Marketing

A case for Marketing

Although the internet offers infinite possibilities and growth can be exponential, almost all on-line businesses can benefit from the many facets of marketing.

High street shops and market stalls benefit from passing traffic and customer interaction is immediate and one-to-one it's easier to know and respond to your customers.  As the internet is outside the physical world, interaction is more challenging. An eBay shop is an example of a Market stall, although not cheap, eBay offers a ready stream of customers, they regularly advertise to maintain interest, are likely to be much cheaper than renting a bricks and mortar shop and can help reduce the work involved in selling.

Advertising is often the most practical method of generating new sales leads beyond our immediate circle of contacts with very many opportunities available and can start inexpensively.

Marketing Communications

Promoting goods and services has always been a challenge, with word of mouth being the oldest, cheapest, most effective, immediate and fortunately in the internet world easily replicated with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, personal blogs, etc.  Real world advertising spaces such as billboards, magazines, noticeboards and shop windows complement and also have their equivalents in cyberspace.  The challenge of getting and keeping someone's attention is the same only more so.

The cry of more for less, free delivery and ever larger discounts are compelling and often effective even when they impact profit margins.  The many price comparison sites are an example of the drive to lower costs.

Marketing Research

Deciding what to do to increase sales and profitability can be difficult, although enticing, lowering prices too far is unsustainable, also there is always likely to be someone offering the same or similar for less.  Far better to find out what your customers really want, then using this information to help better understand their requirements.  Using this knowledge can help decision support to deliver different or additional products/services that are better suited to their needs and thus more likely to be profitable.  There are many ways Marketing Research can help from immediate and one-off surveys to long term Relationship Management that will help inform and provide useful decision support.

Relationship Marketing

Recognising the long term value of a relationship that improves communications and avoids intrusive advertising can help in customer satisfaction and retention.  Feedback can help inform decision support and thus keep the relationship relevant and profitable.  By incorporating Relationship Marketing into the business, rather than just having a crm package, increases in profitability can come organically and almost effortlessly because they are a normal part of the working day.