JOAN HOLMAN - Internet Marketing Guru & Book Marketing Diva

Help with Your Online & Offlne Marketing

Joan Holman Is An Online Marketing Expert with A Strong Foundation in Traditional Marketing

Keep in mind that the same principles of marketing apply to both your offline and Internet marketing.

You need to:

• Have a unique selling proposition and articulate it clearly in all of your marketing efforts, including your Web site and your e-mail signature
• Work the back-end of your business
• Test different offers and different prices
• Make doing business with you easy, appealing and enjoyable
• Tell your propsects what's in it for them to do business with you

Although fundamental marketing principles still apply, marketing on the Internet differs from traditional marketing in many ways. There are design limitations on the Web, and the Internet opens the whole world to you not only for opportunity, but for competition as well. Joan Holman can help you avoid making costly mistakes by helping you properly work with this new medium.

Tips for Business Success

1. Increase Your Use of the Internet for Marketing- The Internet is a powerful marketing tool -- this includes e-mail marketing and the World Wide Web. Get feedback from customers about your Web site. How easy is it to use? Are they getting the information they want? What else would they like to see on your Web site? You might want to consider having a usability study done on your Web site. This provides very valuable information and can help you develop a Web site that is customer-focused. Most Web sites are very poor marketing sites -- very few people know how to write effective marketing copy for the Web. It is similar to direct mail copywriting, but not exactly the same. You may want to consider having a marketing assessment of your Web site, which includes an evaluation and suggestions for improvements.

2. Get Close to Your Customers & Their Needs-Call your customers. Talk to them. Take them out to lunch. Conduct market research. Find out what is going on in their business. You can use your Web site and e-mail to get closer to your customers and strengthen your relationship with them. You can provide feedback forms right on your Web site. You can create an online newsletter and ask your customers for permission to e-mail them whenever a new newsletter is posted online. You can post gift certificates and discount coupons on your Web site. Whatever you do, don't send unsolicited bulk e-mail to your customers and prospects -- called spam. This can really harm your business and your business image.

3. Know Your Customers Professionally and Personally-Get as much information as you can about your customers. Use Harvey Mackay's "Mackay 66" questionnaire to develop an extensive customer profile (posted on his Web site at www.mackay.com and in his book "Swim with the Sharks".)

4. Re-Establish Relationships with Your Top 20% of Customers-You know the 80--20 rule: you will get 80% of your business from 20% of your customers. Figure out who those people are and get especially close to them.

5. Be Seen as A Trusted Advisor-Fall in love with your customers. Have their best interest, their well being at the heart of your business. Send them helpful tips, articles. Think of ways to benefit their lives, and even create new products and services for their needs.

6. Don't Be Just A Commodity-If you compete on price alone, that is all you will ever be able to compete upon. Be more than a commodity. Find some way to add value to your product or service. Harvey Mackay notes that customers want "recognition, respect, reliability, service, friendship, help." And he adds, "Once you attach your personality to the proposition, people start reacting to the personality, and stop reacting to the proposition."

7. Get Your Active Customers Buying More-Have them buy larger units of sale, buy more, buy more often.

8. Create Strategic Partnerships-Consider joining forces with others. Form a cooperative. Barter your services. Back-end your own customer base by endorsing the products and services of other businesses. You can receive a fixed commission, a percentage of the sale, or simply exchange these endorsements with others.

9. Look Outside Your Industry and Copy Success Practices of Other Industries