Strategies For Internet Marketing Beginners

If you have been considering utilizing the internet to further develop your business there are some things you should understand in order to be as effective as possible with your internet marketing. 

Internet marketing beginners often become overwhelmed with all the different approaches to this marketing approach, if you follow some basic principles then you will not need to feel overwhelmed.

There is a lot for internet marketing beginners to consider.

Of course there are similar marketing principles on the internet as there are in the traditional marketing world.

The benefit of internet marketing is that it can have lower costs associated with reaching your potential customer and your customer base has the potential to be much larger than it would be otherwise.

The key is to learn how to promote yourself and your business. There are marketing strategies that are unique to the internet. It is these strategies that can be confusing at first. 

These marketing strategies will help to increase your traffic.

As internet marketing beginners there are effective ways to learn these internet marketing strategies. Obviously the better you become at utilizing certain strategies the greater the potential for you to have success.

As a beginner you should explore the internet to find strategies that work for others. You can profit from the success of others by investing in some instructional material that provides marketing strategies.

There are numerous guides on the internet that will provide you with instructional information on how to be successful as an internet marketer. These programs may provide information on how to generate traffic.

These programs may also provide information on creating brand awareness and positioning yourself for success.

The key to success with internet marketing is to understand that you need to get proper exposure. This exposure is often gained through social media marketing, such as face book and MySpace. 

This strategy works much in the same manner as becoming known in the community if you have a physical business location.

The better known you become the larger your customer base will typically become.

When you approach your marketing campaign as internet marketing beginners you need to keep in mind that people tend to shop in a similar manner on the internet as they do in a store. 

For this reason it is important to understand your potential customers and how they think. Figure out what techniques are most likely to attract your potential customers.

Online Marketing Course - 3 Things You Never Knew

Seriously, don't you think the claims that they tell you about your ideal online marketing course is getting a little boring? The reason why this short report was created is so you can identify the ideal online marketing course for you.

Moreover, you even can do this in less than 24 hours flat. You do not need any technical skills or massive researching firepower. All you need is to discover the 3 things you ever knew about selecting the right online marketing course.

1) You Never Knew: What Defines A Good Online Marketing Course

Firstly, you have to admit this with me. We are all emotionally driven at some point so a little bit of logical tuning is needed in our hearts. At the very core, we can define that your ideal online marketing course would have to be based on your needs alone. That's right.

Let's just say that you really need to learn about article marketing via an online marketing course. That you need to learn it because you will apply this strategy soon. Then, go and ask around your Internet marketing colleagues for reference to some of the best article marketing courses that they've seen. Keep it as a list.

2) You Never Knew: How To Choose Properly...

You got that list of 5, maybe 10 recommendations. What you need to do is look at your budget. My education budget should be 10-15% of my monthly income. It's up to you. By looking at the list you have, keep the ones which do not go beyond your budget.

Cross out the ones which are over your learning allowance. Do keep in mind that an online marketing course can be anything from a membership based subscription, coaching or just an informational product. That is why you should not run out of options. Pick one, buddy.

3) You Never Knew: When You Will Get A Return On Investment

Trust me. Setting aside some money in a good online marketing course is 10 times better than buying yourself a pair of nice jeans at the end of the month. You are investing in yourself. When you finally identify a great online marketing course, make sure that you also put what you learn into practice.

Your investment in an online marketing course only becomes more visible when you begin to apply what you learn. I mean in a large scale manner. Just like a stallion that runs free. It doesn't just run around the lake. It runs over valley, wide open fields and countrysides!

In closing, you should never stop learning or stop taking any online marketing course. My mentor once told me that, "life is a lifetime of learning" and I agree. You are created with so much potential for success. All it takes is the strength to push forward every single day of your life.

Your Guide to Online Marketing Success

In today's business world, online marketing isn't just effective; it's essential

At one time, business essentials were limited to business cards, yellow page ads and brochures. Newspapers, radio and television were used by cutting-edge businesses of yore and still reap huge rewards for big-businesses today.

Mass media are generally just not cost-effective for most local businesses. In the 21st Century, it's clear that the impact of these tools is diminished by the world wide web. We search for products and services online from our desktops, laptops and cell phones. Yet most local business owners don't take advantage of the affordability and profits available through online marketing.

Like a business plan and a budget, an Internet marketing strategy is essential for modern-day small business success. While a website provides a good starting point, online marketing requires more than a couple of static web pages. Instead, a successful internet approach requires a dynamic and well-rounded web presence that builds relationships in addition to sales, fans in addition to customers.

A comprehensive Internet marketing strategy replaces newspaper ads with banner ads, yellow pages with search engines, snail mail with e-mail, town squares with social networks and sales letters with custom content. The technology is as evolutionary as it is revolutionary, and smart businesses are taking advantage of current environment to trounce their competition.

Tools and technology aside, there are dozens of reasons to engage actively and often in Internet marketing. Here are a few of the most persuasive:

1. When they need information, modern-day consumers go online; your successful internet marketing program will make sure they find you when they are shopping for your product or service.

2. Online marketing has tremendous research potential; if nothing else, companies should engage in online marketing research in order to collect data about their customers, prospects and competitors.

3. By marketing on the internet, companies can reach a highly targeted audience; what's more, they can reach it quickly, intimately and more cost-effectively online than traditional marketing approaches.

4. Online marketing lends itself to instant conversions. Customers can quickly and easily find what they want and immediately click through to purchase it.

5. Compared with many traditional marketing vehicles, Internet marketing services are both more affordable and more effective.

6. Internet marketing provides marketing power to local business owners; by marketing online, your company can enjoy big-business marketing exposure on a local marketing budget.

Action Steps. Some contacts and resources to help you get started with your online marketing:
Search engine marketing strengthens your online marketing strategy.

Once you have a website, Internet marketing via search engines will help your customers find it. Consider search engine optimization, which will improve your search engine rankings, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which markets your company via relevant, targeted search engine queries.

ACTION: Before you build a web site, use Wordtracker's free keyword suggestion tool to choose keywords; use those keywords in your descriptions and meta-tags, PPC advertising via Google AdWords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search in order to build search engine traffic.

Select appropriate display advertising and leverage online marketing tools
Display advertising, including banner ads, is a basic form of online marketing. Because you'll pay for impressions - banner ads are usually priced using CPM, or cost per thousand impressions - make sure you place ads only on websites that your target markets visit.

ACTION: Yahoo! Advertising provides Internet marketing services to design, purchase and place your Internet advertisements

Public relations promotes your online marketing image
Marketing on the internet includes more than advertising; it's also about public relations. Generate publicity online and continually monitor, build and maintain your online reputation.

ACTION: Include Google Alerts in your online marketing strategy. Use them to keep tabs on mentions of your name, your company and your products online; search Technorati for mentions in blogs and social media. And, when you write press releases, distribute them via a newswire service like PRWeb, which allows you to tag your release for exposure on social bookmarking sites like Digg and Del.iciou.us.

