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Web Technology in Marketing: Friend or Foe?
by C.J. Hayden, MCC
Every independent professional should have a web site, an ezine, and
an email marketing strategy, right? If you're not taking maximum advantage
of web technology to market your professional services, you are behind
the times, and missing out on huge opportunities. At least that's what
most marketing experts would have you believe. But how valid is this
advice? And is it for everyone?
Before email was widely available, marketing
newsletters were printed on paper and sent by mail. There's no question that
e-mail is a more
economical solution for sending a newsletter. Instead of being able
to afford only a few hundred newsletters at a cost of $1 or more each,
you
can send tens of thousands for only pennies. With an ezine, technology
can save you money and allow you to extend your marketing reach. This
is one of the many ways that web technology can be your friend. Here
are some others:
- A web site can attract new customers to your business
from across the street or far outside your local area. If your site
has high rankings
in the search engines under appropriate categories, or many links
from keywords prospective clients might search for, you may get dozens
of
inquiries from people who otherwise would never hear of you.
- Using email
autoresponders can help you automate your follow-up with likely prospects.
Just subscribe a prospect to an autoresponder list
once, then send periodic broadcasts to the whole list, encouraging
prospects to hire you or attend your learning programs.
- Participating in online
discussion lists and message boards can allow you to network with a
large group of people in your target market without
leaving your home or office. Appearing on live chats or webinars permits
you to be a public speaker without the time and expense of travel,
and speak to national or global audiences.
For these reasons and more,
it appears that using web technology is an affordable way to reach
prospective clients easily. You can potentially
attract larger numbers of prospects for fewer dollars than with many
more traditional methods of outreach. But there are pitfalls.
Broadcast
email can be an efficient solution for following up with prospects
who already know about you. But it's a terrible way to
introduce yourself to a prospect for the first time. Far too many
coaches, consultants,
trainers, and other professionals add subscribers to their ezine
or autoresponder lists without their permission. Not only is this
ineffective as a marketing strategy since most readers simply delete
e-mail from
people they don't recognize, but it can seriously backfire when
someone is offended by your unsolicited mail.
Here are some other ways that using technology in marketing can
become your foe:
- Technology makes it easy to hide. When you have a web presence,
an ezine, and use e-mail autoresponders to contact your customers,
you
may think there's no reason to contact them in person. You may
feel justified in not picking up the phone, attending a business event,
or suggesting a lunch date if you think your technology is doing
the job for you. But a web site or e-mail isn't an equal substitute
for
a prospect hearing your voice or seeing your face. It's pretty
rare for someone to hire a professional without talking to him or her
first,
so if you put off the talking, you may also be putting off the
hiring.
- Launching and maintaining an attractive and useful website,
and achieving
high search engine rankings for it, can be an expensive and
time-consuming project. Unless you pay close attention to your budget,
you can
easily find yourself spending much more to land each client than
you would
ever pay using offline marketing methods. A high-traffic web
site is a valuable resource for a business that can take advantage
of
a global
presence or a large volume of new clients. But if your business
is primarily local or you only need a few new clients each year,
you
may end up paying for a level of visibility you don't really
need.
- Too many inquiries from the web can waste your time. Anonymous
visitors to your site will often email to ask about prices
and other details.
These inquiries are completely unqualified -- you don't know
anything about the people who are writing. If you take the
time for a thorough
reply to each one, they can consume a significant amount
of energy. On the web as well as off, prospects who are referred to
you
by people who know your work are much more likely to hire
you
than those who
find you by accident. If that's so, perhaps it makes sense
to put more effort into building referrals than into building a
broader
web presence.
Web technology is really no different than any other method of marketing
your services in that you must judge the appropriateness of each strategy
for your unique circumstances. If you find writing to be a chore, perhaps
a regular ezine is not the best choice for you. If you only need a few
large, local clients each year, you may want a web site for prospects
to explore after you contact them, but not spend your money on web directory
listings or search engine optimization. Autoresponder reminders may be
effective to increase enrollment in public workshops, but not such a
good idea to sell in-house training to corporations.
Just because a strategy is the latest and greatest doesn't mean it's
the best. Publishing a blog may be terrific if your target market spends
a lot of time online, but not so good to reach those who rarely open
their browser. Webinars can be an effective tool for attracting high-tech
or corporate clients, but not for home business owners or consumers
who operate older, slower computers with dial-up Internet access.
Relying completely on technology to bring in clients can also give
you a false sense of productivity. When you are writing copy for your
web site or setting up autoresponders, you feel like you are taking
action about marketing. And these activities can be important behind
the scenes steps, but you shouldn't confuse them with direct outreach
to prospective clients. Web copy won't make any sales until people
see it, and autoresponders will have no effect until people are subscribed
to them.
Web technology provides just another set of marketing tools, not a
complete solution. Using every marketing tool the web has to offer
is not a requirement of doing business. The purpose of your marketing
should be to bring you enough clients to earn the level of profit you
desire. When marketing technology adds to your bottom line, it's worth
employing. When it doesn't, there's no reason to use it.
About the Author
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands
of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing
system to double
or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding
All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at www.getclientsnow.com
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