3 Simple And Low Cost Marketing Ideas To Create Visibility

Marketing your business is one of the biggest challenges for any solopreneur – it’s a task we all find quite daunting, and are simply overwhelmed by all the information that’s available. Below I have put together some information on 3 simple and low cost marketing ideas, which you can easily implement right away to create more visibility for your online business and web site. They all work well for me!

To help you decide which is the best strategy (or strategies) for you, I have listed the pros and cons of each one.

Create a Blog

Pros

You can really show off your expertise by posting on a regular basis.

Blog posts don’t need to be very long – approx. 200-350 words.

If you have some important information to share, you can instantly create a post – no waiting for your next newsletter to make your announcement!

If you use a blogging platform such as WordPress, this is hosted on your website. Each time you post to your blog you are creating fresh content for your website, which the search engines love!

Cons

You need to post regularly - at least once a week – in order for this to be an effective marketing strategy.

You need to feel confident that you will be able to write fresh content regularly.

It can be difficult to build a direct relationship with your reader.

Publish an Ezine

Pros

Unlike a blog, readers sign up to receive your newsletter so you already have a connection with them.

You can build a relationship with your newsletter reader and encourage one-on-one communication.

You can go into more depth in your newsletter article than you can with your blog posts.

Your clients/target audience can get to know you through your newsletter.

Cons

You have to make a commitment to publish on a regular basis, otherwise your subscribers will see you as unreliable, and may even forget about you!

There is more work involved in putting together a newsletter than writing a simple blog post.

You will need to subscribe to one of the ezine distribution services – I strongly recommend you do this and not send your ezine via your email client!

Article Marketing

Pros

If you are already blogging or publishing a newsletter, you have your articles written.

It is highly likely that once you submit your article to one of the article submission sites, it will be picked up and published on other article submission sites.

Regularly submitting your articles will elevate you to ‘expert’ status within your field/niche.

Cons

You have to write the articles if you’re not publishing a newsletter or posting to a blog.

It takes time to manually research suitable article submission sites and submit articles.

In order for this strategy to be effective, you have to submit your articles regularly – at least once a month.

Conclusion: You can just pick one strategy to focus on, or you can do all three! Whichever one you choose make sure it’s the right one for you. The key is to be consistent in your approach. If you decide to go with a blog make sure you have the time and motivation to add new posts regularly – at least once a week. Don’t start a newsletter if you know you won’t be able to keep to a regular publishing schedule! And for article marketing to be effective you need to submit articles on a regular basis.

It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has stated that much depends on the depth of US housing declines from here, and in the UK Gordon Brown has said that the Government will do everything in their power to help homeowners. Prior to the MPCs quarter point rate cut last week, Brown went as far as saying that the Bank of England can afford to cut rates because the UK has low inflation. With oil around $109, low inflation might be gilding the lily somewhat, but Brown knows and fears that a plummeting UK housing market could have a dramatic impact on the wider economy.

Last week it was revealed that some mortgage companies actually put up their rates following the Bank of England’s rate cut. It was a further blow for consumers when it was announced that UK mortgage approvals were down 3.5% on the previous month, and to make matters worse house prices experienced their biggest monthly fall since 1992.The two factors are of course inextricably linked. Many, including Chancellor Alistair Darling have argued that the UK won’t follow the US with a housing slump. It is not just politicians who are be hoping the optimists are right. Friday got off to a bad start and got worse as the day progressed.

European equities were stagnant until the news of General Electrics earnings miss hit the wires. Almost immediately, the FTSE crashed 100 points with the DAX and CAC falling even further in percentage terms. GE was at one stage the world’s largest company by market capitalization, and due to the fact it earns most of its revenue outside of the US, it is often seen as a bellwether for the global economy. US markets opened down on the news and were driven down lower with the release of the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey and inflation data, which showed the worst readings since 1982 and 1900 respectively. Next week starts with UK PPI data on Monday, and the RICS house price balance around midnight. Tuesday starts with more UK inflation data, with CPI figures in the morning followed by US PPI and Empire State Business Conditions Index around midday.

Average UK Earnings and bonus data arrives on Wednesday morning followed by US core CPI around lunchtime. US Unemployment Claims come in on Thursday with Friday being a relatively light day on the data front. At one point last week the Nasdaq recorded its lowest volume for over a year and the VIX volatility index dropped to its lowest level since February. Low readings of the VIX can indicate complacency in the market and Fridays rout could be an indication that this was the case. As it is, Fridays sell off has hardly moved the VIX from its recent low and next week earnings season starts in earnest. There may therefore be some value in a volatility trade next week. Try an Up or down trade with BetOnMarkets.com, it will pay out if either of two triggers are hit. An up or down trade on the Nasdaq Composite with the triggers set as 2200 and 2400 could return 20% over the next 16 days.

Exploring Business Opportunities With Internet Marketing Research

The information collected and leveraged from Internet is invaluable from the marketing research point of view. Imagine gathering impartial information from literally millions of sources each day and deciding the marketing campaigns on this data. The information collected and leveraged from Internet is invaluable from the marketing research point of view.


Imagine gathering impartial information from literally millions of sources each day and deciding the marketing campaigns on this data. Internet marketing research provides a better vision to the business, which helps in delivering better products and better results.


There are many advantages of applying Internet to the marketing research. — Market Know How Online market research can give the comprehensive information about the various factors and aspects of the market such as market profile, trends, size, segmentation, competition, SWOT and demand prospects.


This exclusive and extensive online marketing research report certainly gives a big picture of the market scenario. — New Domains of Use Not only online research can be used for the market intelligence, but it can also be put into great use for many areas such as advertising, public relations, and interactive communication activities.


Internet marketing research is also useful in numerous other business functions such as Branding, Competitive analysis, Consumer Behavior and Customer Relationship Management and Investor Relationship Management. — New Opportunities Internet marketing research can provide insight into new market opportunities that may never be discovered.


And also, research can identify new business ventures, and offer the possibility to streamline the existing business processes, which results in more efficient execution of the process. New business opportunities and ventures result in the competitive advantage in the market by delivering better products at less value. — Competitive Advantage Competitive advantage enables the firm to create superior value for its customers and superior profits for itself.


There are many areas of competitive advantages including the firm’s cost structure, product offerings, marketing research, distribution network and customer support. Internet marketing research allows to gain advantage from the competitors by delivering accurate results at affordable costs.


The main task after getting the market research report is to implement the findings. The ultimate goal of the report is to make the research work for the enhancement of the business. While Internet market research is an integral step in improving the visibility online, its quality and flexibility of use allow it to be effortlessly applied to all aspects of marketing activities.


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