Engage e-mail marketing to reach your online market
Promotional e-mails, including targeted messages and periodic e-mail newsletters, are effective, opt-in tools for one-to-one marketing. Send news or send coupons, but whatever you do, don't spam.
ACTION: VerticalResponse is a popular e-mail marketing vendor that can help you develop and execute a one-on-one marketing strategy; browse its resources page for e-mail marketing research, tips and advice.

Pursue affiliate marketing to leverage online marketing relationships
A collaborative approach to Internet marketing, affiliate marketing consists of advertisements on other people's websites. When a customer clicks on the ads and visits your website, your affiliate gets a small commission. You can also reverse the process and get profits from promoting other vendors' products

ACTION: LinkShare and ClickBank are examples of companies that provide affiliate-focused internet marketing services, AffiliateScout.com and AffiliatePrograms.com are directories where you can search for affiliate networks based on location, industry, etc.

Make blogging an integral piece of your internet marketing strategy
Blogs offer business owners an affordable and personable way to connect online with customers. Blogging about your business, your industry and your life positions you as an expert, an advocate and most importantly, a real person.

ACTION: For a low monthly fee, you can publish your own blog via sites like TypePad and Movable Type; Blogger and WordPress, meanwhile, are free. Don't forget to market your blog via RSS feeds; while most blogging software will create RSS feeds for you, online marketing companies like SimpleFeed can help, too.

Get involved in social networks to broaden your online reach
Social networks are the networking component to your modern-day online marketing strategy; giving your company a presence on popular social networks especially engages younger consumers and turns them into brand evangelists.

ACTION: While MySpace, Friendster and Facebook tend to be the most attractive social networks for companies who are marketing on the Internet, other sites, such as Second Life and Twitter, are becoming major players. Still other sites, like LinkedIn, are proving themselves important stomping grounds for B2B marketers.

Photos and video provide impact to your online marketing
Use pictures of your business, staff and customers everywhere you can. Images touch us emotionally and convey messages quickly. Remember that surfers have short attention-spans.
ACTION: Start taking pictures of your business' world right now, poast them to your website and social sites, like your Facebook page.

Release viral marketing to spread your online marketing message
Whether you send a viral e-mail, produce a viral video or build a viral website, Internet marketing of the viral variety spreads far and fast, allowing you to start small and finish big.

ACTION: Consider uploading branded media to sites like YouTube, Revver or Flickr. A video or photo that goes viral can attract heaps of new business.

Generate online word of mouth with consumer-driven Internet marketing efforts
Internet marketing is about interactivity. Give your customers a platform for expressing-and sharing-their opinions online in order to build buzz and goodwill.

ACTION: Customer reviews provide credibility for companies that give consumers the power to do their Internet marketing for them; while many shopping cart solutions, such as Zoovy, now include built-in customer review functions, companies like PowerReviews specialize in them.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Online Marketing Guide
o More than advertising for your website, Internet marketing should provide you with an entire online brand. Your Internet marketing strategy should go beyond just making sales and toward building an engaging online web presence.

o Don't put all your eggs in one basket. When you're marketing online, reserve a portion of your budget for offline advertising, such as direct mail, which you can use to push traffic to your website.
o Keep in mind that not all online advertising can be bought; a big part of Internet marketing is building relationships and earning reputations.

o Whether off-line or online, marketing requires a clear and comprehensive understanding of your target customers. Find out who your best customers are and where you can find them online, then go after them.

o Internet marketing is about usefulness. It's not enough to build a pretty website; you must also build one that's engaging and easy to use. If you focus your Internet marketing strategy on creating a positive user experience, it will eventually be profitable to you.

Marketing in Transition

Introduction
Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably. In pre-modern economies, the predominance of small enterprise and there was monopoly and there was no recognition of marketing as a separate field of expertise. Marketing emerged as a separate technical field only in the late 19th century.

In the present scenario, the changing needs and wants or taste and preferences among the customers leads to paradigm shift in marketing. This is due to changing attitude and behaviour of the customers, globalization, increasing purchasing power and changing life style of the customers.

Causes for Marketing in Transition
• Globalization - Globalization has brought changes in technology, quality, service, work culture and undoubtedly fierce competition.
• Emerging Middle-Class Consumers - the increasing Purchasing Power of the Middle-Class consumers creates the MNC's to seek opportunity in the emerging market.
• Changing Lifestyle and attitude of Consumers - since there is a change in the customers lifestyle due to western influence the customer's needs and expectations has increased.
• Increasing literacy rate
• Children influence in buying decision making
• Changing perspective of rural marketing in India
• Increasing penetration of mass media
• Consumer awareness
• Information revolution
• An Enormous growth in international business

Formation of marketing concepts and practices
• 1905 - the University of Pennsylvania offered a course in "The Marketing of Products"
• 1908 - Harvard Business School opens
• 1940s - electronic computers developed
• 1980s - emergence of relationship marketing
• 1984 - introduction of guerilla marketing
• 1995-2001 - the Dot-com bubble temporarily re-defines the future of marketing
• 1996 - identification of viral marketing

Emerging New Marketing Practices
Due to increased competition the companies had necessity to enhance additional features to their products to promote the sale of their products. Many companies followed different marketing practices to attract their customers.

Winning concepts and marketing practices are
• Relationship marketing
• Co-branding
• Viral Marketing
• Sachet Marketing
• Green marketing
• Rural marketing
• Destination marketing
• Online marketing
• Cause related marketing

MARKETING IN TRANSITION
A transition from a product oriented approach to a resource oriented approach
Transaction marketing Relationship marketing
Focus on Obtaining new customers Customer retention
Orientation to Service features Customer benefits
Timescale shorts long
Customer service Little emphasis High emphasis
Customer commitment Limited High
Customer contact Limited High
Quality
Primarily an operations concern
The concern to all
Nowadays many companies are practicing the new marketing concepts and practices. Some of the examples are as follows.

Relationship marketing:
The domain of relationship marketing extends into many areas of marketing and strategic decision making. In the phenomenon of cooperation and collaboration with customers becomes the dominant paradigm of marketing practices. Relationship marketing has the potential to emerge as the predominance perspective in the paradigm of marketing.
In the fierce competitive market customer relationship management is emerging as the core marketing activity in companies. For that to maintain companies practices customer retention strategies and having good relation with the customers.

Example:
HSBC bank sent greeting cards to the customers on their birthdays to have good relationship
Whirlpool do very good post sale service to the customers.
Sachet Marketing
In India, Unilever successfully markets Sunsil and Lux shampoo sachets sold in units of 2-4 dollar cents; Clinic All Clear anti-dandruff shampoo sachets at 2.5 rupees each; and 16 cent Rexona deodorant sticks.
Idhayam gingili oil available for Rs 4/- package.
To capture the BOTTOM OF PYRAMID also
Green Marketing
It refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.

Green marketing can be a very powerful marketing strategy though when it's done right. Nowadays all companies are trying to produce eco-friendly products. And many companies have got ISO 14001 awards and strive to get.

Examples are ITC products, in the note books, it is environment friendly notebook.
Changing Perspective Of Rural Marketing In India

The great Indian rural market is characterized by huge untapped potential and opportunities. It is estimated that almost 70% of Indian consumers live in rural areas, which generate almost half of the national income. The number of middle income households in rural India is growing to above 111 million by 2007. There are almost twice as many lower middle income households in rural areas as in the urban areas.

