Marketing Path: The First Steps

Posted on February 22, 2008 - Filed Under Marketing |

Part 2 of 2

From yesterday, the customer goes through different stages before they finally purchase a product. Today the first step between Suspect and Prospect will be broached.

To explain the theory behind this would not only bore you to tears but require me to become inebriated to the point where this article could not be finished. So I’ll explain through example.

My fictional online business idea: Sell Twinkies. Everything Twinkies. Twinkie shirts, Twinkie underoos, Twinkie Body Bags . . . we sell it all.

Start with Lord Google, the man with all the keys. Since nearly every homosapien uses his services this will be the place where we will focus on getting our message in front of our Suspects.

Millions of Twinkie websites exist. The trick: get the suspect doing the web search to (1) notice our ad (2) click on our ad. How do we do this?

“FREE”

Offer something for “FREE”. People love “FREE” stuff. But the offer must be something worthwhile. If we offered “Free poke in the eye with every purchase” then people will not click on the ad. Different examples of how to write up ads exist with Duct Tape Marketing and 4HWW.

My ad shall be a free educational newsletter. If valuable enough people will give up their email address. If they do, we have permission to start slowly marketing to them. Notice the word “marketing”, not “selling”. If the person’s email box is suddenly filled with “Buy our Twinkie Toothpaste” then your email may get deleted, reported as spam, and boogers flicked in your direction.

My inaugural, free newsletter shall be “Secrets of the Twinkie Diet Revealed! Free Report!” Armed with a great newsletter, the ad-campaign is launched.

Within the first week, nearly two thousand click-thru’s bring suspects onto the website. Two hundred give up their email for that newsletter thereby becoming Prospects.

It is feasible some Prospects will buy some products thereby becoming Clients. But that’s another topic. Those two hundred, we can start our marketing campaign.

For my real online business, the “Free Newsletter” will be used to gather the pool of Prospects.

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