchange links with other related, but not competitive, sites to send visitors back and forth. Search Engines Register and optimize your site so it is listed when search engine users type in certain keywords which describe your company, products or services. Traditional Advertising Utilize traditional advertising methods to drive visitors to your site to obtain more information or to actually order a product.