A large number of corporate are excited about tapping the potential of rural areas. The recent entry of some corporate like Bharti, ITC, DCM shriram consolidated, EID parry and Amul etc. proved their fascination towards this sector. These corporates tried to develop successful model of integrating information-technology in rural transformation in a profitable way.

The tamilnadu based EID parry has developed an agro-portal [http://www.indiaagrline.com] to cater the specific needs of the rural farming community. It is an endeavor to catalyze e-commerce in agricultural and non-farms products by offering a network of partnerships. The content is available in local tamil language.

The Anand, Gurajat based Amuls DISK dairy information system KIOSK project is yet another milestone of integrating corporate sector and information technology. These kiosk serve valuable information related to dairying, breeding and rearing cattle .

ITC e-choupal has emerged as one of the most ambitious project integrating information technology and corporate sector for rural transformation. ITC e-choupal network has already covered approximately 3.1 million farmers through 5050 choupal in 29,500 villages. The company has ambitious plan to reach 1,00,000 villages covering 10 million farmers by 2010 with whopping approximately 1,000 crore. It is opening 5-6 e-choupals everyday in six different states of India.
Pepsi rural marketing
Pepsi company India has entered into rural market by having joint programme with the Punjab agriculture university in ludiana and Punjab agro industries corporation in chandigarh. The programme focuses on evolving agricultural practices to help Punjab farmers produce crops that would make Indian products internationally competitive. To cultivate a range of sweet oranges for its Tropicana range.

Apart from that, they have given advertisement to attract the rural people with the celebrity of Amitabh bachchan and star cricketer sachin tendulkar.

Coca-cola rural marketing
With the help of Isha foundation coca-cola released the CD of the coca-cola tamil CSR film "NESA KARANGAL" and also acknowledged and appreciated coca-cola's efforts in promoting social cohesiveness and sportsmanship with an aim to transform rural lives,
Advertisements to attract the rural customers are maasa-actress Rani Mukherji acted in this advertisement and says "masti ka chataka" , Satis shah's maaza ad is also based on village background.

Aamir khan acted in the advertisement which showcases a beautiful village background with the punch line "thanda ka matlab cocacola" and also ad title "soni kudi" targeted the villagers.

Destination marketing:
Destination marketing is all about selling the experience. To sell the experience is far more difficult. In destination marketing media plays a major role . word of mouth plays a vital role in destination marketing . people love to discuss their tour, infact they feel proud in telling their experiences, they bring gifts for their close ones they show their photographs and purchases to their relatives and neighbours
Eg . kerala has implemented the destination marketing very successfully and emerged as the most acclaimed tourist destination of the country in the recent past. Because of this destination marketing kerala has achieved remarkable success in generating revenue and employment in state through tourism. It is estimated nearly $100 million which generate the employment opportunity in kerala.
In the recent past all the successful stories of destination marketing that is Malaysia, Goa, Kerala, Singapore etc.

Emergence of theme parks such as ADHISAYAM, MGM , BLACK THUNDER,- all are examples of destination marketing.
Transition from kirana stores to modern organized retail outlets:
Modern retailing in India is growing rapidly. Although it commands just 3% of the overall retail market share, changing demographics and consumer taste are driving the growth of more than 30% of the modern retail formats. It is expected to grow another 9% in the year of 2010. India is more attractive than ever to global retailers.

Major players in India are:
Pantaloon retail India limited or future group, RPG group, Tata group, k.Raheja corp. group of companies, RRL (Reliance retail limited), A.B.Birla group, Gati, Calvin klein,murjani group, Disney artist stores, Vishal group (vishal megamart)

Foreign players in India are
Wal-mart stores, Carrefour, Tesco, Rosy blue group, LVMH Group, Metro
This transition makes the marketing in transition

Transition in Segmentation:
Transition from demographic based segmentation to psychographic based segmentation . since 1950's market segmentation has been referred to as a process of identifying groups of individuals who are similar in attitudes etc. and the segmentation is of demographic segmentation . after 1970s it is psychographic segmentation , know about the customer taste and preferences and collect at the real time point of purchase data. And now it is need based segmentation is using for different marketing functions like advertising and new product development .

Cause related marketing
Cause related marketing is practiced on the rationale that consumers are human beings are kind hearted. The customer pay the amount with some satisfaction that the specific amount is to for relevant social cause.
Example
A sanitary napkin brand "whisper" announced a contribution o Re.1 on every pack of sales for blind relief society. This helps in improving whisper's market share.
HLL announced a contribution of Rs 0.50 on the sale of each of its brand of lifebuoy brand soap to a diarrhea project.

Co-branding
Co-branding is when two companies form an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy. This co-branding is innovative in the marketing practices.
Examples:
• Andhra bank and ICFAI university are using the strategy of co-branding.
• Andhra bank and Hindustan petroleum also launched their co-branded card
• SBI card and LG electronics India launched the LG-SBI card. This is the country's first co-branded credit card for the consumer appliances industry and can be used at more than 2 lakh outlets in India.
• Idea cellular and HDFC Bank launched two co-branded cards providing multiple benefits to customers of both.

• Pillsbury Brownies with Nestle Chocolate
• Dell Computers with Intel Processors
Online marketing
Internet marketing, also referred to as online marketing, Internet advertising, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet. Internet marketing also includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (E-CRM) systems.
Samsung marketing practices

Viral marketing , interactive marketing
Samsung created its "Fun Club" as a way to engage with Samsung mobile phone owners to help them get the most from their phones. Samsung provides content such as games, ringers, and wallpapers that are designed specifically for Samsung mobile phone models. Hearing about new mobile content is one of the benefits of joining the "Fun Club." Samsung was looking for a new way to use rich multimedia to promote the game, Skipping Stone, to its customers. Samsung engaged Enpocket to create a mobile marketing campaign promoting Skipping Stone using the graphically rich MMS channel.

Conclusion
In the present competitive scenario, there should be transition in marketing practices in order to survive in the market. Since "change in the only thing which never change" in the world, companies have to adapt themselves according to the changing environment. The best emerging practices in the corporate world is win-win concept to be the leader in the market.

Marketing For Your Business

Marketing

This is the process through which goods and services are promoted for sale. In this process different individuals or groups of people create awareness about a certain product in the market thereby creating a value and demand for the product and thus sale of it to the general public.

Through marketing, a company or business creates consumers for their product which did not exist initially or was at a minimum level. Marketing of goods and services was as a result of over production of goods and services and the presence of mature markets therefore in order for a company to make profits they had to change tactics from focusing on production of goods to creating consumers for the products they produced. Thus, by so doing they could be able to get profits and beat competition in the market.

In order for marketing of a product to be successful, a marketer should ensure that he/she grasps the basic concepts of marketing. The concepts dictate that a company should efficiently know the needs and wants of the market they wish to sell and ensure that they achieve the desires of the target consumers in a satisfactory manner. Achieving this market satisfaction should be done in a manner that is better than competitors in the same business thereby gaining more customers.

