MARKETING
YOUR BUSINESS, PRODUCT
OR SERVICE ON THE WEB
Copyright © 1998 Claire
Belilos
http://www.easytraining.com/marketing.htm
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services
Terms: For reading only. Not to be sold,
reprinted,re-written, distributed, re-broadcast,
uploaded,
or used to conduct training by others without written agreement
It is a proven fact
that the most effective way to market yourself, your business,
product and service is to offer something of value to your web
site visitor, in the form of helpful articles or resources related
to your business and the particular interests of potential clients,
visitors and peers.
This should go hand-in-hand
with active participation at different online forums, newsgroups
and mail lists. You can begin with those related to your particular
field though it is recommended that you do so on other interest
venues related to business, marketing, management, and professional-
related sites and communication tools. Your role should be more
of "the giver" than "the taker". Give advice,
help and guidance on these forums. Establish your identity and
credentials. Reveal a positive personality. Do not fail to mention
your company's name, location and URL. If people like what you
say and think you have substance, they will visit your web page
to learn more about you and your company. They will also look
for additional insights and knowledge you may carry on your
site.
Your messages, participation
in forums and newsgroups, as well as your web page should never
consist of blatant advertising. This leads nowhere. There is
an avalanche of crude advertising and spam on the web and people
avoid it like a disease. Before people trash or skip messages
containing such spam or advertising, they take a mental "negative"
note of the originator, and this is a negative image you will
find very hard to eliminate. If, on the other hand, you "give"
something of value and do so actively, enhancing people's knowledge
and lives, a very positive image is impressed upon their mind
and connected to your name. You can never know what type and
category of people reads your messages or visits your web page.
There are many silent viewers and visitors, otherwise
called "lurkers". Some of them quite often prove to
be the type of clients, associates or friends you want. They
will reveal themselves to you only if they see quality, decency,
integrity. The contacts, usually by e-mail, come unexpectedly.
Sometimes it is to establish a business or friendly relationship;
sometimes it is a first step towards discussing a business transaction
or project. It is worthwhile bearing this in mind when answering
inquiries, planning a web site or writing an article. This does
not mean one shouldn't promote one's business; it should be
done in a subtle manner. No-one will mind your description of
what you do if your positive contribution outweighs this subtle
form of publicity. Very often, peers of like mind will contact
you. The right peer contacts, which are the people you want
as web friends, usually open gates of opportunity for you, offering
guidance and even revealing sources of business you never thought
of. The net being what it is, these opportunities and friendships
happen not only globally but sometimes right round the corner,
in your own neighbourhood.
Needless to say
that what you give should be of unique character and value and
originally yours. Copycatting here won't help. Ideally, offer
something related to your field of occupation or professional
role: manager, marketer, writer, trainer, or whatever best describes
you. The nature of this article does not reflect my primary
occupation as Management Consultant specializing in Human Resources,
Training and Customer Service, so I hope you do not mind my
mentioning this at this stage. It does, however, reflect my
personality and belief in sharing, since I share with you my
experience on web marketing and results achieved. Indeed, it
does take a lot of time and active effort to establish a positive
web presence but the results you reap justify the effort involved.
This past week I
had four great opportunities that fell right in my lap from
unexpected sources. These were found to be people who had come
across my web site and articles or saw my postings on different
forums. These approaches and proposals not only represent great
business and marketing opportunities, but add to my company's
image locally. Positive contributions have a snowball effect.
It all began when I offered articles to the Canadian Government's
online Library. Industry Canada's web site is at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca and their small business
services, Contact! is at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mangb/contact/engdoc/homepage.html
On both sites you
can access all what you need regarding Canada and trade with
Canada. They also offer Canadians free web pages to help them
promote their business and mine is at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/mi04669e.html
which also lists and has links to all my articles. There is
no way of knowing who and how many people access these sites
since Industry Canada did a very good job of listing them just
about anywhere, including a direct link from the NAFTA site.
When you offer or
agree to publish your articles on other sites as well you have
a much bigger audience, increasing your chance at publicity
and for attracting the people you want. The same happens with
Newsletters. If you have the time to create and manage a quality
newsletter, you will establish your expertise among your subscribers
and in the field you deal with. Please avoid producing a newsletter
which advertises only your products or services. People subscribe
to tons of newsletters. Unless you offer new, original information
and tips you will be "dropped". Whether you have your
own newsletter or not, it definitely broadens your market when
you contribute to other people's newsletters. If you have published
articles and you did a good job of listing your site, managers
and owners of newsletters and web sites will contact you and
ask permission to carry these on their own pages. It is a win/win
situation. Actually, a major Management Consulting company in
Canada wrote asking my permission to publish my Networking on
the Net article: Ethics, Courtesy and Professionalism on the
Net (http://www.easytraining.com/networking.htm) in a CD ROM they are distributing
to businesses across North America. This is an unexpected promotional
bonus which may lead to very interesting business. A group of
academics wrote asking my permission to use my article Understanding
Employee Drives and Motivation (http://www.easytraining.com/motivation.htm) for discussion in a course
they themselves are taking. This adds both prestige and testimonial.
