Vendor Alliance Program Launches - December, 2009

FEATURED ARTICLE
(Part 2 of 2)

Back in October, we covered what it means to passively market your website to end users. You'll remember this means putting your website address (URL) out there every chance you get and hoping customers will type it in to find you. Now we'll cover active marketing and why you need to use a combination of the two for the very best results for your web store.

Active Promotion

When you promote your website in an active manner, you are taking steps to draw customers to your website. There are lots of ways to do this. By far the most common active promotion methods are pay-per-click marketing and placing ads on strategic websites. You may already be familiar with Google's AdWords features, where you can pay for higher placement among the results of specific keyword searches. You can also place ads on partner websites or in complementary e-newsletters. These let the end users click directly to your website and help increase awareness of your web store.

You also can offer something in return for a customer coming to your website. A monthly sweepstakes drawing is an example; it gives customers a reward for surfing to your site even if they don't buy something. You can set up a computer at your physical location's checkout counter and ask customers to enter their information to be added to your email list. This works even better if you have a computer set up at a trade show or local educational event targeted at your customers. Active promotion can also include follow-up surveys. This is your chance to ask your customers if they are aware of all the services your business offers, highlighting your web presence and capabilities.

Active marketing is often much more effective than passive marketing, up to ten times more effective by some accounts. The drawback is that it can be daunting and expensive until you find the right target search terms or websites on which to advertise. The possibilities are limited only by your budget, and it can become a nightmare to track what is landing actual sales. The results are worth dipping your toes in though, because a $100 investment per month on Google AdWords can turn into a big rise in traffic and sales.

Blending the Methods

The best approach is to blend both passive and active marketing. Because passive marketing is usually free, that should be something you are doing already. Put your URL on everything from business cards to t-shirts. Drop a flyer in the bag with your customer's merchandise. Make sure it's part of every ad you publish.

As your budget allows, try testing out some various active marketing methods. You may already be relying on word of mouth for much of your advertising, so why not start a website word-of-mouth campaign. Invite your customers to refer a friend to the website; they drop their referring friend's name at checkout, and you reward the referring customer with a 10% off coupon (or some similar campaign). Check into AdWords to see how expensive your most common search terms are. If you need help with the more complex active marketing ideas, give UniformMarket a call and we can share some of the options we already have in place to help you capitalize on your online store. The internet is still a relatively young marketing tool, but you're not alone in navigating the waters.

The UniformMarket staff is now offering FREE training during our weekly webinars. Each week a topic is explored to help web store administrators better use the UniformMarket Store System, market their web stores and sell more uniforms!

Webinars are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. CST. We will email notices of future webinars, or you can check here for a current webinar schedule.