Marketing

Designing Your Strategy

3V Design Group and Marketing can assist in developing your organizations internet (online) or traditional (offline) marketing strategy that will include key tactical steps that will assist your business in accomplishing organizational objectives. Your internet or traditional strategy will be designed to work within your companies overall marketing strategy – product/service, pricing, distribution/production (service oriented businesses), promotion, target marketing.

Internet Usage in the US - Overview

As of June 2008, there were over 220 million internet users in the United States according to Internet World Statistics, a source for internet usage and population information. Nearly 73% of the American population.

In just a short period of time, Internet usage in the United States has steadily evolved from a mere curiosity for many, and an interest for only the tech savvy, to a mainstream form of communication for most Americans. Internet penetration has more than doubled in the past 10 years, reaching nearly 73% of the American population. The population is diverse:

• Over half of Americans now have a high-speed Internet connection in their homes, compared to only 5% in 2000.
• The Internet draws an ethnically diverse crowd, with 12% of the Internet population being Hispanic and 11% African American in 2008.
• Once considered a male-dominated media, the Internet now attracts a comparable number of women. Use of the Internet is beginning to out-pace traditional media, as evidenced by the fact that Generation Y spends more time online than watching TV.

Selling Your Products or Services via the Internet

Also known as online marketing or web marketing, internet marketing is used by companies selling goods and services directly to consumers or business-to-business via the internet.

Today, the Internet has become a vital tool for the delivering services, information and products to consumers, businesses and government agencies. Internet marketing, with a solid strategic marketing effort can increase awareness of their company's goods and services tremendously. Your companies’ ability to communicate through this medium has become increasingly vital to establishing your brand in the market place. Your potential customers will judge your organizations professionalism based on what they perceive first from personal contact with you and your internet presence.

The following information will help you define the types of internet marketing that is available to you:

• Affiliate Marketing: In affiliate marketing, a business recruits associates to promote the company's products or services. The associates receive a commission or other similar rewards for every sale, visitor, subscriber, or customer they bring to the company.

• Display Advertising: Display advertising involves the use of web banners or banner ads placed on a third-party website to drive traffic to a company’s own website and increase product awareness.

• Email Marketing: Your company can send promotional emails directly to customers. However, it can often be hard to distinguish between spam and legitimate email marketing messages.

• Interactive Advertising: Interactive advertising involves the use of animations and other graphic techniques to create ads that engage the viewer and invite participation. This can be accomplished through your email campaign.

• Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid placement, and paid inclusion are search engine marketing techniques that companies can use to increase their visibility in the search engine page results from Google and its competitors. This can be expensive for small business owners and may not produce sufficient return on investment. This type of marketing has to be monitored closely.

• Viral Marketing: Viral marketing is a technique is which companies encourage customers to pass along information about their products or services. Company websites that let visitors email interactive games or funny video clips to their friends are an example of a viral marketing effort.

Traditional Marketing (Offline Marketing)

The benefits of traditional marketing cannot be overlooked or underestimated even in this digital age. It is important to remember that your online marketing strategy must be integrated into your offline (traditional) marketing strategy. Your offline can be what we call the “driver” that will take your potential customers to your website where you can not only provide decision making information for your product or service, but capture information in the form of an email address, subscription or other contact information that will keep you in contact with the potential client even after (of if) the purchase. Your small business can truly experience the benefits of your strategic marketing plan.  For example, you can use direct mail, local advertising, and networking events to drive potential customers to your site. This is a great and proven combination that results in increased traffic and better conversions.

Your print ad can function as the "driver". Radio ads are still a proven way to increase awareness of your company and act as a driver. If you are new to radio marketing, 3V Design Group and Marketing can assist you in placing your ad with a local station according to your target audience.

Word of Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of advertising on the planet. The best word of mouth comes from satisfied customers. Go the extra mile for them, and really work towards building relationships with your customers. This will result not only in more leads but they'll keep coming back to you in the future. Try running special promotions or coupons for these regular customers to help them feel that they are special and you'll really be able to continue to build on these relationships in the future.

The best marketing strategies take advantage of all the different types of advertising. By spreading your ad dollars around you can be assured of greater success and better interaction with the public. Start small by combining a special promotion that will run both in print and online avenues at the same time. You can keep track of the success of each method by using coupon codes to see which form suits your company the best.