You may have heard the term Marketing Mix used in connection with marketing planning.
Marketing Mix means the combination of promotions, products, places (distribution channels), and prices you chose for your business. Including both short term and long term strategies in the marketing mix can make for a more profitable business.
Long term strategies build brand/company awareness and give sales revenue a permanent, gradual boost. Short term strategies create a temporary, immediate revenue boost by giving buyers an incentive to purchase.
By implementing both long and short term strategies, you can attend to immediate sales goals while building your business reputation and goodwill. Some examples of both types of strategies are below.
Long Term Strategies
Branding. General advertisements and other high profile activities contribute to your company's image. These points of contact with your target customer help mold your image, which in turn can create loyalty from your customers.
Philanthropy. Donating money, services, and/or time can build trust and a positive image for your business. Philanthropy contributes both toward your branding efforts and your company's internal well being.
New Product Pipeline. New products in development represent your future sales. If you get feedback from your customers or potential target market then design new products (or change existing ones) to meet their needs, you are ensuring a demand for your products in the future.
Short Term Strategies
Reduced Price Sales. Limited time sales encourage customers to act. You likely have customers intending to buy but have not "gotten around to it". Holding a sale will give them incentive to purchase.
Group Discounts and Offers. Discounts or other offers to a specific group can help exposure your business to new customers, resulting in a sales surge.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engines. Pay per click search engines are another way to become visible to new customers. Use them carefully, however. Do not bid more per click than the profit you expect to make from that click.
Search Engine Roles in the Marketing Mix
High search engine placement can produce both short term and long term results. Short term, you can gain immediate sales. Long term, results come as potential business partners find your site.
Do not, however, become obsessed with search engine optimization to the detriment of your other marketing strategies. Search engine marketing should be one part of a more comprehensive plan. Include other marketing strategies in your plan to reach additional customers.
As an example of how this can work, I generally put only two or three hours a month into direct search engine optimization. My primary focus is on quality content, which simultaneously creates stronger search engine rankings for my site and makes the site more attractive to visitors. This approach has gotten me results with Google - nearly 20,000 visitors a month through the free search engine as of June 2004.
Another approach to search engine optimization is to hire an outside expert to work on search engine marketing while you focus internally on other parts of the marketing mix. If you take this route, however, be alert for agencies that use tricks that go against search engine guidelines to increase your rankings. They may get you results in the short term, but could get your site reduced in rankings or banned in the long term. My personal choice for a search engine marketing consultant would be any of the moderators at highrankings.com forums who provide search engine marketing services.
Help Creating an Effective Marketing Mix
More ideas for creating an effective marketing mix are in the target marketing plan and Web promotion guide How Much for Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing for Small Budget Businesses by Bobette Kyle.