There steps which a marketer should follow to ensure effective marketing of his products, firstly a marketer should know the appropriate communication skill to use to get the attention of the public. The goal should be to ensure that the targeted market gets to know of the availability of a certain product and get interested in it. Different goods and services need different ways of promotion but the most important point is using a communication method that captures the attention of the desired buyers. There are different ways of promotion of products for example, print media and electronic media which is bound to reach many people.

Also one can use direct marketing and personally selling the product or service. Personal selling is where salesmen or women approach different individuals or groups of desired customers and directly promote the items telling the potential customers the benefits of their products against others in the market. This type of promotion is best for the promotion of complex products which consumers need adequate knowledge of them. Products that can use this type of service include motor vehicles and insurance policies which are very specific.

Another marketing strategy is sales promotion, this technique involves use of sales brochure and coupons which briefly give details of particular goods and services and are numerously distributed to clients' randomly. However this process does not build a relationship with the clients as compared with personal selling. Advertising is the most popular form of marketing, this is when a business firm directly procures the services of a media company to publicize its goods and services, and this is usually done through television, radio, branding and billboards. This method is very effective since it captures a wide attention of potential customers within a short time.

Also directing marketing is another way of promotion of products unlike advertising, it is more personal and seeks to directly communicate with potential clients. Marketers use this method to create and retain customers through direct communication by methods such as sending electronic brochures through emails and other social web sites.

How to Get New Clients in 2010 - Three Strategies That Work and How to Get Started

Are you wondering how to you get new clients in 2010? Read on for three strategies that get results.
Of course, many of your strategies from 2009 will still work -- but if you haven't used many online marketing strategies, now is the time to get going. If you haven't started at all, now is the time to get started, or add new ones to the one or two you're already using. And if you've started using them, you should use them more -- and yes, add another one or two to your repertory.
That's because more and more people are looking online for whom they should call for the goods and services they need. And while face-to-face networking should continue to be a key component of your marketing strategy, you really need to ramp up your online presence as well.
But where to start? Here are a four things that can help you make a big difference in your 2010 business bottom line:

1) Twitter

Are you on Twitter? If not, set up an account and start tweeting. If you do have an account, make it a goal to add at least a hundred targeted new followers a week and send out a few tweets most days. Be sure to spend some time learning about Twitter and how to use it effectively. And make sure you invite people to follow you on Twitter in your signature line and on your website.

2) Facebook

Are you on Facebook? You can set up Twitter so that it will forward you tweets to Facebook -- which allows you to cover two social media venues at once.
Be sure to go visit Facebook regularly though. You want to make sure you approve new friends, add some new ones yourself, and respond to some of the "status reports" your friends are sending. That's what builds relationship and a sense of being part of the team.
As with Twitter, be sure to invite people to "friend" you on Facebook. You can add a note in any and all of your signature lines, and you should also mention it on your website and/or blog.

3) A blog

Do you have a blog yet? If not, it's high time to set one up. If you do, start using it more by posting more regularly and promoting it more regularly.
A blog has tremendous power to put you on the front page of Google for your keywords -- if you set it up and optimize it correctly. Also make sure you have a way to allow your customers-to-be to sign up for more information and your newsletter.
You may notice that it gets harder and harder to get them to do that, however. So what you should consider is creating an "ethical bribe" that you can offer to your visitors in exchange for their email addresses.

Making Sense of Marketing Models

Marketing can be bewildering for busy small business owners who wear many hats and are aiming to figure out the most effective marketing strategies while managing their day-to-day businesses. Daily we are bombarded with marketing messages from all directions-television, radio, SMS, internet and print media. The marketing messages may reach us via solicited or unsolicited (spam) channels.
Research on the internet reveals a multitude of marketing models and techniques, each claiming to be the best and most cost-effective one. There is Telemarketing - Bum Marketing - Niche Marketing -- Metaphor Marketing - Guerrilla Marketing - Ambush Marketing - Fusion Marketing and Alliance Marketing to mention a few. Not surprising, more and more people complain about having too much information and choices vs having too little. A working definition of the Marketing Models is provided at the end of this article.

How do you respond to this avalanche of information? Do you feel overwhelmed and do nothing? Or do file the information away for review when you have more time? Maybe that time never comes and you end up not making the decision that could support your business growth.

Marketing Models - What do they have in common? 

In its essence marketing models are a contest for your attention or the attention of your potential clients! They simply can be divided into Permission Marketing and Interruption Marketing Models.
Internet marketing pioneer and founder of Permission Marketing, Seth Godin says, "Advertising just doesn't work as well as it used to - in part because there's so much of it, in part because people have learned to ignore it, in part because the rise of the Net means that companies can go beyond it...we are entering an era that's going to change the way almost everything is marketed to almost everybody." This was in 1999. And while marketing with the rise of the Net has changed, the philosophy of permission marketing is as relevant to small business owners today as it was then.
Mass marketing, based on the Interruption Model, has become less effective because there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore. Interruption Marketing, however, is still extremely effective when there is not an overflow of interruptions. No doubt, you have your own thoughts and feeling about having your favorite TV show interrupted several times by an advert or your family dinner by Telemarketing calls, or your email inbox overflowing with spam emails. Is it possible that your potential clients have similar thoughts and feelings about your marketing strategy?

The challenge for marketers, Godin argues, is to persuade consumers to volunteer attention - to "raise their hands -- to agree to learn more about a company and its products." This makes perfect sense. He calls the new model "Permission Marketing" because it is built around permission. Permission marketing, he claims, "turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers."
Readers' Digest use permission marketing by giving the consumer an opportunity to win prizes in their Sweepstakes in return for the permission to send marketing literature. Another example is your subscription to newsletters.

In the United Kingdom opt-in is required for email marketing, under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This came into force on the 11 December 2003.
Reflect and Act Marketing is a crucial aspect of your business success. If you are like most small business owners you will want to invest your marketing dollar wisely to maximize your marketing results. Permission Marketing is a powerful "be-in-touch, stay-in-touch" targeted relationship building strategy.

To get a better understanding of the effectiveness of your marketing strategies, I invite you to reflect on the following questions:

1. Am I maximizing my marketing opportunities?

2. Do my marketing efforts focus on the segment of the market that is likely to do business with me?

3. Are my marketing strategies based on the Permission Model or the Interruption Model?

4. How do potential clients perceive my marketing strategies? Do they welcome them? Do they create overwhelm?

5. How effective are my current marketing strategies?

6. What is the return on my marketing investment?

7. What is the most effective marketing strategy I can implement today?

To find out how consumers perceive your marketing strategies, I invite you to develop a five question questionnaire to conduct a mail or phone survey of 10-25 potential clients. Awareness is power when combined with effective action.

Marketing Models: Working Definitions

Alliance Marketing: "It's about developing a well-oiled strategy between companies who are doing business with the same prospects on a daily basis but are not competing with each other. It's a strategy that leverages each company's strengths and database for each other while yielding major results at the end of the day." - Matt Tommey

Ambush Marketing - "A deliberate attempt by a business or brand to associate itself with an event in order to gain some of the benefits associated with being an official sponsor without incurring the costs of sponsorship. - Blah La Word Press

Bum Marketing: Also known as article marketing.

