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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