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	Reading: What Is Niche Marketing - Educational Series (Part 2)

Planning in Internet Marketing – Market Segmentation

 

 

Market segmentation is widely defined as being a complex process consisting in two main phases:

 

 

- identification of broad, large markets

 

 

- segmentation of these markets in order to select the most appropriate target markets and develop Marketing mixes accordingly.

 

Everyone within the Marketing world knows and speaks of segmentation yet not many truly understand its underlying mechanics, thus failure is just around the corner. What causes this. It has been documented that most marketers fail the segmentation exam and start with a narrow mind and a bunch of misconceptions such as "all teenagers are rebels", "all elderly women buy the same cosmetics brands" and so on. There are many dimensions to be considered, and uncovering them is certainly an exercise of creativity.

 

The most widely employed model of market segmentation comprises 7 steps, each of them designed to encourage the marketer to come with a creative approach.

 

STEP 1: Identify and name the broad market

 

 

You have to have figured out by this moment what broad market your business aims at. If your company is already on a market, this can be a starting point; more options are available for a new business but resources would normally be a little limited.

 

The biggest challenge is to find the right balance for your business: use your experience, knowledge and common sense to estimate if the market you have just identified earlier is not too narrow or too broad for you.

 

STEP 2: Identify and make an inventory of potential customers' needs

 

 

This step pushes the creativity challenge even farther, since it can be compared to a brainstorming session.

 

What you have to figure out is what needs the consumers from the broad market identified earlier might have. The more possible needs you can come up with, the better.

 

Got yourself stuck in this stage of segmentation. Try to put yourself into the shoes of your potential customers: why would they buy your product, what could possibly trigger a buying decision. Answering these questions can help you list most needs of potential customers on a given product market.

 

STEP 3: Formulate narrower markets

 

 

McCarthy and Perreault suggest forming sub-markets around what you would call your "typical customer", then aggregate similar people into this segment, on the condition to be able to satisfy their needs using the same Marketing mix. Start building a column with dimensions of the major need you try to cover: this will make it easier for you to decide if a given person should be included in the first segment or you should form a new segment. Also create a list of people-related features, demographics included, for each narrow market you form ' a further step will ask you to name them.

 

There is no exact formula on how to form narrow markets: use your best judgement and experience. Do not avoid asking opinions even from non-Marketing professionals, as different people can have different opinions and you can usually count on at least those items most people agree on.

 

A good way of naming these markets is to rely on the most important determining dimension.

 

STEP 6: Evaluate the behavior of market segments

 

 

Once you are done naming each market segment, allow time to consider what other aspects you know about them. You might notice that, while most segments have similar needs, they're still different needs: understanding the difference and acting upon it is the key to achieve success using competitive offerings.

 

STEP 7: Estimate the size of each market segment

 

 

Each segment identified, named and studied during the previous stages should finally be given an estimate size, even if, for lack of data, it is only a rough estimate.

 

Estimates of market segments will come in handy later, by offering a support for sales forecasts and help plan the Marketing mix: the more data we can gather at this moment, the easier further planning and strategy will be.

 

This 7 steps approach to market segmentation is very simple and practical and works for most marketers. However, if you are curious about other methods and want to experiment, you should take a look at computer-aided techniques, such as clustering and positioning.

 

 

Some customers or clients approve so strongly of a service or a product that they agree to not only endorse it, but also to actively recommend it to others. This is word-of-mouth marketing, since the customers or clients do it voluntarily, but in a way it also is much more advanced than that and has been termed as evangelism marketing.

 

This happens to be different from affiliate marketing, as those who are engaged in promotion, in this case, are not doing it for any personal gains. Those engaged in affiliate marketing receive incentives like gifts or monetary rewards.

 

They have greater credibility and are more likely to be trusted by prospective clients or customers, as they do not stand to gain materially from their actions.

