Marketing by Design
By Sandy Tapper
You did everything right. You hired a top-notch designer to produce a great-looking Web site for your company. You spent money promoting your products or services online and offline. So why isn't your site generating traffic, sales, and revenue?
Perhaps it's because you didn't incorporate your marketing approach into your site design. The site may be attractive, but if you ignore key marketing principles, customers will ignore you. Whether you're selling a product, a service, or even an idea, your Web site needs to employ essential marketing tactics. These strategies will make your message persuasive enough to stand out within a crowded Internet environment.
From a traditional perspective there are five key principles to consider, all conveniently beginning with the letter "P." These are product, price, promotion, physical distribution, and people. The five P's are fundamental building blocks for any marketing and communications strategy. The Internet is no exception. (Go to "
Online" to see the five P's at work.)
Product
Identify what you're really selling. It's one thing to sell a particular widget or service online. But you must identify the real benefit behind your product and make sure that benefit is immediately evident when someone visits your site.
Too many sites seem to say, "Here's my product, and here's how much it costs. Please buy it." From a marketing standpoint, this simplistic approach doesn't help your potential customer decide to buy the product or service from you.
