Give Your Marketing Pull
By Barbara Eldridge

There are hundreds of books and articles too numerous to begin to count that deal with ways to get attention for your business. Most are predicated on delivering a message that speaks to your prospects' needs. The difficulty for small business owners is to be able to use the internet to deliver that message, without chasing away other prospects. On line advertising is moving away from just display ads and into a more interactive (pull) model.

Have you seen some of the car company TV ads that direct you to go to their web site and click on the car of your choice, and change the features, like color and accessories? The idea behind this involvement is once a customer has been pulled in with this type of advertising, Online Advertising Magazine says "companies can then strengthen that relationship through opt-in e-mail newsletters and focused word-of-mouth campaigns, moving the customer forward with the brand."

If you are using direct mail or print advertising, you always want to direct people to your web site which can give you more opportunity to interact with customers. Provide an interactive experience. Provide visitors with experiences that engage them, this enhances their interest in your product or service, and leads to sales. What kind of things can you use?

Remember the online experience derives its power from the ability to pinpoint what consumers are searching for. So perhaps you can use surveys, tips, free informational articles and an e-zine. A big part of all of this is making offers - something people will respond to. Offers need to be compelling and immediate and relevant as well as good deals.

Be willing to take a risk. Be flexible and willing to change if something isn’t working. We are in an era of rapid change, be open to it. You may not like what advertisers are doing, but you don’t want to be left behind.

The Challenge: Check out at least 3 of your competitors' sites. Look for what they are doing to engage their visitors. Then ask yourself, am I ahead of the game or behind? What do I need to do to catch up.

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Managing the Business You Have, a new Simple Steps Guide that easily lets you take the pulse of where you are in your business and quickly develop a plan of where you need to go. Your review will help identify areas that need strengthening and guide your growth as a business owner, leader and manager.