Fusion Marketing: Is tying your marketing efforts in with the effort of others. It is a make-everybody-wealthy marketing tactic known in Japan and by guerrillas worldwide. It is also known as Collaborative Marketing. - Jay Conrad Levinson

Guerrilla Marketing: Is high impact low cost marketing.

Interruption Marketing: as the name indicates that each and every marketing strategy interrupts what potential customers are doing in order to get them to think about the marketing message. - Seth Godin

Metaphor Marketing: Is essentially Brand Marketing.

Niche Marketing: Is concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of the population

Permission Marketing: As the name indicates, consumers need to grant you permission to send messages.

How to Mix Global Website Development With Traditional International Marketing

One way for businesses to plan for their international business expansion is to look at their progress in:

• Websites as they move towards global business websites
• The different stages of traditional international marketing towards global business marketing

This can help businesses to:

• Clearly identify where they are today on the scale of international business
• Create an International Internet Business Plan

Progression Towards Website Globalization

 It is very interesting to note the online marketing progression today goes something like this:

• From website internationalization = domestic website + all foreign & domestic markets
• To website localization = one foreign website + one foreign market
• To website globalization = all foreign websites + all foreign markets

To make the process easier, quicker and cheaper to manage there is a distinct trend for good global websites today to use website templates throughout all of their country websites. This leads towards one website template for all markets.
Progression Towards Global Marketing
But compare this online process to the traditional international marketing process where companies progress to global marketing as follows:

• From Domestic Marketing = domestic product + domestic market
• To Export Marketing = domestic product + foreign market
• To International Marketing = one foreign product + one foreign country
• To Multinational Marketing = one foreign product + one foreign region of a few countries
• To Global Marketing = one product + all foreign countries & domestic market

So the progression goes from one market and one product through different products and different markets back to one market and one product.

International Internet Marketing Progression Plan

Small businesses just starting out in international business expansion need to create real communication with their international markets.
If you mix the progression towards global marketing with the progression towards website globalization this gives you a structure for an international internet marketing plan.

1 - Domestic Website For Domestic Marketing

• One domestic website
• Customized content and communication for your domestic market only
• Marketing your domestic product
• Marketing to your domestic market

This is where more companies start: in a market they are familiar with.

2 - Internationalized Domestic Website For Export Marketing

• One domestic website
• Customized content and communication for both your domestic and all foreign markets
• Marketing your domestic product
• Marketing to your domestic market and all foreign markets

This can be the exact same website as the one used for your domestic market. It all depends on how culturally specific your domestic website needs to be for your business.
In any event, you can always review your domestic website to make sure you are not unduly pushing away international visitors.
Some companies may opt for a separate international website.
This may be the case for French companies for example. They may keep their domestic website in French and start their international internet marketing with a separate international website targeting all foreign markets.

3 - Localized Website For International Marketing

• One foreign website - begin using website templates
• Customized content and communication for one foreign market
• Marketing your product adapted to your foreign market
• Marketing to one foreign country

A localized website is a second website. You would still keep your domestic website or your internationalized website for your domestic markets.
You will create one localized website per country you market to, until you have a regional group of localized websites.
4 - Group Of Localized Websites For Multinational Marketing

• A group of foreign websites - continue using website template
• Customized content and communication for each foreign country in the group of countries.
• Begin implementing one set of unique content adapted into each language for each country.
• Marketing your product adapted to your foreign market
• Marketing to a group of countries in one foreign region

There are some regions in the world where you can use a regional sales and marketing strategy.
This step really depends on the nature of your business and how you conduct your business in these regions.
5- Global Website For Global Marketing

• Dozens of foreign websites, one website per foreign country - using website templates
• One set of unique content adapted into each language for each country website based on templates.
• A culturally specific content and communication plan for each country
• Marketing one product for a global market
• Marketing to all foreign countries & your domestic market

Global websites are usually for the big multinational companies.
But from a marketing standpoint, if you have one product to sell throughout a global market, your best online presence is through one global website giving access to a series of localized websites using templates.
Use Cross Cultural Communication Tools
The above plan gives you an outline of how you can use your website with an International Internet Marketing plan to progressively move towards full international business development.
Your international sales success depends on three things:

• Your content and communication must be customized for each market along the way.
• You need to use online tools to stimulate international feedback continuously.
• You must systematically track, analyze your results and adjust your marketing to fit with your international market.

You need to identify the format and marketing mix to use for delivering your content that is best suited for each of you international markets. You also need to add in culturally appropriate tools for good cross cultural communication online.

Your International Internet Business Plan will evolve through a learning process as you become more knowledgeable about your international markets. There are often many adjustments needed when expanding your business internationally. Take small steps and adapt your plan when needed.
Cross cultural communication experts identify five different cultural behavioral values. Studying these values gives you insights into the tools you can use online to adapt your communication to your different foreign markets.

Over the next five weeks I will review one set of these tools in the Get International Clients Newsletter. Sign up now and find out what you can do to market to different cultures.

Are you committed to speeding up your international sales cycles?
Learn how to combine cross-cultural marketing tools and international sales strategies for faster sales.

Stock Market Tips - The 12 Most Important Tips to Get Started

Look before you leap is the most relevant of all stock market tips offered by investment specialist, don't rely on the stock market tips offered by your friend, the waiter at the restaurant or your brother in law, in other words trust your senses when making an investment. Your pre-investment research should include careful analysis of the market trends, industry performance and the price fluctuations of a stock so that you can pick the winners. Here are some stock market tips that will help you to familiarize yourself with some important concepts of equity investments.

Tip #1: When you buy a stock you are purchasing partial ownership in a company; also known as shares; these stocks give you a right to a part of the company's profits and assets; however, you are exempt from any liabilities that the organization may incur through the course of business.

Tip #2: There are different types of stocks and they offer a variety of features. While choosing the type of shares, you should ensure that the stock meets your investment objectives. For instance, if you are looking for a regular income, you should choose stocks that give regular dividends. On the other hand, if you are looking for capital gains, you should choose stocks that have a potential for significant price increase in future.

Tip #3: The stock market is not very different from an auction house where the number of buyers interested in a particular object often determines the extent of price rise

Tip #4: Stock prices are prone to fluctuations and depending on the type of stock you invest in, you may witness quite a bit of volatility on a daily basis

Tip #5: Companies only trade in their own stocks once; when they offer the share to the public for the first time through an IPO or initial public offering. Subsequently, the supply and demand factors for a particular stock and the company's performance sets the price of the shares without any interference from the company.

Tip #6: Stocks are traded through stock exchanges and the NYSE or the New York Stock exchange is the primary stock exchange in the country that has the highest number of blue chip companies listed on it.

Tip #7: There are two ways to purchase a stock, you can wither get in touch with a stock broking firm and open an account with them or you could enlist with an online stock broking firm and conduct stock trading and transactions online

Tip #8: You will need documents such as your social security, proof of residence and identity to open an account with a stock broking firm

Tip #9: The equities market works on a basic principle; that is a higher risk equates to a greater potential for reward; however, this principle does not always hold true.

