Advertising is King to the Success of
Your Online Business
Advertising
is the most important aspect of owning a home based business. You can have
the classiest looking website on the internet and the best product on the
plant but if no one knows about it you are not likely to be making a
profit anytime soon.
So what is
the king of advertising? TRAFFIC You need lots of eye balls looking at
your site and I mean lots of them. Not everyone window shopping your site
will buy, but the odds go up when you have tons of people walking by that
a percentage of them are interested in what you are selling.
How to Generate Traffic
Know
your target market
The first
thing any savvy internet marketers need to understand is his/her market.
Are you selling to a younger or older group of people? This is important
when you choose your method of marketing. The younger crowd is fascinated
with gadgets. The older crowd is not so much. They might prefer email over
podcasting. The delivery method is important in attracting their
attention. Social media sites like MySpace and Facebook are a great place
today to capture events or your x-boyfriends love life. There is serious
marketing adverting going on in these arenas. So don't overlook these
platforms.
Keyword
Generation
Once you
understand your target market you need to develop a set of keywords to use
that will draw those customers to your site. Utilization of those unique
keywords in your website, online ads, blog posts and article publishing is
the magic that combines you and the right customer.
You can
never have too many or too few keywords. The key here is balance. If you
have too few you risk not reaching your target market. If you have too
many you risk being considered a spammer by the search engine web
crawlers. If you write like you talk you will naturally meet that balance.
The Ad
When
placing the ad you should give some real thought to your audience and
location. A flashing banner ad might be great on blog site but not well
received on your MySpace or
Facebook profile page.
When using
text ads like classifieds, emails and Adwords your headline and keyword
usages is important. Your headline should be attention grabbing and should
use one or more of your keywords or keyword phrases. The body should give
them just enough information to entice them to want to know more by
clicking on your link.
I have
found it beneficial to give your customers multiply ways of contacting
you. Providing your name, a website url, email address, and phone number
gives them options and legitimacy to you and your product.
Know
Your Budget
Your
advertising budget is a part of your overall business plan. It does not
matter if your budget is zero or $2,000 per month, you can advertise and
get your name out there. This is important to drive traffic to your site
and important to your business.
Ideally you
will have some funds allotted to advertising. You will need some budget to
move
your business forward. You might want to use your advertising money on
placing ads and banners while using your time to post to your blogs, write
articles and build your relationships on the social networking sites.
The key
here is to spend your money wisely. Do your research on the sites you want
to place ads and direct them to the proper target group. This little bit
of effort will pay huge dividends in the end.
Advertising
is like a puzzle; it can be difficult or it can be easy. By following
these few tips you have all the pieces to the puzzle. With the proper time
and effort given to each aspect you now have the knowledge to create
campaigns that drive traffic to your website.
Develop a Winning Market Research Strategy
for Your Franchise
What is a
Target Market?
What is a
target market and more specifically, your target customer? If you own a
fast-food franchise you may think that your target customer is “everyone”
because you believe most people eat fast food at least once per week. But
that may not be the case. Your ideal customer may be 18-24 years old, be a
student, makes less than $10,000 per year and buy your product only during
school hours.
One of the
main goals of being an entrepreneur – and a franchise owner – is to
satisfy your customer’s needs because if you don’t, your business may
never get ahead. If you know exactly who your customer is, what they
expect or want from your business, and how often or when they are willing
to spend their money, you are on your way to ensuring that your business
is prepared for growth and success.
Your
target market is comprised of the individuals who are most likely to be
your best customers and therefore your biggest and most frequent spenders
because you offer the product or service they want at the time they want
it. The main way to identify this “group” is through demographics, or
population characteristics.
1.
What is a Target Market?
2.
Create a Target Market Profile
3.
Assembling the Market Research Study - Part A
4.
Assembling the Market Research Study - Part B
5.
Market Research Methods - Surveys
6.
Market Research Methods - Four Other Options
Create a
Target Market Profile
To create
a target market profile, make a list of all the following demographic
variables that you feel will best suit your type of business. For example,
if your business is situated in an ethnically-diverse neighborhood,
include “Language” as a variable because this may impact your business
operations in terms of service.
·
Age
·
Sex/Gender
·
Race/Ethnicity
·
Religion
·
Occupation
·
Education
·
Family Size
·
Marital Status
·
Household Income
·
Ownerships (home, car, pets etc.)
·
Language
·
Mobility
A solid
market research study should cover all the angles when planning for your
franchise’s future promotions and product positioning. Demographics are
key but you can’t forget the supplementary factors such as lifestyle
(daily routines, local traditions or patterns, social/communal dynamics
and religious observation), geography (the distance threshold that
customers will commute to your franchise) and ulterior motives (indirect
reasons for customers to patronize your business) .
