Marketing Tools

You have your business and it's time to start getting the word out, which means determining which marketing tools will be the most efficient and effective for your business idea. It also will be ideal to choose marketing tools that you will feel comfortable with and that you can manage with a minimal expense. After all, most online business owners who are just starting out, generally don't have an enormous budget for their marketing projects.

There are advertising campaigns, from traditional models where you pay for an ad to run for a specific length of time on someone else's website, to pay-per-click and Google AdSense advertising. There are also email campaigns where you hire a company, or buy into a mailing list, and send information to potential consumers regarding your business and what you have to offer. Be careful about whom you hire or what list you buy into: spam is considered a federal offense now and you could potentially lose your business over it.

Social networking, as well as blogging, has also become a strong tool used to sell items or services. If you're not a great writer and can't stand the idea of writing, then you could certainly hire people to do the writing for you, but as with anything, you get what you pay for.

Whatever method you choose as your marketing tools -and it's a good idea to use more than one method together- you will need to understand your target audience, also known as your niche. You don't want to buy into a mailing list or advertise on a site predominantly targeted for senior citizens (for example, a medication site or mailing list) if you're selling the latest and greatest video games. You may if the holiday season is fast approaching and you actually believe that many of them are looking for that perfect gift for their grandchild for Christmas. Though, this is generally not going to be the case.

Marketing tools also have to do with the ads you write. The copy, in salesman parlance. Effective copy will sell -which, in this case means drive traffic to your site. Ineffective copy will only cost you money. To decide on which marketing tools you feel will work best for you, it's a good idea to read and ask around. There will be numerous online businesses that are similar to yours, but that offer completely different lines of merchandise or services so there's no threat of competition. Many people are willing to share their ideas.

Determine first of all who your target audience is. If you're targeting seniors, then social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace are probably not going to be your best investment. Then decide which marketing tools you will want to work with at first. Then you plan your attack by bringing all of your marketing tools together.

Remember, patience is a must, as is perseverance. It could take many months before you start to see positive results from any online business venture, but if you stick with it and you think logically about your marketing tools, you will almost certainly find success at the end of the journey.