Top 10 Internet Marketing 

Strategies

Internet marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your business, and enhance branding
of your company and products. If you are just beginning your online marketing strategy the top 10 list below will get you
started on a plan that has worked for many.

1. Start with a web promotion plan and an effective web design and development strategy.

2. Get ranked at the top in major search engines, and practice good Search Optimization Techniques.

3. Learn to use Email Marketing Effectively.

4. Dominate your marketing niche with affiliate, reseller, and associate programs.

5. Request an analysis from an Internet marketing coach or Internet marketing consultant.

6. Build a responsive opt-in email list.

7. Publish articles or get listed in news stories.

8. Write and publish online press releases.

9. Facilitate and run contests and giveaways via your web site.

10. Blog and interact with your visitors.

B2B Marketing: Reasons to Adopt Social Media Marketing

In recent weeks I met with a B2B company to discuss marketing options. The topic of community and social media came
up and I was reminded of how difficult it has been for the B2B segment of businesses to grasp a hold of the power in social
media when one business is marketing to another. The value has still not been understood. They still view this type of
marketing as not relating to them, when in actuality social marketing is becoming one of the most effective ways to
market online.
 In today's economy B2B companies are decreasing their marketing dollars and spending more online. A recent survey by
B2B Magazine revealed that over 48% of those surveyed were increasing their online marketing spend.

Why is there such an effectiveness in social media?

Truth is, so many people are tired of "marketing speak." Social media allows companies to relate to one another and
bypass the fluff.

Let's take a look at what the online definition of social media, I've chosen to use the definition from wikipedia since it is
user generated.

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and
perspectives with each other. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video.
Popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs.

The definition alone should reveal to you how important it is that B2B companies explore social media marketing channels.

In a recent study done by KnowledgeStorm of B2B technology decision makers the following statistics were revealed:

 90% Participate in Video

 80% Participate in Blogs
 80% Participate in Wikis
 69% Participate in Social Networks
 53% Participate in Podcasts

In the same study it was shared that of 69% of B2B buyers use social networks "primarily for business networking and
development."

At a minimum B2B businesses should at least be involved in communities and social network where there customers
already are. Explore the opportunity to reach out to key influencers in your target market and optimize your content and
social media applications for syndication.

I know that stepping out into social media can feel somewhat daunting for more traditional marketing team, but it doesn't
have to be difficult to be successful. Chose a few initiatives that will work well for your company and gain you incremental
success until you are more comfortable in really delving into the social media and applications.

Social media enables you to :

 Share your expertise and knowledge

 Tap into the wisdom of your consumers
 Enables customers helping customers
 Engages prospects through customer evangelism
Market segmentation

Segmentation is concerned with identifying different groups of purchasers in a market in order to

target specific products and services for each group or segment.
By tailoring the offering (communication, product, channel, price) to different groups you are
able to more precisely meet the needs of more customers and consequently to gain a higher
overall level of share or profit from a market.
The process of segmentation starts with research and market analysis to identify key segments.
However the findings of the research are just the start. To be successful, implementing a
segmentation strategy involves aligning the organisation to deliver appropriately for each
segment and there are real business issues to be considered.

There are four major ways of segmenting a market according to the level of precision you require
and the type of data and analysis available about your customers. In finding different market
segments it is important to keep in mind that you will have to use the segments. Important
questions are therefore how are you going to place customers into each group and how are you
going to target and track each group. Do you leave it up to the customer to select themselves
into a segment, or do you have specific segment sales managers?

1. A Priori segmentation

In a priori segmentation, the market is split according to pre-existing demographic criteria such
as age, sex or social economic status. More sophisticated versions include lifestage (which
combines information about age, presence of children and working status) and geodemographics
such as Experian's Mosaic or CACI's Acorn classification systems where households are allocated
to specific clusters on the basis of typical household make up and housing type.

A priori segments are easy to define and easy to target with advertising and media. For some
sectors, for instance technology, there are such strong relationships between age and use, that a
priori segments are all that are needed. However in other markets - for instance drinks, it is
more difficult to use pre-existing variables for segmentation.

A priori segmentations are also the simplest segmentation to apply and use. A database can be
flagged or sorted on the pre-existing data and that data used to drive sales and marketing
campaigns.
However, although better than pure mass marketing, even the most sophisticated a priori
systems are quite crude. In geodemographics there is the assumption that you buy or think the
same way as your neighbour which is clearly not always the case.

