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Title: Web Technology in Marketing: Friend or Foe?
Author: C.J.Hayden
Article:
Every independent professional should have a web site, an ezine,
and an email marketing strategy, right? If you're not taking
maximum advantage of web technology to market your professional
services, you are behind the times, and missing out on huge
opportunities. At least that's what most marketing experts would
have you believe. But how valid is this advice? And is it for
everyone? Before email was widely available, marketing
newsletters were printed on paper and sent by mail. There's no
question that e-mail is a more economical solution for sending a
newsletter. Instead of being able to afford only a few hundred
newsletters at a cost of $1 or more each, you can send tens of
thousands for only pennies. With an ezine, technology can save
you money and allow you to extend your marketing reach. This is
one of the many ways that web technology can be your friend.
Here are some others: - A web site can attract new customers to
your business from across the street or far outside your local
area. If your site has high rankings in the search engines under
appropriate categories, or many links from keywords prospective
clients might search for, you may get dozens of inquiries from
people who otherwise would never hear of you. - Using email
autoresponders can help you automate your follow-up with likely
prospects. Just subscribe a prospect to an autoresponder list
once, then send periodic broadcasts to the whole list,
encouraging prospects to hire you or attend your learning
programs. - Participating in online discussion lists and message
boards can allow you to network with a large group of people in
your target market without leaving your home or office.
Appearing on live chats or webinars permits you to be a public
speaker without the time and expense of travel, and speak to
national or global audiences.
For these reasons and more, it appears that using web technology
is an affordable way to reach prospective clients easily. You
can potentially attract larger numbers of prospects for fewer
dollars than with many more traditional methods of outreach. But
there are pitfalls. Broadcast email can be an efficient solution
for following up with prospects who already know about you. But
it's a terrible way to introduce yourself to a prospect for the
first time. Far too many coaches, consultants, trainers, and
other professionals add subscribers to their ezine or
autoresponder lists without their permission. Not only is this
ineffective as a marketing strategy since most readers simply
delete e-mail from people they don't recognize, but it can
seriously backfire when someone is offended by your unsolicited
mail. Here are some other ways that using technology in
marketing can become your foe: - Technology makes it easy to
hide. When you have a web presence, an ezine, and use e-mail
autoresponders to contact your customers, you may think there's
no reason to contact them in person. You may feel justified in
not picking up the phone, attending a business event, or
suggesting a lunch date if you think your technology is doing
the job for you. But a web site or e-mail isn't an equal
substitute for a prospect hearing your voice or seeing your
face. It's pretty rare for someone to hire a professional
without talking to him or her first, so if you put off the
talking, you may also be putting off the hiring. - Launching and
maintaining an attractive and useful website, and achieving high
search engine rankings for it, can be an expensive and
time-consuming project. Unless you pay close attention to your
budget, you can easily find yourself spending much more to land
each client than you would ever pay using offline marketing
methods. A high-traffic web site is a valuable resource for a
business that can take advantage of a global presence or a large
volume of new clients. But if your business is primarily local
or you only need a few new clients each year, you may end up
paying for a level of visibility you don't really need. - Too
many inquiries from the web can waste your time. Anonymous
visitors to your site will often email to ask about prices and
other details. These inquiries are completely unqualified -- you
don't know anything about the people who are writing. If you
take the time for a thorough reply to each one, they can consume
a significant amount of energy. On the web as well as off,
prospects who are referred to you by people who know your work
are much more likely to hire you than those who find you by
accident. If that's so, perhaps it makes sense to put more
effort into building referrals than into building a broader web
presence.
Web technology is really no different than any other method of
marketing your services in that you must judge the
appropriateness of each strategy for your unique circumstances.
If you find writing to be a chore, perhaps a regular ezine is
not the best choice for you. If you only need a few large, local
clients each year, you may want a web site for prospects to
explore after you contact them, but not spend your money on web
directory listings or search engine optimization. Autoresponder
reminders may be effective to increase enrollment in public
workshops, but not such a good idea to sell in-house training to
corporations. Just because a strategy is the latest and greatest
doesn't mean it's the best. Publishing a blog may be terrific if
your target market spends a lot of time online, but not so good
to reach those who rarely open their browser. Webinars can be an
effective tool for attracting high-tech or corporate clients,
but not for home business owners or consumers who operate older,
slower computers with dial-up Internet access. Relying
completely on technology to bring in clients can also give you a
false sense of productivity. When you are writing copy for your
web site or setting up autoresponders, you feel like you are
taking action about marketing. And these activities can be
important behind the scenes steps, but you shouldn't confuse
them with direct outreach to prospective clients. Web copy won't
make any sales until people see it, and autoresponders will have
no effect until people are subscribed to them. Web technology
provides just another set of marketing tools, not a complete
solution. Using every marketing tool the web has to offer is not
a requirement of doing business. The purpose of your marketing
should be to bring you enough clients to earn the level of
profit you desire. When marketing technology adds to your bottom
line, it's worth employing. When it doesn't, there's no reason
to use it.
About the author:
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of
business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and
marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free
copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever
Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com
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