Once
you’ve covered all of these areas in your search for your target market,
you will have a better idea on what products to sell, the type of services
to offer, the perfect combination of price points and the best hours to
keep, among other factors.
Assembling
the Market Research Study - Part A
This next
segment looks at putting together the actual market research study.
A market
research study is not only useful for budding entrepreneurs to determine
the feasbility of their business within a certain geographical area. As a
franchise owner, you should conduct an MRS (short for market research
study) each and every time you plan to introduce a new product or service
or position certain products and services to gauge customer reaction and
sales response.
The most
important function of an MRS is to help you avoid making costly mistakes.
There is no better test than to have real people give you real feedback on
your ideas. You may think you have the best new idea in the world, yet
your MRS may tell you something else. Imagine having placed an order for
10,000 units of a non-organic lawn fertilizer for your landscaping
business only to realize later that your target market is environmentally
conscious – they wanted organic!
An MRS
should be fun, simple and get your critics engaged and excited in whatever
it is you are researching.
Assembling
the Market Research Study - Part B
The
Research Sample: these are the people who will become the participants or
critics to the objective of your study. It is important to select the
correct sample, meaning the right mix of people who will accurately
provide a solid and un-biased opinion. In other words, if the objective of
the study is to determine if your gift idea franchise should start
promoting into the corporate world, do not use a sample consisting of
factory workers, librarians or school teachers.
The
Objective: this outlines the purpose of the study and must be very clear
and concise. Remember, an MRS is intended to reflect the opinions of a
specific audience – even if that audience is a group of 10-year-olds! You
should provide a booklet to each sample (people in your study) with an
introduction to your study, including who you are, what you do and what
you hope to accomplish with the results of the study.
The
Results: depending on the size of your sample and the length of your
objective details, the results of your MRS can vary in scope and
mathematical complexity. What you want to achieve here are results that
spell out true percentages. For example, 29% of one sample believed that
gift baskets would be an excellent product to sell at flea markets, yet
only 4% of these people actually attended flea markets.
The key to
a successful MRS will be the questions asked to your sample (objective
details) because the answers will tell you what actions you should take
following the study.
Market
Research Methods - Surveys
There are
five popular methods to conduct an MRS. You will determine which method is
best for you depending on the type of data you are looking for and the
amount of money you want to spend. An MRS can be as simple as a single
sheet of questions intended for the people in your neighbourhood or a
complex focus group study which requires an overnight stay.
1.
Surveys
By far the most popular method of market research studies. Packaged in the
form of questionnaires, the questions are concise and straightforward and
can be held almost anywhere. The larger your sample the more reliable the
results will be.
(a) The
most popular of this group is the in-person survey, or one-to-one
survey which you frequently see at malls. While they do generate a
response rate of about 90%, they can be very costly because of the labor
costs involved.
(b) Next,
we have the telephone survey which in the last decade has dwindled
considerably. Nobody wants to hear from a telemarketer during dinner.
These are less expensive than in-person surveys but only generate a
response of about 50%.
(c) The
mail survey may be the best choice for small businesses because it is
the most cost-effective and can reach a broad audience. On the downside,
the response rates can vary from 3% to 15%.
(d)
on-line survey can be very inexpensive and quick to receive response.
The problem is that you have no control over who is responding so your
data may not reflect your target market.
Market
Research Methods - Four Other Options
The other
four market research method options are as follows:
Focus
Groups
These are a more complex method of market research because they involve
getting a group of people together for several hours and led by a
moderator who uses a scripted series of questions or leads a discussion.
Focus groups are usually videotaped or observed from a one-way mirror. The
results from this method are weighted heavily on the subjective opinions
of the group as a whole and can require several groups to get balanced
results for your study.
Personal Interviews
Similar to surveys but less structured and involve more open-ended
responses that are usually recorded. This method is excellent if you are
looking for an attitude- or emotionally-driven response that may give you
more insight into the topic you are researching.
Observation
This method is best summed up by what the sample ‘isn’t saying.’ Body
language rarely lies. To be effective, observation has to be recorded so
you can judge people’s reactions to things as they happen.
Field
Trials
These are mainly reserved for businesses that offer products which are
merchandized to test their sales potential. You may notice field trials in
action at your supermarket when you see a promotional standee in the
aisle, accompanied by a company representative. This is an excellent way
to test the current success of a product and in turn allow you to make
modifications to it should your feedback justify it.
Source : About.com
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