The biggest questions you face when creating Internet marketing materials?

[Bnonn]

Hi everyone. I'm thinking of writing an info product on internet marketing for SBOs (my specialty is direct response copywriting). I'm pretty certain there's a market for such products, but I want to be sure I answer the right questions. So:

What are the biggest problems you face when creating Internet marketing materials. What are the top questions you'd ask if you had an expert standing over your shoulder? What are the major issues you'd want him to help you tackle?

Thanks in advance!

PS. I'll be giving away free copies of this product to everyone who's helped me with feedback, so don't be shy!

[vangogh]

Hey Bnonn. I don't think I'm your target market since the issues you're asking about aren't really problems for me. However I thought I'd offer some thoughts in part to make sure this thread moves up to the top of the new post list so others can see it. Sometimes activity here isn't much over the weekend and I didn't want to see your questions fall through the crack.

I'm guessing a bit, but I would think what people would most need help with is writing the copy in a way that helps convince people to buy or take whatever action they want people to take. Oddly as important as copy is, so many people don't seem to think they need help writing it. Everyone can write, though not everyone can write well.

Another issue might be discover where to place the marketing materials and how to specifically create those materials for the specific place. The design and formatting of the materials could also be another potential issue.

What I see with a lot of people is they might try sending out something as part of a marketing campaign and then see very limited or even no measurable results. After that the conclusion seems to be the marketing won't work for their business. Maybe some thoughts on how to run a real campaign as opposed to sending a single piece of marketing material with explanations about what each part of the campaign is meant to accomplish in the overall goal of generating a sale.

Hopefully more people will see this now and chime in with better responses.

[Bnonn]

Howdy vangogh; thanks very much. Hopefully others will put their oars in soon (:

[nealrm]

To what Vangogh said I will add - Getting people to see it in the first place. Really internet marketing has two front. First you need to get the message infront on the right custmer and then have something good for them to read.

[Patrysha]

And then you leverage that initial traffic and great content and work on generating word of mouth...

The small business owners I work with are half terrifed of computers and really have no interest in going beyond the basics, so they wouldn't be creating info products. As for myself, I've learned and worked for some of the best in the world in terms of marketing and info-products...I just find it harder to apply than any of the pros make it look...but I know they didn't get where they are overnight either...

[vangogh]

To add to what Patrysha said I've seen the same thing. Many of my clients are usually not those that would want to create their own marketing content and if they did it's likely because they aren't willing or able to spend money to hire someone. Is it possible that a better market for you info product would be the people the typical small business owner would hire to create their marketing content.

Take me for example. I don't specifically offer the creation of marketing materials (other than a website) as a service, but it's an easy fit for my business. I do offer limited seo services for example, including content creation. If I were to hire a couple of people as part of growing my business someone to design marketing materials and write the copy for them are likely choice. Maybe someone like me and the people I hire would make for a better market for your product. Just a thought.

[KristineS]

I know the one thing I would avoid is making Internet marketing sound easy. So many people start talking about having a Twitter or Facebook account or even a website as though simply having one is enough to create clients and business. No one ever spells out the fact that it takes work and time. Another item that rarely gets mentioned is the fact that there is more than one way to be successful online and that the business owner may have to experiment a bit to find the way that works best with their customers and their business.

[seolman]

Some great advice here - just my 2 cents about "web marketing".

I remember a couple years ago I read an article indicating 1-800-flowers.com (a business that is 100 percent web based) shifted about $40M to print ads because people were becoming "ad blind" on the web. I think most would agree there is a lot of competition on the web for eyeball time. I just wanted to mention "web marketing" may include a mix of web based and non-web-based components such as email, blogging, social marketing, web based ads or even radio, TV and printed publications to name but a few. I am reminded of LegalZoom.com - a site that used TV to build web traffic. If you have a catchy or easy to remember web site name it may be possible to use radio, TV and of course printed media to get traffic up.

[Bnonn]

Hey guys, thanks for your great feedback. Keep it coming.

Just to clarify: I'm targeting online entrepreneurs and small business owners. People who are relatively comfortable with the idea of having a website, who want to improve their website (and associated online material), but who haven't currently got the budget to hire someone for that.

[vangogh]

Are you thinking this would be more of a general basic guide or more a step-by-step kind of thing? Just curious as to the approach.