Treating the Internet as a source of steady income has become a norm over the past two decades. Because the online realm has evolved into a viable platform for anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur, it is now teeming with millions of buyers and sellers. Given the stiff competition, survival depends on how effectively you can attract customers, and online marketing tactics can prove to be the game-changers to achieve this objective.
To boost sales, discussed as follows are strategies that you must include in your arsenal –
Good-quality Product & USP
For an online venture to succeed, the very first requisite is a product which is not just exemplary to stand out on its own, but can also overshadow the competition with relative ease. Regardless of the niche, your product should be genuine enough to clear even the most rigorous qualitative analysis with flying colors. Next, you need to create a marketing campaign that effectively publicizes its plus points and builds awareness.
At the center of the marketing campaign should be the USP that sets the product apart from its competitors. Some examples of a good USP are the 24-hour delivery assurance given by FedEx, the 31 flavors of Baskin-Robbins, and the promise of freshness and nutrition by Subway. For a USP to have a positive bearing on your revenue, it should be concise, catchy and easily understood.
Persuasive Sales Pitch
Striking a chord with your target audience goes a long way in boosting sales, and this is the exact purpose of a sales pitch. If well-written, it allows you to inform and educate your customers about how your product could solve their problems. From benefits to solutions, a sales pitch can provide answers and convince people to try out your product, thus boosting earnings.
In addition to the verbal communiqué, your website is another avenue where sales pitch can make a difference, particularly if you apply conversion rate optimization techniques.
Attractive Newsletter
‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a status which no ecommerce venture can afford, and sending out newsletters at regular intervals can help avoid this scenario. Like a newspaper, a newsletter is a printed bulletin wherein you can showcase both the product and the venture. It should include all the relevant information, like latest updates, special offers, trivia and tips, and also be visually attractive in terms of layout, colors and images.
What you need to decide is the frequency at which newsletters should be sent out. The gap should not be prolonged to the point of the customer forgetting about it, and should also not be too short and run the risk of being treated as spam.
Proactive Public Relations
Handling the publicity campaign for your product entails getting the message out and carving a favorable public image. Alternatively you can hire a reputed, reliable and experienced PR agency and entrust it with the task of releasing ads and press releases in all forms of media, fostering discussions and conducting forums.
Nothing can beat a proactive publicity campaign for popularizing a product with the masses, and if organized well, it could well be the solution to your online income woes.
Effective SEO Techniques
Ignoring SEO is like performing online Hara-kiri, because it means that chances of your online portal being visible are minimal. An acronym for Search Engine Optimization, SEO is a strategy that enables prominent search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo to intercept your website and place it among the search results. The better the SEO, the higher is the rank of the website, meaning it would receive more visitors.
Effective SEO techniques entail including keywords/key-phrases in the content, headings, images and tags, linking all the pages of the website, and creating outbound links. As long as your keywords are relevant to the venture and the links lead to reputed Internet directories, it is just a matter of time for SEO techniques to accrue monetary benefits.
PPC Advertising
Maybe you need to pay to benefit from PPC advertising, but rest assured that soon the benefits would outweigh the investment. PPC stands for ‘Pay Per Click’, which means you would need to shell out a certain amount every time a visitor clicks on the CTA button of your web page. Owing to its ability to provide swift results, this technique is a must-have for an ambitious online entrepreneur who desires a rapid kick-start.
PPC advertising is all about identifying which keywords and landing pages work best and tweak the campaign to maximize profits.
Engaging Content
How many times have you exited a website on encountering a solid wall of content? Gone are the days when a long discourse was regarded as a must for a web page to be credible, the current trend values brevity above everything else. So, to retain visitors on your web page, you must ensure that the content is not just concise but also interactive and engaging.
Statistics have proved that using free tools, such as web page analyzer, helps to determine the type of content that can make a difference. Going by the results, your web page must feature questionnaires, audio files, videos, and so on to engage visitors.
Social Forums
Unless you have been living under a rock, social media is probably a part of your daily routine. Owing to their global dimension, platforms like Facebook and Twitter facilitate personal interaction but also support group discussions on every possible topic. Since social forums can actually make or break a product, you would do well to join ones that are related to your niche and treat them as a doorway to touch base with target audience.
Preferably maintain a prominent presence on all the relevant social forums so as to be at hand to answer any queries and clear the doubts. Wherever possible insert your website id or a link to your product listing and watch as the conversion rate soars.
Generating Referrals
Having cultivated a loyal customer base, it is time to benefit from it in terms of generating referrals. A referral could be word of mouth as a result of exemplary service, an outcome of a lucrative partnership, or a spill-over from an affiliate program wherein you receive visitors from other websites. Put in place at least five different referral systems and treat them as subsidiary sources that would help you to spread your wings.
Because this online marketing tactic is based on intangible factors such as loyalty and mutual understanding, it does not cost anything other than your time, patience, persistence and social skills.
Web Analytical Tools
How do you know which online marketing tactic is clicking for you, and which is simply absorbing your investment without providing equivalent returns? This is where web analytics come in, and complicated though the charts and graphs might appear at first glance, they enable you to identify the strong points and glitches and tweak your marketing strategy accordingly.
Use web analytics tools to figure out what works best for you, and save on time and money while marketing your product on the Internet.
Final Thoughts
Your decision to treat the Internet as a source of income is indeed in step with the changing times, but it does require a certain amount of background work. Knowledge of online marketing tactics helps entrepreneurs overcome hurdles that might be impeding their sales and ensure that the venture continues to progress as intended.
If you are an online entrepreneur, using these marketing tactics as part of your game-plan is bound to accrue long-term success and guarantee survival.