 

In this manner, a company can increase the number of their sales and marketing team-members, without having to actually employ more people or to allocate more money for the sales budget. The goal, obviously, is to inspire all those who come into contact with the company, to promote its service or products to those who are known to them. Since their own reputation is involved while making recommendations and endorsements, they are likely to do so freely only when they sincerely believe that it is the best available alternative. Therefore, to acknowledge their loyalty and to treat them well is the kind of interaction that the company can begin with, in this regard, followed by facilitating them with the referrals that they may wish to make.

 

The communication with these individuals, then, has to be on a two-way basis and companies keep in touch with them through meet-ups, web-based chat, private forums, email, telephone, instant messaging and blogging, etc.

 

 

Every successful business has an intelligent strategy, and online businesses are no different. However, given the many additional marketing avenues that the internet provides, it is easy to develop tangential campaigns that are not complimentary to your overall business strategy. By verifying that all of your online marketing efforts compliment your corporate message, you will be able to reap the full profits of branding.

 

Avenues of Internet Marketing Branding

 

 

o PPC keywords and ad copy should espouse your marketing punch line.

 

o Online press releases are most effective if they point out the benefits of your business website, and these benefits should be congruent with what you are plugging in your messages and slogans.

 

o Banner ads provide that great visual element, where you can use imagery and text to drive your message home.

 

o Website content is very valuable in helping the search engines increase your rankings, as well as compelling your visitors to convert through your branding message. Develop your budget, research your target audience, find the right keyword and begin creating the perfect copy for your advertising campaigns. After you have pushed the go button on your marketing campaigns, it is important to monitor what keywords, banner ads, landing pages, and ad copy are effectively yielding you a good ROI. We want it to provide enough information to draw traffic to our site, increase interest in our business, give us credibility and ultimately create a momentous “buzz” about what we're marketing. In the past year there has been a strong response by potential consumers to video marketing which in-effect accomplishes all of those objectives and more.

 

By doing a brief or “quick hit” well planned video, you are able to establish instant credibility because the prospect can easily relate to you.

 

 

Before you think of building a career in internet marketing, you should consider take up internet marketing training courses.

 

 

 

How To Improve Your Email Marketing Skills

 

 

Email marketing, when executed properly, is an extremely effective marketing tool. Above all else, you should make sure you produce valuable, compelling content - if people aren't interested in what you have to say, they aren't going to subscribe for future emails.

 

One thing to bear in mind before writing your content is getting past the spam blockers; junk filters are quick to block suspicious messages. This is why it's important to avoid spammer's language; words and phrases such as 'FREE!', 'Buy now!', 'Congratulations' and 'Winner!' should be avoided at all costs. Junk filters are quick to pick-up on this 'salesy' jargon and so are the public.

 

Your subject line is the shortest piece of content you need to write but also the most important; it needs to be intriguing enough to get your email opened but not too pushy to drive people away. Good subject lines will offer to solve a problem, describe a benefit or arouse curiosity; this should lead to a click through to the rest of your content. Using an editorial magazine style often helps when writing the subject line and ellipsis (") at the end of a sentence always creates a sense on intrigue"

 

 

The main bulk of content in your email needs to be specific to your target reader; think about what your target reader would like to hear. Mistakes are often made when emails are written without with target audience in mind; the content is meant to build relationships with potential customers and make them feel like a pal. This part of the email must be concise and stick to the point, you don't want the reader to lose their trail of thought and you want them to stay focused on one thing and one thing only - your service or product.

 

The layout of your content needs to be broken up by headlines, captions, bullet points or lists. Sub-heading and captions make text easier to read, and the reader can choose which sections to read at their leisure.

 

Including a link to your website somewhere in your email is brilliant way to increase traffic to your site and encourage readers to find out more. You could also link to an online form for readers to fill out for more information, keep the form short and sweet, readers don't want to be spending more than a minute filling it out - you could also include a phone number for the same purposes.

