Free Website Content - Short Term vs Long Term Marketing
Short Term Vs Long Term Marketing
In order to create consistent sales cycles
and a positive growth trend businesses usually engage in
both short and long term marketing efforts.
Short-term marketing efforts tend to cause
sudden sales spikes which rarely last. These sharp sales
increases are usually the result of a targeted marketing
campaign or time limited offer. While short-term marketing
produces sales, long-term marketing efforts must be mixed
in to sustain sales.
Short Term Online Marketing
Mentions
Positive product mentions in forums, newsgroups
or within trade organizations can result in a traffic or
sales surge. Product endorsements and newsgroup conversations
are difficult for marketers to control and time, so while
product mentions in forums are short-term marketing, they
lack the organized exposure necessary to maintain sales
momentum.
Discounts
Marketing campaigns that involve coupons, discounts
or time-limited offers can also generate product interest.
It is important to use promotional offers sparingly or long-term
sales could be jeopardized by having customers "wait" for
the next offer to purchase.
PPC / Advertising
The easiest and fastest way to generate product
interest is, of course, to pay for it. Pay-per-click campaigns
are known to drive significant targeted traffic. Sadly,
when the campaign funding ends, the traffic and sales generally
do, too. Regardless, it is important for marketers to realize
that with short-term marketing, sellers can often control
sales and infuse cash into a fledgling product, service
or business.
Short-term marketing is also useful for test-marketing
new products or split-testing to find the appropriate price
point. With pay-per-click advertising marketers can control
the ebb and flow of site visitors and make a determination
about what banners, keywords, text copy and graphics convert
at the highest rate. The lessons learned in short-term marketing
can then be implemented in the long-term marketing strategy.
Marketers can determine the effectiveness of sales copy
and landing pages, implementing them in a long range of
marketing activities.
Long Term Online Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Undoubtedly the most time consuming, yet important
aspect of long-term marketing involves preparing and optimizing
a website for search engines. Currently the majority of
Internet surfers seeking a product or information look to
search engines. Most Internet surfers use keywords to search
for the product, service or information that they are looking
for. Knowing your audience and optimizing a site for keywords
and phrases that potential consumers would use in their
search for a product or service is critical to being found
on the Internet.
Search engine optimization pays long-term dividends, but
is an ongoing process, as the search engines themselves
are constantly evolving their algorithms. The goal of search
engines is to provide web surfers the best sites suited
to the web surfers' search terms.
Often, changes implemented will not be "seen" by search
engines for several months. It is important to follow search
engine guidelines and be patient.
Fresh Content & Communication
A stream of fresh content like newsletters, tips or blog
posts will result in long-term quality traffic. Fresh content
that is posted and updated on a regular basis will encourage
visitors to return. Archived content will build a base for
a variety of related keywords.
Syndicated Articles
Related industry articles will result in genuine
interest from a very targeted audience. Providing related
content articles that are available for syndication will
result in links back from websites that contain similar
content. Over time, articles can define a company's expertise
on a subject area. Ultimately, syndicated articles can build
confidence with prospective customers and a level of trust.
When designing a marketing campaign, consider
threading long-term and short-term marketing efforts so
that sales are stable and consistent. By implementing a
marketing plan that involves both short and long-term efforts,
sales success can be achieved.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and
podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage
http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
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