Attracting customers to your site
Part 1: Marketing and Social Networks

What you can ask me
Marketing
Web design
Search Engine Optimisation
Pay Per Click
Usability
Accessibility

What is Marketing?
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (www.cim.co.uk )
definition is:-
“The management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer needs
profitably.”

OK, what is Marketing?
Identifying (researching) needs
Product concept
The whole product
The price
Advertising
Sales support
etc

Marketing VS Sales
Different departments?
Marketing creates the opportunity to sell
Sales - the presentation, upselling, cross selling, and the close
Marketing supports the sales process
Marketing makes sure sales staff are knowledgeable
Marketing creates Point of Sale assets
Marketing negotiates price
Marketing maximises after sales returns
Marketing feeds back refinements
Captures customer information
etc

Mind mapping

Marketing Basics
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Market Segmentation
Competition
USP
Product/Price/Place/Promotion
Unique Sales Proposition
Feature/Advantage/Benefit
Objectives
Strategy

Market Research
Your market research should show:
The size and requirements of the market (and details of
assumptions made)
Existing competition
Competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
The advantage your business has over the competition
An informal conservation with a prospective customer may give you
useful information. It will also tell you the language – vocabulary –
that customers use when talking about your product or service.

Marketing Plan
Where are you now?
Where do you want to be?
How are you going to get there?

Marketing Segmentation
Market Segments Talk to each other (Crossing the Chasm)
Universe – the universe is the amount and all types of potential customers (e.g. “the
general public” or “holiday-makers”)
Segment – the next step is to segment your universe. What different types of
customers are there? Can you categorise them? (by age / sex / income / location
etc.)
Locate and quantify – where are your customers to be found? How many are there?
Are there enough?
What do you need to know about your customers? (Buying habits and patterns, likes
and dislikes, needs and wants etc.) Never assume!
Analyse the results – What do your findings tell you?

Marketing Segmentation
Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?
Relate customer requirements to your product information. Identify “benefit”
messages for each target market. You can now match customer types to your
product information. This enables you to identify specific sales messages to be aimed
at different customer groups. A picture framer may want to project different messages
to retail and trade customers.)
Record keeping – recording details about regular customers is essential. Such
information helps you identify which are your most profitable markets, how buying
patterns are changing etc. (A holiday lettings business produced an analysis of clients
taking holidays at particular times of year and now uses this to fill specific vacancies.)
List the market segments or customer types that are within your Universe:

Competitors
Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your
customers?
All businesses have competitors – either direct or indirect. A tyre and
exhaust business competes directly with others. However Parker Pens™
compete indirectly with Ronson Lighters™ in the giftware market.
You need to know who and where your competitors are. Identify their range,
specifications, pricing, discount structures, promotional activity, delivery
arrangements, minimum order quantities, terms of trade etc. You need to
know their strengths and weaknesses – as well as your own. This can be
done as a SWOT analysis to identify opportunities and threats.

Competitors
As with your customers you need to go through a process to be aware of your competitors and
their influence.
Universe – Every possible competitor
Segment – Identify the different types of competitor (size, resources, geographic coverage,
business category and target markets). – Remembering both direct and indirect competitors.
Locate and quantify – Where are they? How many? What access do your customers have to
them?
Research – What do you need to know?
Analyse results – What does your research tell you?
Do a SWOT see below! analysis identifying your competitors’ Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats. Does this present you with opportunities?
Look at your product profiles and identify your USP (Unique Sales Proposition) see below!. This
will help you differentiate your business from the competition.
Keep records on the competition – record monitor and update this information.

Unique Sales Proposition
Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?
USP’ means unique selling proposition. Your USP can help your customers save time when
buying a product or service. Your USP says why your product or service is different, and stands
out from the competition. You can use different USPs for different products and markets.
To attract attention you must be BETTER, FASTER or CHEAPER than your competitors. Every
business needs a USP for its products / services. Identifying your USP helps you to focus on the
key benefits that sell your products or services and contribute to your profits. You should use your
USP in your promotion and sales activities. (See also AIDA)
To see USPs in action, look at a TV advert. This is the most expensive advertising media and the
point needs making quickly!
If your customers are switching to competitors or buying purely on price:
Have you identified the USPs for your products and services?
Are you communicating your USPs clearly to customers?

Unique Sales Proposition
USP is an easy concept to understand, the issue is to make it work for your
business.
Before you start to use it, it helps to know:
The features of the product or service you wish to promote
How and why the customer uses the product or service
Features of your competitors’ product or service
You may already have this information from your own experience, from your
sales team or from past market research. If not, call a few customers and
get their help – most customers are happy to tell you why they bought your
product. Make sure that they are representative of all your target customers
and encourage them to give you an unbiased view.

The 4 Ps
USP is an easy concept to understand, the issue is to
make it work for your business.
The ‘Four Ps’ is a useful structure for looking at your
marketing operation and for planning campaigns.
There are basically four elements that you can change to
encourage audiences – the Product, the Place, the
Price, and the methods of Promotion. Here are some
examples of the kinds of marketing planning that fall into
each category.

The 4 Ps
Product
Which of your products and services could be made more appropriate for your target
customers?
The actual product you provide
The actual product you provide
The atmosphere in your premises
The way your staff relate to customers
The facilities you have
Place
Where and when is your product delivered?
Would any of your products/services be more successful via different outlets?
Are the products/services available at the right time for the target customers?
Where can people find information about the products/services?
Where & how can people buy?

