Marketing Basics
To succeed, entrepreneurs must attract and retain a
growing base of satisfied customers. Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong 
 

Market situation 
The "market situation" section should contain your best and most clear-headed description of the current state of the marketplace (this is no place for hunches). 

Marketing Objectives 
In the "marketing objectives" section, you paint your picture of the future: What marketing objectives do you want to achieve over the course of the plan? Each of your marketing objectives should include both a narrative description of what you intend to accomplish along with numbers to give you something concrete to aim for. Just to say you want to make a first entry into the Swiss screw machine marketplace isn't providing much guidance. Saying you want to go from 0 percent to 8 percent of the local market in two years is easier to understand--and verifiable. If you're not sure of the size of the local market, then aim at a dollar figure in sales. Your accountant will let you know whether you've succeeded or not. 

Market situation 
• What are your products/services or product/service lines? 
• What is the dollar size of your markets? 
• What is your sales and distribution setup? 
• What geographic area do you sell to? 
• Describe your audience in terms of population, demographics, income levels and so on. 
• What competitors exist in this marketplace? 
• Historically, how well have your products sold? 
• What trends in the marketplace are against you? 
• Are there competitive trends that are ominous? 
• Are your current products poised to succeed in the market as it now exists? 
• What trends in the marketplace favor you? 
• Are there competitive trends working to your benefit? 
• Are the demographics of your market in your favor? Against you? 


Target Marketing 
Owners of small businesses usually have limited resources to spend on marketing. Concentrating their efforts on one or a few key market segments - target marketing - gets the most return from small investments. There are two methods used to segment a market: 

1. Geographical segmentation - Specializing in serving the needs of customers in a particular geographical area. For example, a neighborhood convenience store may send advertisements only to people living within one-half mile of the store. 
2. Customer segmentation - Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups. Managing the Market Mix 

Every marketing program contains four key components: 
• products and services 
• Promotion 
• Distribution 
• Pricing 

These are combined into an overall marketing program. 

products and services
- Product strategies may include concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a highly specialized product or service, or providing a product-service package containing unusually high-quality service. 

Promotion 
- Promotion strategies include advertising and direct customer interaction. Good salesmanship is essential for small businesses because of their limited ability to spend on advertising. Good telphone book advertising is also important. Direct mail is an effective, low-cost medium available to small business. 

Price 
- The right price is crucial for maximizing total revenue. Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa; however, small businesses can often command higher prices because of their personalized service. 

Distribution 
The manufacturer and wholesaler must decide how to distribute their products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers' agents generally is easiest for small manufacturers. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site selection, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal: A low-cost, low-traffic location means spending more on advertising to build traffic. 

The nature of the product or service is also important in sitting decisions. If purchases are based largely on impulse, then high traffic and visibility are critical. On the other hand, location is less a concern for products or services that customers are willing to go out of their way to find. The recent availability of highly segmented mailing lists, purchased from list brokers, magazines, or other companies, has enabled certain small businesses to operate from any location yet serve national or international markets. 

Additional Promotional Ideas 

• Links 
• Submit Site 
• Press Release 
• On-Site Promotions 

• E-Zine 
• Newsgroups 
• Measuring Results 
• Email Marketing 

• Buy E-Zine Ad 
• Signature File 
• Pay-Per-Click 

Link Popularity 
Creating a network of links to and from your site will help in achieving a higher ranking on search engines. Your link network should include organizations you belong to, trade magazines, and related businesses that complement your offerings. However, beware of linking to "anyone and everyone"... having too many non-relevant links will dilute the relevant links you have and will adversely affect your search engine ranking. 

Submit Your Site to Search Engines
Sites need to be submitted to search engines every four to six weeks. This submission should be done manually. Beware of the numerous programs that claim to increase your ranking by electronically submitting your site to hundreds of search engines! The major search engines you want to rank well on (Yahoo, Google, and MSN) do not accept these automated submissions. See our search engine section for more detail on the methods that search engines use to rank your site. 

Press Releases
Write a press release about your site and mail it to all print media resources within your business area. Also, send it to any publications read by your target market. Press releases can also be submitted to on-line sources. 

Offer On-Site Promotions and Events
These will help to increase traffic to your site, as well as increase the number of times people come back to your site. You may want to run a contest or game, or feature a guest in your online chat area. 

Publish an E-Zine
When visitors are at your site, ask them if they would like to receive a copy of your newsletter by e-mail. This allows you to keep your name in front of potential clients. You can make them aware of upcoming specials and new products or services. A successful e-zine also will give useful information to the reader, something they can use right away. 

Online Forums, Discussion Boards, and Newsgroups
A forum/discussion board is a group of people on-line that share similar interests and concerns. Using them to promote your site can be tricky and time consuming. By actively participating in the forum, you will start to position yourself as an expert in your field. 

Site Statistics
One of the advantages of the Web is that you are able to track how many people visit your website, what pages they are go to and how long they stay. Virtualtech includes site statistics reports with all our hosting packages. 

Email Marketing Campaign
Email marketing can be effective if used properly, which includes using a targeted "opt-in" e-mail list, sending your message once a month, and including an easy way to unsubscribe. 
Virtualtech has many email marketing campaign packages available. 

Buy an Ad in an E-Zine
Find and advertise in e-zines where the subscriber base is made up of your target market. www.ezineadsource.com is a good place to start. 


Use an Email Signature File
The signature file is found at the end of an email and typically includes your name, company name, e-mail and Web addresses. You can also add a line of advertising. You can set up the signature file through your email program. 

Pay-Per-Click
EMT Marketing has the necessary experience and knowledge to help you succeed in incorporating the Web into your marketing strategy. We take the hassle, confusion, and time out of developing a quality website by providing all of the necessary services. I.n.s custom tailors all website and marketing campaigns to fit your needs and meet your expectations

That is where EMT makes the Difference. 

It doesn't matter how cool or flashy your site is. If it doesn't generate sales, what use is it? 

EMT Marketing has the necessary experience and knowledge to help you succeed in incorporating the Web into your marketing strategy. We take the hassle, confusion, and time out of developing a quality website by providing all of the necessary services. Emt custom tailors all website and marketing campaigns to fit your needs and meet your expectations. 

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