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- E-mail Marketing
The most powerful marketing technique of all consists of 3 main areas:
- Develop a strong opt-in e-mail and name capture technique on your site for in order to market to those folks who have visited your site again, in an automated yet personalized fashion, which will continually, over time, increase repeat visitors, registrations and repeat sales.
- Buy or negotiate rev-share deals with e-mail list owners for pushing out promotions to targeted opt-in audiences.
- Create strong content for HTML-based e-mails that partners such as affiliates and strategic partners can utilize for their own e-mail lists.
- Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
Both Overture (Yahoo!) and Google are dominating the search results landscape by utilizing sophisticated "pay per click" auction models that require marketers to bid on "keywords" in their niches to secure the top positions in the search results returned to EVERY major search engine that exists, including Yahoo and AOL. Ranking here is extremely important in directing highly qualified traffic to your site. There are tools, strategies and techniques that maximize these results. A budget must be developed for how much will be spent on this traffic, and tracking tools must be integrated that accurately track the ROI of this traffic.
- Affiliate Marketing
This powerful sales channel *can* account for 10 to 40 percent of a company's online sales when done correctly over time. It is a slow and steady source of revenue, but there are costs and resources required for it to be successful over time. Simply buying tracking software is not enough, it is an intensely "hands on" method of building relationships with sites who can drive targeted traffic to your site. You should have sufficient human and financial resources to effectively manage this channel. Strategy should include recruiting both major revenue sharing strategic partnerships and smaller, but vital "niche oriented" sites. Motivational communication and comprehensive, innovative link creatives is key.
- Sponsorships
Many of the heaviest trafficked "portal" type sites that reach huge targeted markets, like iVillage or HGTV, typically do not do rev-share at all. Or, they do only a hybrid version of it...like they'll say..."Pay us "X" for a "slotting fee" or "sponsorship" and we'll place you in a prime position for a month, with guaranteed impressions of "Y" and then take "Z" percent of your CPA offer." (cost per action - like a new registration or a sale) These can be *very* lucrative, though initially costly, and must be evaluated and negotiated one at a time for merit. Creating "boutiques" branded with the host site, and loaded with your products can also be appealing to the larger sites who are always looking for unique and fresh content.
- Newsletter Publicity
There are literally thousands of these email based newsletters on the internet with subscriber bases of 500 to 500,000. They are highly niche oriented and typically have very low cost Ad Rate Cards. Sometimes for $100-200 you can reach 10,000 or more highly targeted readers with your promotion. This can be tracked thru affiliate tracking software with payout set to $0 and fee paid up front. Special offers, coupon deals and the like work particularly well here. Writing articles as an expert in that niche is a great way to develop credibility for your site/service. Submit articles anywhere that might be a fit.
- Organic Search Engine Optimization
This is vital factor in driving quality FREE traffic from search inquiries to your site. You'll need a specialist in this highly arcane field to make sure that you are ranked well with the top search engines like Google, Yahoo and DMOZ. Though PPC search engines are important, there is still major traffic to be had from getting top free rankings in non-PPC search engines. Rich content is key.
- Word of Mouth/Viral Marketing
Creating online and offline strategies like "Tell-a-Friend", quotes & jokes or contests that motivate consumers to share with their friends and contacts is the GOLD of marketing. These can be fun to create and inexpensive to implement.
- Blending Offline and Online Tactics
It is crucial for a company that has sizeable offline sales to leverage those marketing efforts for the benefit of the online sales as well. Various incentives can be developed in all existing offline marketing, i.e. print, direct mail, packaging, store displays, and on the product itself, to drive more traffic to sites and customer acquisition costs down.
- Relationships
This is the most powerful "secret weapon". Developing in person relationships with potential partners at conferences and trade shows is imperative. Actively network and see every company as a potential partner. Face to face networking is very effective in this age of faceless/heartless email communications. Constantly think of creative ways to co-brand, partner, and cooperate with other successful companies. I am convinced that no one survives in business, online or off, without building strong relationships. Partnering with another e-commerce site to earn incremental revenue from their affiliate program is also a good way to cement a relationship that can help build your business.
- Use Existing Sales Channels
If you have virtually any kind of retail product consider setting up a simple Yahoo Store or Ebay storefront, in addition to your main ecom site to take advantage of the HUGE amount of traffic and shoppers that those 2 sites generate. Even mini-boutiques selling only one product line can be successful there, rather than trying to sell everything you have there. If you sell all kinds of closet accessories, think of a mini-store only for different hangars for example.
- Publicity
Nothing better than free press. Figure out what writers and publications are important to your market. Develop relationships with the "influencers" in your niche and make sure they know what your site/product/service is all about. Give it away to people who will write about it. Locate PR consultants who know YOUR industry and target market. Find offline publications who will do stories on you and then promulgate that story to others. Locate radio talk shows that might like to interview you.
- Lastly, but not least is CONVERSION
There are 2 ways you can double your sales online. You can implement all of the strategies above at significant cost, to drive double the amount of traffic to your site. OR, you can implement site enhancements that will make double the amount of people who already visit your site to BUY. It is the single *most* important metric in the entire Ecommerce world. It is an ongoing and critical part of maximizing all of your online marketing efforts. Particularly with affiliate marketing, because if you can't convert the traffic they send you into buyers, they won't make any money and consequently won't work with you very long. All successful initiatives depend on this number being consistently high. Have your site evaluated for usability and navigation, and implement constant tweaks to maximize your conversion rate.
Implementing most or all of these over time will definitely build traffic and sales! It s important to have a variety of marketing channels in place in order to take advantage of the changing trends on the internet, not becoming too dependent on just one sales channel. Just remember, test, test, test! The beauty of the internet is virtually every strategy is trackable and ROI can almost always be determined precisely and instantly in real time. If something works, do more of it. If it isn't, cancel it fast.
Please contact sales@partnercentric.com if your website needs help in any of these critical marketing areas!
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