2. Usage segmentation (also known as decile analysis or pareto analysis)

There are two ways of carrying out a usage segmentation, firstly customers are split according to
their weight of use. - heavy users/buyers being more important targets than light users.

This segmentation can be carried out directly on customer databases and can be
extremely powerful in focusing activity based on the value to the business, not just the
number of contacts. Decile analysis splits users into 10 evenly numbered groups, which
Pareto analysis splits the top 20% from the bottom 80%. This is normally used in
business-to-business markets and is a core part of database analysis for
consumer markets.

Secondly, usage can be considered in terms of time and place. A cafe might sell sandwiches at
lunchtime but main meals in the evening because the purchasers are looking for different things.
It may even be the same purchaser just in a different "mode".

Usage studies are also extremely common in market research, but normally to determine
measures of market share and other metrics. However this information can also be used as the
basis of a segmentation approach.

Often usage segmentation is used to try and establish underlying driving forces from other
demographic variables. So if women are more likely to be heavy users would it be easier to
convert more light users who are female, rather than target their male counterparts. This
focusing of market activity on groups that are similar to heavy users gives rise to measures such
as "uplift" - the improvement possible over a purely random approach.

3. Attitudinal research and cluster analysis

When market research is used for usage studies, it is also often accompanied by attitudinal
research - what do customers think or believe about the category in question. This is commonly
achieved through banks of agree-disagree scales or ratings out of 5,7 or 10. The aim of these
studies is not just to understand commonalities in opinion, but also what makes one group of
users different from another.

To understand how attitudes affect purchase statistical techniques such as "cluster analysis" are
used where people with similar attitudes are combined together. For instance grouping those for
whom the environment is important separately from those who think price is more important.
This information can then be used to target groups by what they think and how they feel, rather
than just who they are. This is particularly valuable in determining branding strategies and
keeping a brand in tune with consumers.

However, attitudinal clusters do not fit easily into database or conventional media targeting
which are more often than not based on demographics. The translation from attitudes to
demographics means that some of the usefulness of an attitudinal segmentation is lost.
Companies can reach different attitudinal groups by offering a range of products and a range of
communication, but clearly the lack of a clear definition means cross-over between the targeting
of segments.

Attitudinal grouping also suffer from some problems with regard to their robustness and
replicability. Cluster analysis cannot be carried out in the field so scoring systems (similar to
credit scoring) or surrogate measures and variables are needed to allocate individuals to a
group. These additional measures can be guessed at, but normally need to be defined and tested
post-hoc. Repeating attitudinal analysis successful can be very difficult and expensive.

Attitudinal groups may also change or move over time as some views become fashionable or
unfashionable. It is possible to find a segmentation that quickly disappears or is superceded by
events (imagine the music market). There is also debate about how attitudes change - is it the
advertising and the product that create the attitudes, or do the attitudes lead to the choice of a
particular product. In particular a single individual in different circumstances or mode, may fit
into a different segment. Capturing this complexity in a single dimensional study is difficult.

4. Needs based segmentation

The fourth method is to try and determine fundamental drivers for the decision to create what is
known as a needs based segmentation.

Most needs-based segmentation uses Conjoint Analysis to split a category into different levels
of functional performance (see Conjoint Design). By understanding what elements are key
drivers for individuals, specific needs and requirements can be identified from the trade-offs that
each person makes. Using cluster analysis, this information can be drawn together to find
different segments with similar preferences and needs from the product category in question.

Needs based segments are typically the most actionable forms of segments as you know what
drivers and performance the product or service has to satisfy. These are normally more stable
than attitudinal groups as they should directly reflect and predict existing market share.

However, like attitudinal studies, because cluster analysis is used, targeting each of the
underlying groups can be difficult.
Nonetheless you also have the benefit of being able to product a market model or market
simulation using the Conjoint output.

Choosing a technique

The type of segmentation you use will depend on a lot of factors including the cost not only of
conducting the research, but also of implementing the solution and the business impact.
Consequently ideally for each segment or group you want to know what the economic value and
the economic potential for each group is and have some idea as to whether this is increasing or
falling. Consequently most quantitative segmentation studies are detailed and complex.

A more cost-effective approach is to develop groups based on qualitative research. Typically a

business wants to minimise the number of segments it has as each costs money to target
properly (database marketing and digital printing techniques allow for far finer targeting without
too much additional cost). With small numbers of big segments, a good researcher will be able to
identify these groups within a programme of qualitative research. This will not gather economic
data, but it enables deeper insight into each group and, if monitored over time, provides core
information about how segments change and develop.