Tip #10: You can get information on stocks through the stock charts and tables in your daily newspaper

Tip #11: Do not invest in stocks with your life's savings or with the money needed for your basic expenditure; stock market investments should be undertaken with any surplus money that you have after you have taken care of your basic needs and savings

Tip #12: If you are ready to try your luck in the equities market; it is essential to gather as much information as you can on stock analysis, investment strategies and the various tools used for the purpose from books, online articles etc.

Internet Marketing Plan For Your Successful Business

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10 Important Marketing Tips

Each of the following Ten Marketing Tips is based on a
highly effective but often overlooked marketing tactic.
How many are you using? How many have you overlooked?

Marketing Tip #1:

Insulate yourself against the impact of change by
increasing the number of products and services you offer
...and by using a variety of different marketing methods.
Only a small portion of your total business will be
affected if the sales of one product declines or the
response to one marketing method drops.

Marketing Tip #2:

Customers are prospects too. Stay in contact with them.
Find or develop other products or services you can offer
them. It's easier to make a sale to a previous customer
than to someone who never bought from you.

Marketing Tip #3:

Avoid making any claim that sounds exaggerated ...even if
it is true. A bold claim creates doubt in your prospect's
mind and jeopardizes the sale. Reduce any bold claims to a
more believable level.

Marketing Tip #4:

Express numerical claims as odd numbers with fractions or
decimals. For example, "Our clients save 17.7 percent"
sounds more believable than "Our clients save 20 percent"
...even if 20 percent is the accurate number.

Marketing Tip #5:

To create an absolutely irresistible offer, combine a
special discount price and a set of valuable bonuses in the
same offer.

Marketing Tip #6:

Develop a series of 4 or 5 different special offers. Use
them one at a time with an expiration deadline. When one
offer expires, replace it with the next offer and a new
deadline. Continuously recycle through the same series of
offers. This enables you to keep using special offers to
generate sales without taking time to develop new ones.

Marketing Tip #7:

If you're attracting many prospects who really don't have
(or can't get) the money to buy your product or service
...you need to change your market. Target a market where
prospects have an intense desire for the benefits produced
by your product or service AND the money to buy it.
Marketing Tip #8:
Set yourself apart from competitors by offering an
exclusive benefit your competitors cannot copy ...or one
they're not willing to copy. One business owner I know
includes his personal phone number on every order. His
competitors don't ...and they are not likely to start making
themselves that accessible to customers.

Marketing Tip #9:

Advertising copy produces the biggest response when each
reader can believe the message was written specifically for
him or her. As you write any sales message, visualize
you're writing to one person instead of to a large group of
people. This will help you write in a less formal and more
personal style.

Marketing Tip #10:

Most sales are not made on the first contact. Develop a
method to capture and save the names and contact
information of prospects who don't buy from you. Follow up
periodically. A little gentle coaching will eventually
convert many of them into buyers.
Each of these 10 marketing tips implements a simple but
highly effective marketing tactic. Take action now to apply
those you overlooked. You'll be surprised by how much
business it produces for you.

3 Simple Steps to Building Your Network Marketing List

If you're going to succeed in the modern world of network marketing online, you're going to have to start building a list. Network marketing really is just a numbers game in that the more people you tell about your opportunity, the better chance you will have of succeeding in your business.

Problem is, most people just simply don't have the time or the access to talk to as many people as they need to in order to get the ball rolling in their network marketing business. Once you setup your network marketing list and start to market it, you're setting yourself up for total success as you're building a list you can market to over and over again, whether they join your primary company or not.

But some people forget the basics of setting up a network marketing list and get so excited thinking about the wads of cash that are going to start rolling into their bank account just because they decided, "Hey, I'm gonna build a list!"

Here's 3 simple steps that will help you start building your marketing list. Now, don't get ahead of yourself. Just because you're doing this doesn't mean that you're all of a sudden going to have 10,000 people on your email list tomorrow. It takes time to build a list, and it takes time to build a relationship with them. But keep plugging away at it, your success is just around the corner.

Step #1 - Get an Email Autoresponder service. I know this may sound elementary to some of the "gurus" out there, but some people just don't think about this. They think they can just send out a bunch of emails from their Hotmail account and everything is just going to be a-ok. Not gonna happen. Get setup with a reliable email service provider that allows you to create multiple lists and unlimited autoresponders and broadcasts. There's all kinds of providers out there, pick one and get started. You'll thank me later.

Step #2 - Setup Your Opt-in Form. Again, I know that for the "smart guys" out there, this sounds dumb to even bring this up. But for the new folks, this is absolutely essential. If you want people to start joining your list, you've got to have somewhere for them to sign-up. Any good email autoresponder service will give you the tools to setup an opt-in form that you can put on pretty much any site that you want to with little headache. Or, if you don't feel comfortable, get your web guy to do it or pay someone a little cash at Guru.com to install it for you. Once you're all setup, you're ready for Step 3 in our "Super Secret Network Marketing List Building System" (TM)

Step #3 - Promote Your Opt-in Form. You've got your system, you've got your opt-in form. Now all you need is to put some eyeballs in front of it. Start promoting whatever site you've got that form on. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, forums, wherever you frequent and hang out online, get a link to that form up. Now, let's have a word about spamming, shall we? Don't just go to every website on the Internet and start promoting your link. That's just tacky and insane. No one will join your list and people will probably call you names and kick virtual sand in your face. Keep it clean, keep it relevant and you'll be on your way to success.

Bonus Step - Give something away to get people on your list. Maybe you recorded an interview with someone in your upline, or another big producer in the industry. Give it away to people as a gift for joining your list. Give something away. It doesn't have to be expensive or take you 3 months to create, but give something away. Find a public domain book that you can give people for free. Just do something and make sure that it meets a need of your target market, put it in their hands, and you're off and running with your very own network marketing list.

