ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY Issue 1.1 February 1995
(c) 1995 (MLC)
-- A new electronic newsletter written by Tom Mulkern, author
of "The Online Marketing Action Plan," offering strategies to
market your product or service through online marketing on
the commercial services, BBS's, and the Internet.
"7 STEPS TO ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS!"
by Tom Mulkern
Have you ever seen anything like this rush of people
trying to make money in cyberspace?
It's a lot like the goldrush of the last century when
thousands of people headed north to Alaska trying to stake
their claim.
However, in that goldrush most found nothing ... they
set off ill-prepared for the elements ... they could not
survive in the unfamiliar territory ... they were driven
by greed ... and many thought they struck it rich only to
find out it was "fool's gold" ...
It will be much the same in this cyberspace goldrush
for you unless you take the time to learn about the
territory before you try to exploit it. The problem is,
there is so much misinformation and hype out there, that can
be difficult.
The purpose of this newsletter is to try to cut through
some of that hype and give you an overall view of what is
possible in online marketing--and what's not--so you can
start utilizing this tremendous resource to grow your
business or start a new Cyberbusiness of your own!
First of all, marketing is still marketing. What we
have online is a new way to deliver our messages. In a way
it is simply another medium of communication much like
direct mail, newspapers, radio or television. However, there
are numerous differences and advantages to marketing online
compared with these other mediums.
For one, your costs are extremely low both for
advertising and PR *and* for delivering documents via email
to your prospects and customers. Also, if you have an
information based product such as a book or report or
software, you can even have the actual product delivered
to your customer via email or other means such as FTP.
This eliminates your typesetting and printing costs!
How can you start taking advantage of this? In order to
help you put things in perspective, I've boiled down the
process of implementing a successful online marketing
project into 7 specific steps for you to use. These steps
are:
1.) Defining your market and outlining your marketing plan.
Before you do anything, you need to determine exactly
how much of your market is online. Keep in mind that this is
not a mass market like TV or newspapers. It is a large and
growing market, but it is broken down into many small
"sub-markets" of online users. The good news is that it is
very easy to identify the people you are trying to reach.
Online users are sorted into thousands of easily identified
groups in:
. the various forums and SIG's (special interest groups) on
the commercial services. Use the "find" command and
keyword search to identify relevant topics.
. newsgroups and mailing lists on the Internet. Use your
newsreader or AOL to do a keyword search for groups.
You can also search mailing lists on the WEB at:
http://alpha.acast.nova.edu/cgi-bin/lists
. privately owned BBS's. Get Boardwatch magazine or Computer
Shopper for lists of BBS's and BBS list holders.
2.) Make sure you create or choose a product that has
a good chance of selling online!
Although you can use online marketing for virtually
any business (as a testing and research vehicle at minimum),
there are some types of products that will sell better online
than others. Keep in mind the demographics. For the most part,
you are dealing with relatively affluent computer users. Most
have well paying jobs, many are business owners and entre-
preneurs, educators and professionals.
Also keep in mind that we are dealing with an
*information* medium. You can sell pizza like Pizza Hut is
doing on the Internet, and you can sell flowers or even houses,
but your best bet is going to be selling an information-based
product (like books, software, CD-Roms's), or an information-
based service (like consulting, legal and professional services,
information brokering, or training and education.)
3.) Creating your online marketing documents.
Once you've identifed your market, detailed how you
will reach it, and decided what you are going to sell, your
next step is to create the actual marketing communications
you will use to sell online. These could be any of the
following:
. Classified ads
. Reports
. Sales letters
. Electronic postcards
. Articles
. Newsletter
. Press releases
. Announcements
You can use ads, announcements, electronic postcards,
and articles to generate leads and then follow up with your
sales letters, reports, or other literature electronically
and/or by mail or phone.
4.) Testing and getting your first successful test.
