Effective Web Marketing: Using Technology to Build Awareness

Any effective marketing program must create a path to purchase, a smooth, well-defined path that takes your prospects from strangers to customers to loyal advocates. This article will explore the first milestone on that journey: attracting interest.

Remember that every business defines the stepping stones of their marketing path a little differently, but the mile markers along the path remain the same no matter what business you’re in.

Attract interest with traditional marketing

Traditional marketing (sometimes called “disruptive marketing”) spends a large percentage of its resources to attract the attention of the consumer. Before you can build a relationship with potential customers, they need to know who you are.

In marketing jargon, this is called building awareness. The goal is to clear the fog of information clutter and show potential customers what you have to offer. Traditional methods of raising awareness include direct mail (“spam”) and advertising.

Attracting interest was easy (but very expensive) in the traditional world of mass advertising. If you could raise enough money to run 30- or 60-second repeat ads on network television, the whole country would know about your product. A million dollar investment in a cosmetics advertising campaign in glossy fashion magazines would easily pay for itself many times over.

Raising awareness in the 21st century has become more complicated and potentially less expensive. The simple act of attracting interest has become more and more difficult as the Internet and information clutter have multiplied messages (especially sales messages) by a thousand.

But new technologies have also been created to focus attention on you and your offer.if you have something valuable to say.

Create awareness with web strategies

21st century methods of attracting interest include blogs, social networks (such as Facebook or MySpace), static websites, user-generated content sites (such as Squidoo or Tumblr), article marketing, and unsolicited email (spam).

I recommend any or all of these except the last one. Any form of spam destroys the possibility of creating positive and lasting relationships with your customers. Leave spam in the hands of criminals and scammers – there are many much more effective and responsible ways to promote your business.

The best thing about all of these methods is that they are usually cheap or free. But if you’re not in the “blognoscenti” yet, there are a couple of drawbacks you should be aware of. Some of these methods can be time consuming, although the effort may be worth it. With others, you should be careful to moderate any commercial messages with profit-oriented content.

In other words, put the needs of your prospects and customers before your own—always good marketing advice.

Also, always follow the policies of the service you are using regarding the commercial use of its technology. If you don’t pay attention to these policies, you may get blacklisted, and any work you’ve done on the project could be removed without notice.

For a quick Web 2.0 marketing technique that you can do yourself with no special technical knowledge and very little money or time, check out the remarkable communication lens on Squidoo. The first module is called “Get the Word Out Online” and it provides a link to a simple and effective strategy that can get you started right away. You don’t have to spend a penny on the services of a copywriter or marketing consultant, and the other costs are minimal or free as well.

What are the other steps along the path to purchase?

Getting attention is only the first step. Once you have your prospect’s attention, you should:

• obtain permission to continue the conversation with periodic informational communication such as an email or print newsletter. This communication must contain content that is valuable in itself, or you will immediately lose the attention you worked to create.
• Build trust by providing consistently high-quality information that benefits your readers.
• convert leads customers with calls to action, compelling offers, and other marketing/sales techniques.
• earn loyalty by continuing to nurture and develop the relationship on the basis of open and helpful communication.

As you develop your marketing, never lose sight of this path to purchase. Design each individual brochure, flyer, promotional email, or web page to move a potential customer just one step along the way.

To follow up: See a step in your marketing path that needs additional work? Make some decisions about how you will approach that. Develop an understanding of each step a complete stranger must take to become one of your loyal customers. What do they need to know along the way? What do you need to communicate to move them from one step to the next?

If you want to develop a more in-depth understanding of new tech tools and how they can help promote your business, you’ll want to bookmark a blog focused on this topic as a Copyblogger, Problogger, or Featured Communication. There’s a lot to learn, but because these tools are focused on everyday users rather than programmers, you can take a step-by-step approach and build your strategy over time.