Increase Sales With Targeted Marketing

Marketing is by no means a small game, and marketing your small business to big success will require some dire attention to detail. A hefty amount of work goes solely into marketing an organization's goods and services each year. Billions are spent on things like advertising, promotions, consumer surveys, and quality control to assure the thorough-put of an organization's reach to its most valuable asset - the consumer.
The sunny side of this road is that we have come a long way in understanding the bridges between attracting consumers and making sales. This allows for a small business to learn from the previous failures and successes of its competitors. Outsourcing through more adept organizations, who are fervent in turning up qualitative and quantitative statistical research, is then a luxury to your small business.
Many of those going into business for the first time tend to believe that the more people they market to, the more sales they're bound to make. While this may only seem logical to the average mind it is quite far from the truth in the world of small business marketing. You shouldn't try to compare your small business with that of a multi-billion-dollar corporation like Coca-Cola where, to them, everyone is considered a potential customer. For your small business to grow and make a name for itself you will need to do the opposite. This means eliminating unnecessary marketing expenses on those groups of people who are not very likely to benefit your small business.
Finding Your Target Market
You need to become successful in your marketing efforts and drive up your sales, without incurring additional expenses or furthering your business in debt. That requires finding your target market. A target market is a well defined set of present and potential customers that your small business attempts to satisfy.
You will need to identify your target market and focus all of your marketing energy on that specific group. There are a number of analytical approaches to understanding and refining your target market depending, of course, on your product and business. However, it is important to be creative and open-minded when seeking out your target market. Many aspects of a target market may seem vague and obscured, at first, to the inexperienced marketer.
In defining your target market you will need to create what is called a marketing mix. The marketing mix combines the four variables - product, place, promotion and price - that are controlled by your business, and uses them in a manner which aims to satisfy your target market. The product variable is made up of all the qualities that are perceived by the customer from your product and have the potential of satisfying their wants. The place variable determines time, place, and possession value. This means distributing the right product to the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantities. The promotion variable focuses on communication between the marketer and the customer. Is your message getting across to your target customers effectively? If so, how are they reacting and how fast? These are important variables to note when effectively trying to promote your product. Finally, the price variable notes the amount of money or resources your business seeks from the buyer in exchange for the goods or services being sold. All four of these variables are what make up your entire marketing mix and must be coordinated and developed so that they may both satisfy your market and result in a profit for your small business.
Furthermore, you will need to understand the relevance of dividing your market in order to pursue effective targeted marketing for your small business. This is what we call 'Market Segmentation'. Every market can be segmented into a number of categories and subcategories. A few basic market segmentations, for example, would be geographic, demographic, psychographic, and product-related segmentation. The primary objective here is to identify all of the characteristics or traits your most promising customers have in common so that you may harness all of your business efforts on reaching those particular customers. This will involve nitpicking through the market and finding a market segment, or a smaller group of people or firms, that exists within a larger market and whose wants are currently not being filled by products already on the market.
The Mass Market Strategy
The mass market strategy assumes the target market to be any potential buyer of brands in a product category and offers a single marketing mix. The mass marketing strategy has been used by such large corporations as Ford, for example, even in the early 20th century to retain low production and distribution costs. Henry Ford offered only one marketing mix for all car buyers with the Model T automobile, which enabled him to become the lowest-cost mass producer of cars.
Times have changed though and today's consumers are more demanding and expectant than ever. Pursuing a mass market strategy proves unreeling to the ill-capitalized firm. Mass marketing draws a great deal of risk and uncertainty when inexperienced or underprivileged.
Market Segmentation
As your small business begins to better understand its market, it will become second nature to practice market segmentation. Offering one or more marketing mixes to just one segment of a market might prove more resourceful than trying to conquer the entire market share. In this case, agility becomes the tradeoff to muscle.
Markets are often segmented based on geography. Geographic segmentation divides a mass market into such units as regions, nations, states, cities, and districts. For example, your small business may choose to target the sunny Florida state differently from the windy city of Chicago due to the climate for which their geographic locations afford them. This may result in two different market segments for a product category that holds a market in both geographic segments. Just as more stringent emissions laws in California cause auto makers to provide for a different market segment from the rest of the country, your small business too will become overpowered by geographic segmentation for all sorts of reasons.
Markets are also segmented on the basis of demographic variables. Demographic segmentation pertains to statistical data as in age, gender, race, nationality, education, occupation, and purchasing power. Your products can not only be marketed depending on where a potential buyer is situated, but also based on who they are and to what they are associated with. Power drinks are targeted mainly to athletes and male fitness fanatics. Apple computers target the youthful and creative individual. Centrum Silver vitamins are targeted to people over the age of fifty. The demographic classifications of your target market can go miles long and stories high or they can be short and resolute depending on how well you know your product and market.
Psychographic segmentation zeros in on social class, personality, and life-style. For example, the Oprah Winfrey show targets independent women. Harpo productions has committed a great deal of its marketing efforts in various psychographic segments by empowering female opinion. Also, the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada caters to the high-roller gambler's life-style. These market segmentations are subject to a great deal of scrutiny, however, and it can be hard to clearly predict the scope of a psychographic market segment.
A firm may also divide a mass market based on the consumer's amount of usage of a product or service, the type of usage involved, and what benefits the consumer is looking for. This is called Product-Related segmentation. For example Google AdWords, targets the direct marketer or low-budget small businesses looking to gain global, national, or even regional exposure for their business with the flexibility of controlling how much or how little they spend.
Once you have clearly understood your target market and begun the process of eliminating unnecessary marketing expenses on groups or individuals outside the scope of your target market, you will inevitably see a much higher return on your investment and long-term growth in your business. Targeted marketing increases the chances of your small business for channeling more spectators into buyers.

Marketing Strategy : Building Brand Tribes

Group of people living together under a chief.

Brand Tribe: Group of Customers living together with a brand.

Renowned marketing guru Seth Godin in his latest book Tribes inspires every individual to become a leader of a tribe. In this must read book, he exhorts that every individual has an opportunity to become a leader and start a movement. Internet has enabled and empowered individuals with the opportunity to connect with millions of people across the world who shares the same vision.

The same opportunity is available to brands. An opportunity to build a tribe – a group of faithful followers who will nurture the brand’s vision and takes the brand to a whole new level of existence.

If we look at the global branding scenario, despite the millions of dollars spent on advertising and brand promotion, only a handful of brands can boast about building a tribe. Harley Davidson, Apple, Linux, Google, to name a few.

The situation is dismal in the Indian brand word. How many of Indian brands command a faithful following of customers. How many Indian brands have been able to generate the enthusiasm displayed by an Apple customer? Hardly any …

Compared to other markets, we don’t see any big queues in front of shops for getting the product during brand launches, no euphoria during customer meets and virtually no consumer evangelists spending his energy on his favourite brands.

Indian marketers are to blame for this scenario. Why Indian consumers are not emotionally attached to brands is because Indian brands always preferred to keep themselves away from the consumers. By and large, Indian brands preferred not to interact directly with the consumers. Except for some half-hearted efforts, largely there is no emotional chord developed between consumers and brands.

Developing a brand community needs a dedicated whole hearted effort from the brand to reach out to the consumers. Building brand communities means that consumers are emotionally attached towards the brand.

Brand User ----------> Brand Loyalist--------> Brand Advocate ------> Brand Evangelist

From an ordinary user of the product, the brand should be able to inspire the consumer to become an evangelist for the brand. While a brand advocate will recommend the brand to his friends, an evangelist will put his energy, time and reputation to promote the brand.

Professor Kevin Lane Keller uses the term Brand Resonance to explain this phenomenon. A brand is said to achieve resonance when the customers feel that they are in-sync with the brand. The customer willingly spent his time and energy to collect and share information about the brand. The highest level of brand resonance is where the consumers actively engage in activities beyond buying and using the product.

Not every brand may be able to achieve a resonance with consumers but all brands have the opportunity to build a community. Building a community around the brand is the first step towards building resonance. In India, Sunsilk successfully created a community around it using the website Sunsilk Gang of Girls.

Youth brands like Fastrack have been using the social networking sites to promote a meaningful interaction with the consumers.

One of the most successful brand communities ever created in marketing history is the Harley Owner’s Group (HOG) which was formed in 1983. HOG is a company sponsored community with over a million active members now has become the biggest strength of this brand.

The benefits of such a community are far fetched. Research has proved that while loyal customers buy more of the brand and members of brand communities not only buys more but also encourages others to become the brand followers.