Once you've prepared your ads and follow up materials,
it's time to start the ball rolling and place your ads and
lead generating messages. Because of it's size and the
upscale demographics, I strongly recommend you start with
Compuserve. It's extremely important that you closely track
where your orders and your leads come from. Yes, it is
cheap to place classifieds and post messages, but you would
be amazed at how the classified costs, phone charges and
online charges can add up for a large campaign. Make sure
you're being honest with yourself and stop any advertising
that is not showing a net profit.
5.) Rolling out to major online services and key BBS's.
Once you're in a net profit situation for your project,
you can "roll out" to the other commercial services and then try
some of the "small" BBS's. Prodigy and America On-Line are both
very effective places to avertise. Genie and Delphi are not as
good but should be tested. Pick a few local BBS's relevant to
your product (look in Boardwatch or alt.bbs.lists on the 'net),
and post articles and ads if they have classified areas.
6.) "Rolling Out" to the Internet.
Once you are showing a net profit on the commercial
services, it's time to start thinking about the Internet.
However, be forewarned, the Internet is a whole different
ballgame. While the commercial services are much more
tolerant of advertising (which makes the users much more
responsive), you cannot necessarily use the same techniques
on the Internet.
Think in terms of *in-direct* marketing on the
Internet ... give a way free newsletters, offer free
advice in newsgroups, offer free excerpts from books and
reports ... This works much better than trying to post
blatant ads in newsgroups and to mailing lists (many of
which prohibit any kind of advertising). Make sure you take
the time to study the Internet; always get the FAQ's
(Frequently Asked Questions) from the disucussion groups
you are interested in participating in.
Look into setting up a domain or "site" on the Internet
and use announcements, news releases, electronic postcards
and articles to direct people to your site. If you do it
right, the Internet could be a goldmine for you ... if you do
it wrong, it could be a marketing nightmare ...
7.) Automating your electronic marketing project.
One of the MAJOR advantages to electronic marketing is
the technology that helps you automate your business such
as Fax-On-Demand, Pay-Per-Call numbers, BBS's and Internet
Auto-Responders (or mailbots.) Once you have a project up
and running successfully, you should start thinking in terms
of using these "hands-free" technologies to help you better
serve your customers and "automate" your business.
For example, with an auto-responder on the Internet,
it's like having your own "robot" who sends your letters and
documents automatically to your customers and prospects --
eliminating printing, postage and labor costs! ... AND getting
the information into your prospects hands within minutes!
One final word. Online Marketing is exciting, the
potential is awesome, but don't focus on Online Marketing at
the exclusion of the traditional forms of marketing.
Remember, the vast majority of the world is NOT sitting in
front of their computers waiting for your sales message.
They are in front of the TV, reading the newspapers and
going to their mailbox. Unless you have a product that can
only be sold online, you are making a big mistake if you
don't look at the big picture. Use online marketing for all
it's worth--absolutely! ... But use it as one of many potent
weapons in your overall marketing arsenal.
There you have it ... "7 Steps to Online Marketing
Success!" Keep these steps in mind as you advertise
your business or start a new "CyberBusiness" of your own
online. By using this formula, and by being patient,
persistent, and delivering real value, you may just be one
of the few who does indeed strike gold in cyberspace!
See you next issue!
ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY is a freely distributed marketing
newsletter by Tom Mulkern. Tom is an entrepreneur and marketing
consultant, and the author of the new book, "The Online Marketing
Action Plan." He specializes in helping entrepreneurs and small
businesses increase their profits by using online marketing in
the context of an overall marketing plan.
For a FREE 10-Page Report that gives you more tips and
techniques for creating information products and marketing
successfully online, send email to Tom at AOL: mulkern
or CALL (800) 536-7836 and request Report #401. Pathfinder
Publishing, 21 Bartlett's Reach, Ste. 201, Amesbury, MA 01913.
(c) Copyright 1995. Thomas J. Mulkern. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this document in
electronic format, as long as it is maintained in it's
entirety, including this notice, and no fee is charged to
the user.