Promoting product in cyberspace

Promoting product in cyberspace

Like in many countries, many producers in Indonesia prefer to
introduce their brand-new goods or services by hiring alluring
models, creating superb ambience and dear prizes to boot. Whether
the slogans fall on deaf ears is another matter. Just what kind
of marketing tool does one need to promote a product in
cyberspace? Brian D. Chmielewski wrote the following article in
www.UPromote.com.

As with any marketing strategy, planning precedes action.
Launching your website can be a simple process if you simply
plan. Let's break the marketing plan into three stages: Product
pre-announcement, product announcement and post-announcement.

Product Pre-Announcement

No doubt about it, stage one of the product launch can be
disheartening. It involves the most time-consuming and tedious
tasks, but sets the framework for attaining success. Assuming
that you already have a website, you should commence with this
stage about two to three months prior to the scheduled launch
date.

Four necessary ingredients of the online prelaunch are proper
search tool listing, press release, strategic linking and fine-
tuning traditional collateral material.

Search engine, directory and yellow page listings should begin
as early as possible. This will be a great source of semidirect
marketing traffic. For the best results, choose your keywords
carefully and know how to treat each of the major portals
independently.

Precision in placement during this step can amplify the amount
of targeted traffic visiting your online business. Although many
of the engines now index within under one month, you will need
additional time to become familiar with the intricacies of each
one and optimize your listing for launch.

A newsworthy release should be communicated to the press well
in advance of launch.

Strategic linking is a powerful tool that builds branding,
creates an indirect marketing channel and improves your relevancy
in some of the major search engines. The more links you
originate, the more popular your service appears to the human and
search engine robot eye. Strive primarily to establish vertical
link alliances -- alliances with sites within an industry.
Secondary linking should take a horizontal linking approach,
looking for similar and related categories to build additional
streams of traffic upon.

For example, a company linking with an orange juice company
since they compliment each other in the marketing of breakfast
food. Reciprocal linking is fairly standard.

If you want a link, you may need to give a link. Rather than
creating a single page for these, you may consider utilizing the
directory format, implanting the links into their appropriate
categories. Visitors will appreciate the added appeal of an
industry-specific directory, a valuable tool to keep them coming
back.

And since you have a Web presence, the world should know it.

All of your materials must clearly identify your Web address
or URL. It is surprising to see Fortune 500 companies, who have
expended large interactive budgets in the development of their
website, failing to tout its presence in traditional ad campaigns
or in its collateral material. Websites have the potential to
capitalize on impulse, however they cannot accomplish this until
their identity is established.

Launching a product requires that all messages are coordinated
and connected between platforms. Accordingly, the homepage of
your website should pique the curiosity of its visitors.

Text that reads, "We're releasing a new product soon. Come
back in two weeks," is ineffectual, while, "Help us give industry
X a facelift on June 15," has a direct call to action.

Allow your visitors the option of registering to be notified
when the release takes place. Don't lose an opportunity to
connect with a potential customer.

Product Announcement

On the day designated as product launch, you will concentrate
on the influx of Web-generated traffic inquiring about your
business.

There are three important promotional provisions to take
advantage at this point: Opt-In direct e-mail, Banner delivery
and Newsgroup promotion.

Each of these tools is cloaked with its unique shortcomings,
but if you take care to use them properly, they will intensify
your launch.

Opt-In direct e-mail is positively the best method for
contacting people interested in your product or service. It is
the marriage between those who request information on certain
categories and the distributor of that information. Since the
recipient requests/subscribes to the information, the odds of a
positive reaction to your new product is greatly improved.

Product launches typically associate incentives, such as
software websites inviting people to download the free demo,
investment websites offering a 30-day free trial of their
service, etc. -- which work well to drive traffic.

If your product or service really is essential to them, the
customer may take the logical step to purchase your Web
merchandise.

Effective e-mail copy is not easy to develop, so be patient
and practice.

If you attempt to use bulk mailing systems that are not Opt-
In, you risk damaging your company's reputation.

Targeted banner delivery is another great way to target your
audience on the product launch date.

Remember from a previous article on banners that you can
target in two ways: through the banner message itself and through
sites that you choose to host the banner. Ideally, you want all
potential customers at your website at product launch, so
coordinate the distribution of your banner impressions. Simple is
honest.

Do not employ misleading or trick banners to get people to
click through. You will not get the conversions that you think.
Be enigmatic.

Many people simply don't click on banners and it is not
uncommon for one person to view multiple impressions of the same
banner. Your banner could get poor placement, being counted as an
impression when the page loads even though it may never be seen
by human eyes.

Commercial posts are not always welcome and can damage your
reputation in this promotional arena. Research the groups that
may be appropriate for you and monitor them to understand their
culture.

If you find a group that is appropriate, introduce yourself
and list the benefits of your new product. Allow users to
determine the value or your goods for themselves, offering an e-
mail address and a URL in the body of your message.

Product Post-Announcement

Several weeks after the product announcement it is time to
reflect -- and breathe again.

You should have experienced increased levels in both traffic
and sales. Having implemented a system to allow people to
register for further information about your site, you can now
share updates, announce sale prices and other newsworthy
information through a periodic newsletter. You may develop case
studies on how the product has been used successfully and share
them on your site.

Every online marketing campaign is unique.

Whatever type of campaign you are considering, the development
of a perfect strategy is manifest in time, budget and product.