| The truth is, many of the same kinds of
businesses are going Online assuming their online competitors are profiting Online. But
what they may not see is their competition struggling to do business with an audience who
is not interested in their product or service, therefore bound for failure. The key is personally test the market. Don't assume your
product will do well because your competitor has a web site. And, don't assume because
your competition is struggling Online it's the result of no market. It may be a
result of poor marketing tactics or poor web site design. But being aware of all the
factors needed to succeed ( a buying market, a revenue generating Site, and a successful
marketing plan) you can, through a process of elimination, determine the weak link that
ended the business.
So how do you test market?
Never simply, start marketing your product, service or
idea using your email address as your contact.
Follow this guide:
- Locate places Online to expose your product, service or idea to your target audience
to see what kind of response you receive.
» Choose places that offer "free" advertising.
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Tip #1: Use your search engines to discover Free ads.
Example: If your products are antiques, you would search for web sites
that focus on antiques and offer free advertising. Use search engines to search
for "free antique classifieds". But pay attention to the web site. Many sites offer
free classifieds because their traffic is too low to charge. For this reason, search
for "antique classifieds" on high traffic web sites who may charge for long
term ads but offer short term free ads!
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Tip #2: Go
out to Your target market in their meeting places (newsgroups, chat rooms, etc.) and
simply ask them if they would be interested, if not what would they be interested.
Maybe
there is another approach to your business that would interest your target audience. But
if you don’t ask then you will never know.
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- Place lead generating ads on a few of these classified ad Web sites.
» Spend a few minutes developing a number of different ads to
generate interest and the desire for more input. The secret of a good ad is not to give
out the information in the ad but to entice the reader to request more information.
The Number of Web sites that you submit your ads to are not as important as the quality of
the site. High traffic sites give you more exposure. Place two different ads on each
Classified Ad Web site as a way of testing the effectiveness of each.
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Tip #3: Within each ad include a method of tracking which Web site your
response is coming and upon which ad they are acting. Instruct those who are interested to
request free information on your product, service or idea. In order to tell which ad or
site worked best, you need to code each ad with different names for your free information.
Call your information something like: Free report, Brochure, newsletter, free inf. kit,
etc. Request that this is placed in the subject box of their request. When you know which
ad(s) works best, you can roll out your advertising program in other mediums, as well as
the Internet, with confidence.
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- Follow up with the information. The fact that you
received request for information is a good sign that you have a marketable product or
service. You must follow this request for information with a well developed sales letter.
To address the art of developing an effective sales letter would be impossible within the
confines of this page. Instead, let’s scratch the surface with a few helpful
pointers.
A. State exactly how your prospective client would benefit from
purchasing your product. Tell they WHY they should purchase your product? Do not list the
features of the product but rather describe how they will benefit.
B. State
exactly what they will be buying. Do not mislead anyone in believing they are getting
something other than what you are offering.
C. State
exactly how much the product is. This is also a great opportunity to test market prices.
Send out sales letters out with different prices for your product devising a way of
keeping up the who got what price. Take note of the price that resulted in the most sales.
A rock bottom low price will not insure increased sales.
In fact, it has been shown a product priced to low psychologically devalues and product.
On the other hand, an over priced product simply says you are very proud of your product
by over pricing the value of your product. Find a happy medium, you will more that double
your sales.
D. Offer some
kind of guarantee. State exactly it’s length and terms. Guarantees are a great way of
communicating that you are a reputable company and it will also increase your sales.
E. Include an
order form. Make the form as easy as possible to complete and make payment. It should
include the blank lines for your customer to fill in all the necessary information. Also
include your company name, mailing address, price of product and shipping cost.
Save your sales letter in a text file (.txt) and use the
cut and paste method to transfer it to your email screen.
Take the time and learn how to write an effective sales
letter. Check out a book called "The Ultimate Sales Letter" by Dan Kennedy.
Okay! You have your work cut out for you but the rewards
are priceless in respect to your success Online.
Eliminate the guess work and get down to business. Gain
the benefit of knowing you have a market online and that they want what you have
to offer.
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