 

It's important to track your email once it has been sent; your subscribers will tell you what you are getting right and what you are doing wrong and it's important to listen to their views. From this, you can improve your email for next time. Don't be disheartened if your email campaign takes a while to get started, the feedback you receive is essential in making your email a success.

 

 

Sometimes the most profound new marketing strategies strike you at first as not new at all. Hey, I knew that already doesn't disqualify something from dramatically changing your business.

 

Enter setting expectations. Or even more accurately, NOT not setting expectations.

 

Problem: When you install an enterprise software system, the vendor must convert all the user company's data to conform to the new system. Meanwhile, the decision-makers at the user company start thinking, Wait a second, this new expensive software can't even handle the data our crappy current software handles just fine. What are we getting ourselves into. And eveything about the installation after that seems to go a bit rockier. Everything is seen through what-are-we-getting-ourselves-into eyes.

 

Problem: When a landscaping contractor remodels your back yard, the place looks awful (all torn up) for about 80% of the time. During that time the homeowner starts to question whether the contractor knows what he's doing.

 

Solution: Let me tell you how you're going to feel throughout some of the project. I know it's hard to imagine, but that's just the way these projects work. Realistic expectations foster comfort and a comfortable prospect or customer is a much happier prospect or customer.

 

 

A Few HINTS & TIPS TO GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST

 

 

Sending out strategic email campaigns is a great way to improve customer loyalty and gain new customers. Your customers will appreciate all the special offers and benefits they will receive from the newsletters. So how do you get customers to sign up. Here are a few tips to improve opt-in rates for your email marketing list. You really shouldn't rely on this. Even better than text, place a sign up graphic on nearly every page encouraging customers to sign up.

 

Be Trustworthy

 

 

Assure your customers that you will not sell their information to other advertisers. Email Marketing is a permission based service. But since there are so many types of email marketing campaigns you can send besides the usual sales or promotional push, keep reading and we'll bet you'll find your next type of email campaign.

 

The best Of or Our Favorite Products email

 

 

This simple email can be sent featuring a bunch of the best services or products that you've chosen. Even if you get a poor response, take the answers you have and create a customer favorites email campaign that highlights the services and products recipients find divine. Email discussion lists are great ways of communicating with people who have similar interests as the topic of your Newsletter. But with the recession projected to extend over the next few quarters, marketers are going to have to revaluate their business strategies; now more than ever the business environment is one of cutting marketing costs and increasing gains. There's no space in consumer's lives for untargeted, irrelevant emails anymore and neither should there be any room left in yours.

 

* To avoid junk email or one time email address users.

 

 

 

 

 

How  To Build A List & Maintain It

 

 

Email newsletters (aka E-zines) can be regarded as one of the best business communication tools invented for a long time.

 

+  They are low cost - even no cost in comparison to paying for paper, printing, envelopes, and postage.

+  They are environmentally friendly - no paper or transport to distant subscribers.

+  They allow you to stay on the radar of qualified prospects and existing customers in a low-key, non-threatening way.

 

Little wonder that so many businesses are jumping on the bandwagon with aggressive list-building tactics. The choice between right and wrong becomes paramount, and your ethics, credibility, and reputation all come in to play when you choose how to build your list.

 

The wrong ways, while not yet illegal, are currently under review and challenge by both the European Union and the United States of America. Some dodgy tactics include:

 

 

+  Buying databases and mailing lists from vendors who sell them

 

+  Adding every contact you meet at networking events

 

+  Mining other databases like Chamber of Commerce member lists and the Yellow Pages

 

+  Using 'Opt-out'

 

 

(Please note that I am NOT talking about occasional ad hoc emails, I am specifically referring to adding these names to your regular E-zine subscriber list)

 

 

Doing so will add thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of names to your list.

 

What is the point of a subscriber list of thousands who never asked to receive your information, probably will never even open your messages, and certainly will never do business with you. It's a c