Brand communities are also a valuable source of information for marketers. The members willingly share their experiences of using the product and can suggest valuable modification to the product. Communities are sounding board for suggestions and issues faced by the consumers.

Communities also can be a vital resource to tap for potential new product ideas. These are the consumers who would like the brand to play an important role in their lives. Hence they will be able to give you a lot of ideas which can later be used to develop new products.

Researches have proved that members of brand community members adopt new products from the brand faster than ordinary consumers. Apple consumer evangelists are in the forefront in adopting and later promoting the new products like IPod and IPhone. This offers a tremendous advantage for the company because there exist an enthusiastic Tribe willing to grab and use any new product from the company.

Building a brand community is never an easy task. This requires lot of investment and initiative from the company to build and sustain a community.

Understand the Consumer

Before building brand communities, a very thorough understanding of consumer is necessary. This deep understanding will be critical in designing the community, the theme, the mission and the critical events that will take the communities forward.

Invest and involve

More than the financial investment, brand marketers should be able to own up the responsibilities of nurturing the brand community. This is too important an activity to be outsourced. In the case of Harley Owner’s Group, there is a separate division in the company that has the responsibility of nurturing the community. Harley Davidson also ensures that the Senior Executives of the company participates in the community activities. It is important for the marketers to understand the role the company has to play in communities.

Successful communities are those which are driven by the members. Marketers have to play the role of facilitators and catalysts to ensure that the community is sustained and is moving in the right direction.

Build Relationship

Brand communities are not only about building relationship between the brand and the consumers. A brand community becomes successful only if there is a scope of developing a relationship between consumers. Most brand sponsored communities revolve around sharing information between consumer and the brand.

Hence there has to be an opportunity between consumers to meet, share ideas and build a bond between themselves. This will be the most difficult part for the brands taking up a community building activity. So the marketers have to device ways to promote kinship among members. Events, brand rituals, memorabilia, collectibles, blogs, forums, partying are ways to enhance the bonding between the community members.

Build a Story

Every community has a story. It is the story that will inspire consumers to join the community. The powerful the story is, the more powerful will be the bonding between the community members. Hence the marketers should be able to go deep into their target segment to craft the story that they will be passionate about. Harley Owner’s Group website reveals the story behind the group; the group wants the Harley Davidson Dream - a way of life.

Building Community is like building the family; the brand should take the leader’s responsibility in bringing the family closer and the members should be given the opportunity to develop a bond with each other to sustain the community.

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Marketing Automotive Facebook Fans

It’s been a very interesting month on Facebook for the automotive industry. A lot of companies are getting more aggressive with their marketing efforts and showed up with some decent spend promoting their brand fan pages in February, the Super Bowl happened, and Toyota is in a tailspin.

Marketing For Fans

Several brands did “Facebook Fan” campaigns. Fan campaigns are ad unit buys that typically show up on the Home News Feed page of Facebook in the Sponsored section between Suggestions and Events content. The ad units feature a “Become a Fan” button that allows people to easily fan a page without even having to visit it.

Dodge ran the most significant Fan campaign in February. They most have bought a full month of ad units, only the third time I’ve ever seen a brand do such a thing (VW and Honda being the other two.) Dodge ran ads featuring two messages. One featured their Super Bowl video “Man’s Last Stand” and the other linked to the Dodge Fan Page tab talking about their Super Beard Contest.

Mazda also bought several weeks of Fan ad units in conjunction with their Mazda 2 vehicle launch. The ads asked users to “Join the Movement.” The ads did not feature a vehicle image; instead, the unit was a blue-on-blue checkered flag with a small Mazda logo. Very little branding in the units but Mazda had a significant percentage jump in Facebook fans, a whopping 568% growth in February. Could it have been more with a stronger logo or did they gain more with less branding? Tough to say, but Mazda definitely attracted a strong number of fans with their buy.

It’s hard to say whether Dodge or Mazda did better with their marketing buy on Facebook without knowing impressions bought and how targeted the buy was. Percentage wise Mazda did far better than Dodge’s 126% growth, but Dodge had a much higher starting number of fans. Dodge grew by 36,000 fans versus Mazda’s 18,000 fans or two times the growth in numbers over Mazda.



Volkswagen did a little bit of marketing in February too to further promote their PunchDub Super Bowl ad. They only ran Fan ad units for either a day or few days after the Sunday following the game. The ad units also included the Super Bowl commercial they did.

Ram Trucks and Acura both did marketing buys too, but nothing that significant. Acura saw growth of 10,000 fans but that probably didn’t involve much of an ad buy with targeted marketing spend and some fan growth due to organic increases; though, the 185% growth number shows they did accurately reach their fans.

Let’s Talk Toyota

This morning as I was finishing this article an article showed up on AdAge about “The Cult of Toyota” and how since the recall Toyota fans are rallying to the brand with a 10% growth in fans since the recall announcements that started at the end of January.

From the article:

“According to Doug Frisbie, Toyota Motor Sales USA's national social media and marketing integration manager, the automaker has actually grown its Facebook fan base more than 10% since late January, around the time of the marketer's Jan. 21 recall announcement and its Jan. 26 stop-sale date.

“In fact, Mr. Frisbie said the automaker has been somewhat surprised by the large number of customers who have leapt to Toyota's defense in ‘an authentic way.’

“That's a testament to the resilience of the brand, but also to Toyota's ability to quickly pick up one of the most important tools in a crisis-communications handbook: social media.”

First of all, the number is 15% in February, but that’s not my issue with the assessment.



If we look back at Toyota’s growth in fans month-by-month we notice two things. One, they have doubled their percentage growth of fans gained from 7% to 15% from the January to February. So, AdAge is right the brand is attracting more fans since the recall so the recall must be the reason. Maybe not if we look at what else stands out in the data – they grew even more in November 2009 yet there was no recall then nor did they market for fans that month.

I would argue one couldn’t really account any surge in fans due to the recall. This is only four months of data and it is not clear what a typical growth in fans is for the brand. It looks to be somewhere around 11% on average so a 15% gain in one month really isn’t that significant especially when you consider how many other brands not marketing and not going through any major PR issues are also gaining fans in the double-digits.

One of the interesting things about doing this monthly "Facebook Fans by Brands" report is seeing how the spin is done to showcase things that seem unusual to the casual observer, but are really not. What would be interesting with the Toyota situation is to evaluate the brand’s conversations on its Facebook fan page since the recall. Now that might show something unusual or interesting.

A Couple House Cleaning Items

Suzuki decided to move their Facebook automotive content to a new Fan Page for Suzuki Autos that did cause some dip in their numbers since my prior calculations were using a more broad Suzuki Fan page that encompassed all of the brand's vehicles including motorcycles and recreational products.



Finally, I have been tracking Scion's brand page for quite sometime but just learned this month, when the fan page was updated with information about it being an Unofficial Fan Page, that it is not managed by the brand. Also, the page received a new friendly URL http://www.facebook.com/UnofficialScion. So, I have removed Scion from the report since they currently do not have a Fan Page for the brand; though, they do have one now for their Release Series vehicle line.