The 4 Ps
Price
Is the price right for the target customers?
Would you be more successful with a particular target customers if a “package” was
offered?
Would they value the products/service more if you it was a premium product?
Does your discounting policy meet the needs of your target customers?
Promotion
Are you saying the right things to the right people, using the right channels?
What would happen if you used different tactics to communicate with people?
Remember that any changes you implement in these ‘Four Ps’ should arise from
clearly understood customer needs.

Feature, Advantage, Benefit
The television
HAS a Remote Control,
WHICH lets you change the channel from
a distance,
SO you save time.

Traditional Marketing
Telesales
Direct Mail
Press Ads
PR
Exhibitions
Radio
Cost, reach focus.
oil rig components, cheaper phone calls, double glazing, clothes

E-Marketing
The use of digital technologies to help sell
your goods or services.

Benefits of E-Marketing
Reach (as usual)
Potentially lower cost (really?)
Easier to measure/evaluate the results effectively (definitely)
Flexibility (definitely)
Your marketing message is always available (definitely)
e-Marketing campaigns can be more engaging (definitely)
Personalisation (definitely)

What is your marketing mix?
Who is your target market?
What are your objectives? (SMART)
What is your budget?

E-Marketing Channels
Website - A location on the World Wide Web
e-mail – An electronic version of a letter or hand written note.
Blog’s - A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and often provide
commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news.
Podcasts - Is a method of publishing files to the Internet e.g. audio or video file.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) – Allows websites that want to allow other sites to
publish some of its content.
SMS Messaging - the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile
phone, fax machine and/or IP address.
Online PR – Traditional PR extended online.
Pay for click – Google adwords
Other sites - ?

E-Marketing Channels
Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;
Brand loyalty
Increasing customer expectations
Not getting lost in the crowd
Establishing and maintaining virtual relationship
Are you ready to do it?

Implementing a e-Marketing plan
Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;
Evaluate:
The relative strengths and relevance of different marketing options.
Ensure that all your chosen marketing options fit together
Ensure that your e-Marketing plan fits into the overall marketing strategy of the business.
Legal implications of your actions
Plan:
Are there any training and technology needs.
Implement:
Put in place the things you need to implement the strategy e.g. training
Monitor measure and evaluate performance
Update plan

Examples
Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;
Wiggly Wigglers – A gardening company which releases regular podcasts on various
gardening topics.
Here it goes again - The music video was filmed in one continuous shot and was
uploaded to YouTube, where it has been viewed over fifteen million times. The video
was popular enough to earn a Grammy award for \"Best Short-Form Music Video\" in
2007 and the YouTube 2006 Video Award for \"Most Creative Video\" .
Will it blend – A series of videos made for around £5-600 each by a US blender
manufacturer, which were placed on the internet last year. Within just a few days, the
first videos had millions of views. This had a significant impact on sales. The
campaign aim was to help build brand awareness and establish Blendtec as the
premier blender manufacturer.”

Web 2.0
Interaction/conversation not publishing
Customer Engagement
Mostly consumers, often segmented
Appealing to marketers
Effective?

Social Media
Social media are primarily Internet- and
mobile-based tools for sharing and
discussing information.
Increasingly used by business as a
marketing tool.

Social Media Types
Social Bookmarks
Digg www.digg.com
Reddit www.reddit.com
Delicious del.icio.us
What do they do?
How can you use them?

Social Media Types
Social Networks
Facebook www.facebook.com
Myspace www.myspace.com
Linkedin www.linkedin.com
What do they do? (online gossiping and networking)
How can you use them? (advertising, engaging, networking)

Social Media Types
Facebook
www.manchesterdigital.com/about.asp
Website with News, Events, Digital Jobs, Tenders. It is more formal and its members
tend to be the owners of digital businesses. Averages around 800 visitors a day.
www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=manchester%20digital&sid=d793669
9c741d97b59754c4a7e04cef2#/group.php?gid=6127014011
MD Facebook group has 259 \"friends\", is less formal than the website and is used to
promote MD its events etc. to a wider audiance and help people from the digital
sector communicate/connect/network.

Social Media Types
Facebook
www.facebook.com/networks/networks.php#/pages/Digital-Marketing-
Manchester/19610314120?ref=s
Facebook group set up by MD members to promote a regular meet up of digital
marketing people.
www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=manchester%20digital&sid=d793669
9c741d97b59754c4a7e04cef2#/group.php?gid=27557553742
Manchester Digital/MMU Business School ProDev Day event. Facebook was used as
a way of recruiting digital companies and students to the day. Although not the only
marketing channel used the day was a success with 600 students and around
40 businesses attending.

Social Media Types
Blogs
Blogger www.blogger.com
Twitter www.twitter.com
Gizmodo www.gizmodo.com
Technorati www.technorati.com
What do they do? (updateable news, syndication)
How can you use them? (SEO, industry monitoring, buzz creation)

Social Media Types
Media Sharing
Youtube www.youtube.com
Flikr www.flikr.com
What do they do? (upload and share media)
How can you use them? (virals, media distribution, media hosting,
SEO)

Social Media Types
Flikr
www.flickr.com/photos/mdda/sets/72157604946062922/
Used to store images of an event.

Social Media Types
BlipTV
www.manchesterdigital.com/page.asp?id=3112
Used to store promotional video material.

Other Social Media Sites
http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/

Characteristics
Is increasingly used by individuals & more
recently businesses.
It is interactive.
Informational & chatty.

The Risks
Do you have the time?
Do you have the money?
Do you have anything interesting to say?
Who is listening?
You’re the boss!

Thank you