Other articles and activities led to an invitation to offer
Seminars on Customer Service in Asia. The opportunities abound.
Sometimes it takes time and patience, but with persistence,
the rewards happen in a most unexpected manner.
Jim Wilson of http://www.virtualpromote.com always welcomes an original
article or other input, for which he will also reciprocate by
advertising you in the Gazette and in his newsletter which goes
to more than 30,000 subscribers. This gives a glance at what
can be achieved on the web in the way of widespread global free
publicity. All it requires is a positive, helpful attitude,
some mental effort, time to produce something that will interest
others and help them succeed. Of course, you can also pay for
advertising in e-zines. Select the e-zine that reaches your
audience and the cost is quite low for the tens of thousands
of potential clients you reach. Jim told me that this is all
what Virtual Promote is about - helping people promote their
business successfully through the web. What more could we ask
for?
This is also the intent of Industry Canada with
the Strategis and Contact web sites. There are many professional
sites that do the same, as well as women's sites, e.g. http://wwork.com and http://www.cdnbizwomen.com. DJC Enterprises, a marketing
company, decided to make its newsletter interactive among subscribers.
See http://www.djcenterprises.com. They offer an incentive:
submit to them a helpful and resourceful URL and they will carry
a free advertising of your company in their newsletter. I am
certain there are many more sites which I did not yet discover
but the very good friends I made on the web keep on copying
me on good opportunities. I do the same for them. The internet
looks like an indefinite unfathomable well. Three sites worth
visiting to see quality information and articles are:
http://www.capitalfundsgroup.com (California)
http://www.brandoctors.com (New York, please read
"food for thought"), and
http://www.cyberwar.com/~technobz (New Jersey, also full
of information and guidance).
http://www.hr-info.com (Australia, a resourceful
site on human resources)
If you have time
to open and manage your own forum or bulletin board, by all
means do so. It will take a lot of time and effort to promote
and keep it active. Depending on the nature of their business,
some people are at it all day long. You can accomplish almost
as much and even more by participating in different forums that
have specialized interest groups.
If people continue
advertising themselves blindly at every internet opportunity,
they will turn their web world into a Tower of Babel with each
one speaking a different language and no-one listening to the
other or understanding each other. What good will this ever
do? There are many sites dedicated to free advertising or low-cost
advertising in e-zines. You should limit advertising to these
venues.
Plan to carry valuable
information on your web page. Besides registering and listing
yourself with search engines, remember to do so at the different
entrepreneurial, business, management, marketing or professional
sites your service or products relate to. Remember to enter
not only the keywords that describe your business but the keywords
that would describe your target market, e.g. : hotels, restaurants,
ships, cruises, boats, shopping malls, retail stores, food and
beverage, or whatever best describes your target market.
While you are here
pay a visit to my web friend, Raphael Aguilo, at http://www.learninternetmarketing.com where you receive a free
course on internet marketing, including many useful downloads.
I hope that sharing
the above with you and the free online information provided
on our site will prove helpful and valuable. Please come and
join our discussions on Customer Service at ..... (forum is
being moved at present; list yourself to be advised of
its new venue at http://www.easytraining.com/csforumlisting.htm
Subscribe to our
free monthly Easytraining News at http://www.easytraining.com/easynews.htm
Read excerpts
from our Easytraining Insights Digital e-zine at http://www.easytraining.com/insights.htm
Thank you.
Copyright © 1998 Claire Belilos
This article is not to be uploaded, sold or distributed
in any form or manner without the author's written permission
Read
our Terms and Conditions
Claire Belilos,
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services, Home Page: http://www.easytraining.com, specializes in Hospitality,
human resources strategies, organizational training and development,
Customer Service and problem-solving. She offers "on site",
online and distance consulting and coaching. She creates
job, training and evaluation tools, and custom-tailored solutions
to people management problems.
List yourself
to be advised of the new venue of our unique Customer Service
Viewpoints forum and additional management forums at
http://www.easytraining.com/csforumlisting.htm
Read excerpts from
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Subscribe to our
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List yourself
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Home Page: http://www.easytraining.com
CHIC Hospitality Consulting
Services
#2007-1011 Beach Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 1T8,
Canada
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