Before creating an internet sales/marketing campaign or focusing your products to their niche market, you need to know how buyers think, what their habits are and how to persuade them to purchase from you.
Marketing analyses are constantly performed by companies around the world to measure their effectiveness and how to deal with the new customers behaviors, and the competitors strategies; and there are some highlights to remember.
We should take into consideration that half of internet purchases have been made after searching the net, giving a tremendous importance to the organic search results. Of course some categories have a higher tendency (as the online travel market for instance) than others as clothes where customers know more specifically what they are looking for.
Other important fact is that generic keywords are much more used than specific ones, meaning that people prefer to look for broad terms rather than brands of product names. However talking about conversions, even though brands are not so searched, their conversion rate into sales is higher than generic terms.
So here comes a usual question while creating an SEO strategy for your products/services: is it better to drive more generic traffic and then filter the few buyers, or to focus on lower amount of branded targeted searches with higher number of transactions per visitor Of course there is no absolute answer and the decision should be taken individually obeying the companys policies and the nature of the business.
As most of the searches before purchase come from generic terms, you can find a great opportunity focusing your attention into those keywords by using them as your new brand names and gain an attractive number of broad searches plus the benefit of the awareness for that keyword - as a brand.
Online purchases are made in average after 2-4 weeks from the first research as customers may go from general to particular results until they find what fulfills their expectations.
I expect that period will be shorter each time as customers learn to get what they are looking for faster; and because we - marketers - will continue improving our strategies to offer the right product to our client in fewer steps.
Mr. Daniel Katz is the Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd - experts in International Web Marketing and Marketing Strategies.
When portraying a new or upgraded product line, too many companies get caught up in meaningless impressive-looking images that fail to tell their story; or, they hide the product story among over-long corporate web infomercials. These are just two of the mistakes that can doom an online marketing demo to the annals of ineffective marketing artifacts.The most important online marketing question is Have I made my products easy to buy Among the things to consider when answering this question is whether the products features and benefits are easy to understand. One great way to ensure this is to create an online marketing demo using Flash or Video. Marketing demos are attention-getting, cost effective and if done right, powerful sales tools. But, it can be so tempting to concentrate on the sizzle that many companies forget the steak. Here are some fallacies about online Flash or Video marketing demos.
1. Silent Movies
They are hard to follow and there is no evidence to suggest that silent movies are making a comeback. Software product demos with complex interface screens, complete with cursors that point in several directions and screens that change without explanation, are confusing, and may suggest to your user that the product is harder to use than it really is. Spend the money to add audio.
2. Over-long demo
Approximately 3 minutes is about right: anything more runs the risk of losing the visitors interestregardless of how engaging the demo may be. This will give time for a 1.5-minute marketing pitch and an equal amount of time for screen shots. Remember, the purpose of this demo is simply to capture the customers attention. This is not a tutorial, which can run up to 5 minutes in length and demonstrate an important function in some depth. The goal is to help the customer focus his/her attention on what you have to offer. The website can be loaded with additional information and white papers. This demo will set the stage for a purchase. Then you can guide the viewer to more information.
3. Hide the Product Pricing
Dont make customer search for pricing; make sure it is shown right after the demo ends. And, end the demo next to a buy now or more information button. If you dont have confidence in your pricing, then you have a bigger problem than website design. After investing the time to watch the demo the viewer wants to know, Ok, what will this cost If you hide your pricing, it becomes a focus of attentionand a negative one at that.
4. One-way communique (forgetting to collect sales leads).
One of the reasons for creating a demo is to capture the attention of viewers browsing a site. If they are interested in viewing product demo, you will know something important about them. Once you have their email address, you can request permission to send them a targeted newsletter, specific information or a special discount. If they give you permission, you have taken the first step in opening a valuable dialogue with them.
5. Ostentatious graphics
Website visitors have passed the stage of being impressed with animation for its own sake. When website design was in its infancy, everyone was thrilled with the notion that they could have animations that flashed and icons that spun around. That quickly went away when people realized that they wasted precious download time. Use the same rule for demos. A splash screen that booms out the name of the product to great fanfare is a waste of time and money. Animated splash screens can be used effectively, but many times they are gratuitous and/or meaningless.
6. Full frontal corporate bio
Customers need to know that the company is reliable, and has a quality product. This should be done on the website in the main, and not in a 3 minute presentation. Dont spend valuable demo time on lots of corporate information. If viewers are interested, they can find it on your website. Honestly evaluate whether the information you include will make your product more saleable.
7. Reinvent content (Repurpose demos in a hundred different ways to make it a more worthwhile investment).
A demo can be repurposed in a hundred different ways to make it a more worthwhile investment, yet so many companies ignore this benefit. When writing demo scripts, think about the different audiences you can target with small changes. You can take the same script and add a section that targets resellers. With a change to some of the graphics, you have a demo that will be useful for the next annual business meeting. A few different changes and its useful for the companys international market. When you create several versions at once, the cost of the changes is minimal.
Copyright 2005 Digital Media Works, Inc.
Digital Media Works, Inc. founder Stephanie Diamond is a seasoned 25+ year management/marketing professional with experience building profits in a broad range of product and services businesses. Checkout her website services at