| Having an effective online marketing strategy | | | | help your positioning and expertise. |
| requires work to four key areas: - Content, Calls to | | | | - News: News about yourself is often not as |
| Action, Traffic Driving and Website Design. | | | | important as general Industry news. Visitors are |
| Once you have visitors to your website your content | | | | looking for independent, relevant material and bringing |
| should give facts about your products, your | | | | that together in a single area will be of value to your |
| customers, industry trends, industry research, Q& | | | | visitors. |
| A's, tips and guides. The format can be varied such | | | | - Case Studies: Highlight the solutions and benefits |
| as white papers, customer testimonials, case studies, | | | | that you have brought to your customers through |
| video, newsletters or press releases. Along with your | | | | case studies and success stories. These can be very |
| Unique Selling Proposition your content must appeal | | | | compelling if done with a video of your customer |
| to the visitor. It should: | | | | within the case study. |
| - Be attention grabbing, | | | | - Your Expertise: Question and Answers combined |
| - Be interesting and valuable, | | | | with Blogs and Forums can highlight your expertise. |
| - Be credible, | | | | Q&A's should be able to cover not only your |
| - Create desire to know more and | | | | products, but a variety of industry topics and issues. |
| - Compel your visitor to take action. | | | | Blogs allow you to interact with your customers and |
| Creating "sales-free" content that educates your | | | | prospects giving them a direct response to the issues |
| visitors is the primary way to get people to return to | | | | that they may raise. Forums too bring together many |
| your website and recommend others as well. Some | | | | people with similar interests to discuss topics and |
| content that you can develop could relate to: | | | | issues relevant to them. |
| - Research Data: There are always searches for | | | | - Rich Media: You need to consider the behaviour of |
| industry data. Surveys, studies and papers by | | | | all types of visitors. Some like to read, others prefer |
| experts in your field provide a rich source of facts | | | | pictures, listen, watch a video or interact online. A |
| that will bring visitors to you all the time and have | | | | variety of rich media can help you create your unique |
| them return for more. You also portray yourself as | | | | content, making it easy for your visitors to |
| knowing the industry, the issues and the solutions | | | | understand your message. Rich media may involve |
| that drive your customers' business. | | | | any combination of graphics, audio, video, animation |
| - Education: Be a source of facts. You can provide | | | | and text. |
| your industry definitions, glossaries, presentations or | | | | - Interaction Devices: The visitor experience can be |
| links to other relevant industry sources such as | | | | enhanced by targeted interaction. This can be a |
| government bodies and associations. The medium | | | | calculator, survey or questions that lead to advice - |
| that you use can be video through YouTube, online | | | | specific to your visitor. |
| seminars, online tools that the visitor can interact with | | | | - Special Offers: Knowing what your competitors are |
| such as calculators, PDF white papers and PowerPoint | | | | offering allows you to be different. For example if an |
| presentations. | | | | offer of an analysis is being made by others, why |
| - Product Overviews: Walking visitors through an | | | | would a visitor need a similar one? Be creative! |
| overview of your products makes it easy for them | | | | Not every internet researcher is ready to contact |
| and conveys your message clearly. Use pictures, | | | | you or buy from you immediately. Content is King - |
| video and documents to make sure that your | | | | keep updating it. Make your website content unique |
| products and benefits are well understood. | | | | and give your visitors reason to return to your |
| Comparison tables can differentiate you from your | | | | website with new, interesting and valuable content. |
| competition. Graphs, charts and product snapshots will | | | | |