Marketing Strategies

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How to regain and use information to serve customers personally?

Marketing Strategies on the Web • Covering three main ideas: • Understanding why marketing on Internet is different • How a manager should develop his/her Web site: a) design b) functionality c) hosting • Attracting visitors to that site Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Marketing on the Internet is Different • Offers new possibilities and dangers! • Every customer now has potentially instantaneous, documented, direct contact with every member of the firm (and vice versa) • Potential customers are world-wide • a manager and his/her competitors are now transparent and on the record • Technologies change what content and service a manager can provide and how Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Developing a Web SiteDesign Issues • First issue: Content is more important than appearance—managers shouldn’t let anyone fight to find information they are seeking • Second issue: Traditional Graphical User Interface or GUI (a.k.a., gooey) rules apply to Web apps—we are merging two worlds; IS and Marketing Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Site Design—GUI Rules • The site shouldn’t drown people in eye candy in lieu of information—people won’t come back unless it is useful • But a picture is still worth a thousand words • Designers shouldn’t just take graphical material and brochure layouts from his/her traditional print media • Graphics aren’t readable by search engines and text readers (WAP and speech software) Jan Damsgaard, 2004

GUI Rulestransferring graphics • A designer should make sure that his/her application looks good to as many people as possible • Does it look good on a B&W printout? • On a TV screen (huge dot pitch) • On a palm pilot? • On a mobile phone? Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Developing a Web Site Functionality • Build system to be rapidly adaptable • Web technologies should be used to do 1-to-1 marketing (before competitors do) and small market segments Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Functionality—Rapidly Adaptable System • Changing prices & products • Competitive offerings and business intelligence— organizations should scan the competition…because they are being scanned! • The Web should be scanned to combat bad PR • New functionality • Scalability Jan Damsgaard, 2004

1-2-1 Marketing Strategies • Identification • Identify your customers in order to understand the buying patterns of every single customers • Interaction • Offer your customers automated assistance by pre-selecting goods, information and services that may be valuable to a particular customer • Differentiation • Treat all customers on a personal basis. Address the values and needs of every single customer • Tracking • In order to understand your customers better it is necessary to track down every transaction for every individual customer • Customization • Build product module, information part and service components that can be adapted to the needs of a single customer Jan Damsgaard, 2004

1-to-1 Marketing—Identification • Web technology allows a manager to identify each customer to track and understand using different measures • Login IDs and passwords • Cookies • IP addresses • Digital Certificates Jan Damsgaard, 2004

1-to-1 MarketingInteraction • Web technology enables personal, fast, and useful interaction • FAQs (to avoid repetition and wasted €) • Communities (to let customers talk among themselves…corporate representative should take part) • E-mail (by topic; each answered quickly) • chat/video (used to meet traditional shopping needs, maintenance, after sales services) • Fast online surveys (with incentives) Jan Damsgaard, 2004

1-to-1 MarketingTracking • With unique ID, can get and store data • Can track every purchase and page view • Demographic data • Number of page views • Sequence of views • What they bought, what combination, when, for whom • Combine with interactions for valuable info (i.e., interactions can be kept and mined) Jan Damsgaard, 2004

1-to-1 MarketingCustomization • A service provider can take differentiation one step further and change what is sold…customization! • A company should look for what it sells and see if it can’t break it into components • Assemble as needed for each customer • Easiest for electronic offerings. Harder for physical goods (but being done with RFID) Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Personalization • Addresses the problem of finding good info • news personalization services enable users to decide what info they get and how they get it • Filtering tools reduce info overload • Gives greater control over our content flow • Can offer services that are most important to each individual, saving them time Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Developing a Web SiteHosting Decisions • Related to design issue: where does it all live? • Site can’t live without a host server • Should be based on four criteria: reliability, performance, tech support, and price… Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Hosting DecisionsFour Criteria • Reliability: Site needs to be running (and adaptable) 24/7/365 • Performance: speed—get 3rd party measures • Tech support: Quality? Availability? • Price: value in combination with above? Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Attracting Visitors to a Site • A site exists…”so what?” if nobody comes to see it or they never return • Ways to attract visitors or be “sticky”: • Promotion tricks to get people • Suggested offerings to keep them Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Attracting Visitors to a Site Promotional Tricks • There are some basic tricks to promote a site to be found • Affiliate Networks • Event Marketing • Choose a good domain name • Announce site • Banner ads • Direct marketing Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Affiliate Networks • Syndicate content/services on other sites • Pages can pay to get on portals and hooked in as back end to other resellers • Can offer channels to allow narrow placement on each • Can allow front-end customization by resellers Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Choosing a Domain Name • www.companyname.com if possible • Well known brand should be able to sue for brand name in URL • Not well known should choose something close or logical noun (www.ponies.com and www.chicken.com owned by ISPs—can be bought) • Should buy name rights (don’t have registered to ISP) • Should use other domains which have meaning (.dk gives expectation of Danish language) • Should have many names push to a centralized page Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Spamming DON’Ts... • Repeat keywords in META tags • Use keywords that are unrelated to your site • Use invisible text or tiny fonts to include many keywords • Submit the same page to the same search engine over & over • Redirects - automatically send to another page Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Tips, cont. • Some search engines can’t follow image map links • Put links at the bottom of your home page that link to all the important pages of the site • Some search engines can’t follow dynamically generated links • Use multi-word phrases in your external links Jan Damsgaard, 2004

A continuous process... • Check on your pages to make sure they get listed • each engine has its own way to do this • http://www.submitshop.com/ • Resubmit after any significant changes • Use other promotional opportunities like email and chat rooms. • Use software... Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Direct Marketing—E-mail • To spam or not to spam… • Shouldn’t be done • Causes bad PR • Gets more angry responses than sales • Hard to find good responses in the deluge • Unethical and possibly illegal • Alternatives: • Opt-in e-mails & tasteful signature files Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Direct MarketingMailing Lists/Newsletters • Companies should use 1-to-1 marketing to build opt-in mailing lists • Should create a newsletter and include reasons why people would want them (incentives; valuable info) • Should get employees involved in discussion groups and provide value to community (and have them sign with their URL there). Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Attracting Visitors Sticky Suggestions • There are some basic tricks to keep a customer coming back • Fresh content • Free content • Personal content • Online/offline content • Good cross-marketing/cross-selling • Good search capabilities • Being a community and interactive Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Fresh Content • Gives people a reason to come back • Fresh content of value • A date on the page convinces customers of freshness and accuracy • Indicates to employees to update content Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Free Content • Free information, products, services to all visitors • Currency rates, news briefs, stock portfolios • Lotteries, coupons • Calculators, games • $34 to get a new customer…it pays to keep them Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Online/Offline Content • Offline reading should be supported • Multiple formats should be offered including downloadable (pdfs) and printable versions (text only) • Push technologies offered to send customized, new content Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Good Cross-marketingCross-selling • Company should implement a system that effectively promotes related products • Should collect aggregate data on what else people bought when they bought a good • Should keep a good database of complementary products • Should remember what was bought before and lead with an appropriate offer Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Good Search Capabilities • Everything should be easy and pleasant to find • Index Vs. flat search • Navigation should be tested and streamlined • Walk through • Usability Lab Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Conclusion • Marketing on the Web provides a mechanism for doing business that is unique • Allows one-to-one marketing with advantages of automated processes and unprecedented information • The best page is worthless if it isn’t seen • Global availability of Web applications offers new opportunities and concerns Jan Damsgaard, 2004

Marketing Strategies