By: Bobette Kyle
www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
Do you have marketing objectives for your Web site? If not, you
should. With objectives to help overcome your main online challenges
you can work smarter, not harder.
Think of your Web site objective as the "big picture". It is the basis
for a marketing plan and, in general terms, answers the questions:
"How can I use the site to overcome my business's main Internet
related challenge?" and/or
"What is the purpose of my site?"
When setting marketing objectives, keep your site's business model and
customers' decision-making stages in mind.
Business Models
The business model defines how your Web site fits into your business -
how it will help your company grow. Direct revenue is a popular Web
site business model, but it is not the only one. Some business models
include:
Direct Revenue / e-Commerce
Some of the most known Web site objectives relate to e-commerce or
other types of direct revenue from the site. That is, the objective is
to establish a direct source of revenue from orders or advertising
space.
Build Brand Image
A long-term marketing objective for your site could be to improve
sales by building an image for your product, brand, and/or company.
Increasingly, this is an explicit goal for large companies with ample
budgets.
Small-budget companies can follow suit on a more affordable scale by
building an image during the natural course of marketing. You can do
this by consistently presenting similar design elements and
"personality" at each point of contact with the world - whether that
contact be virtual or physical.
Enhance Customer Service
Your site can increase revenue indirectly by improving customer
service. When customers are more satisfied, they tend to spread the
word about your products as well as buy more often themselves.
Customers often do product research on a Web site then later place
orders via catalogue, telephone, sales representatives, a physical
retail store, mail, and/or fax. In all of these cases, a Web site
indirectly contributes to building the business.
Lower Operating Costs
A Web site can help your business by lowering costs. Automated
customer service functions - Web-based FAQ, order status reports,
product specifications, etc. - can lower the number of customer
service calls, reducing customer service labor costs.
A Web presence can also lower operating costs by streamlining
communication with your business partners. Business-to-business
companies can create secure Web space to communicate and collaborate
with customers.
It is even possible to have individual, private sites for major
clients. A central "meeting place" that archives communications and
other customer-specific information can cut down on administrative
costs related to "phone tag", inquiries, and/or the need to
consciously keep all players "in the loop".
On the supply side, you could reduce costly business disruptions by
giving key vendors Web-based access to your inventory or other
real-time information.
Customer Stages:
Awareness, Interest, Trial, and Repeat
When setting your marketing objectives, it may help to think in terms
of awareness, interest, trial, and repeat. These concepts are often
used in marketing to explain the stages a new customer (or site
visitor, in this case) goes through on the path to becoming loyal to
your business.
The potential visitor must first become aware of your site. Once
aware, you must spark an interest with the potential visitor,
motivating her/him to trial, or respond to a call to action on your
site. After (s)he visits your site, that person becomes loyal by
revisiting in the future.
You may be able to most effectively build your business by focusing on
one or two of awareness, interest, trial, or repeat visits, then
changing your focus over time. If your site is brand new or known to
very few people, for example, your plan is likely to concentrate on
ways to increase awareness and interest.
A focus on interest and trial may be in order, however, if you get an
above-average number of "window shoppers" - visitors who never
purchase (or do not respond to some other call to action).
Additionally, if you sell multiple products or a product that needs
replenishing from your site, focus on repeat purchases may be more
effective.
Setting Your Marketing Objectives
While there are different approaches to setting objectives, my
preference is to develop a single objective for a site that may
encompass more than one approach to business building.
In the marketing plan, I include separate strategies and tactics to
address each approach suggested in the site objective. I also like to
note in the objective both the customer stage(s) and business model(s)
I will focus on in the marketing plan. This makes it easier to decide
upon the most effective marketing strategies.
Another approach is to address the customer stages separately, in a
summary or write-up. With either approach, you should view your
marketing plan as evolving over time. As the business environment and
situations change, your focus should change as well.
Once you get past the launch stage of a new site, for example, you are
in a better position to evaluate site traffic, so your plan may shift
from focusing on awareness and interest to building trial and loyalty.
Similarly, a better understanding of site visitors may lead you to
adjust your business model to more closely address your company's and
Web customers' needs.
About the Author
Bobette Kyle draws upon 10+ years of Marketing/Executive experience,
Marketing MBA, and online marketing research in her writing.
Her book, "How Much for Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing
for Small-Budget Businesses", shows how to better find, target, and
attract Web customers.
Read about it at WebSiteMarketingPlan.com - http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
.
