Sunday, August 30, 2009

10 Marketing Tips To Take Your Marketing To the Next Level

By Michael Fleischner

With more than twelve months of experience in marketing, Internet marketing, and working with small businesses, Ive seen my share of failed and successful marketing campaigns. Regardless of the marketing discipline, online advertising, direct mail, etc., basic marketing principle stand the test of time.

Today, the art of marketing is far more complex than it once was. However, many of the same basic principles still apply. Too often professional marketers and web site owners overlook the basic techniques that have separated successful campaigns from those that never turn a profit. Here is my all time list of effective marketing tips.

Understand your audience. By having a really deep understanding of your target audience and what's important to them you can have a significant influence on their buying behavior. A complete knowledge of who you're selling to is essential if you want to deliver the right message at the right time. Don't underestimate the power of knowing your audience and what motivates them.

The offer is key. The success of any marketing campaign is directly related to the appeal of the offer. Many people feel that a good marketing piece is measured on good copy or design alone. One of the most important aspects of any marketing campaign in the offer. Without a strong offer you'll never see results.

Split testing. The concept of split testing is quite simple but surprisingly, few ever do it. When you split test a web page or jump page, you determine which version produces the better outcome. Each time you test a single element so that you continue to improve results over the long term. This is time and money well invested.

Build a marketing team. No matter how talented you are, building a marketing team is a great way to improve results. As you create new ideas, a marketing team can build on that idea, improve it, and consider multiple options. Your team should be made up of a diverse group of people who can add to each others ideas.

Don't sell on price. I've seen so many marketers fail because they sell on price alone. This often leads to a discounting strategy, lower profitability, and often financial losses. Rather, focus on creating so much value that the price becomes insignificant to the value you are creating for the prospect.

Keep your messages consistent. Consider the entire user experience before you launch a campaign. From email to website to promotional offer, ask yourself if the prospect having a consistent user experience. If they are, your campaigns stands above 98% of others.

Focus on after sale communication. Don't drop off your prospects at the door of becoming a client. Once prospects become customers, your marketing needs to build on the relationship you have and continue to add value. By making this investment, you create a strong base of customers that can support your business for a very long time.

Keep testing. Testing is essential for the success of any marketing campaign. If you're not testing your marketing campaigns, then you're leaving money on the table. You really want to test everything from headlines and offers to landing pages and the timing of campaigns. This can only improve results and generate more sales.

Integrated Marketing Works Best. You cant rely on one form of marketing to carry your campaigns to certain success. Its okay to generate many of your leads or sales through PPC marketing for example but what happens when your leads start to decline? Use multiple media sources to meet your goals.

Nothing can replace experience. You can run out and hire all of the marketing experts in the world, but you still have to do the work yourself. Nothing can replace actual experience. Having and using your own experience will make you a stronger marketer and more successful in the long term.

These marketing tips have been developed from more than a decade of experience. Consider applying basic techniques that can deliver results. Once you've established baseline results, test campaign variations and measure your success. Rinse and repeat. Keep these marketing tips in mind each time you initiate a new campaign.

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