The Niche Marketing Blog

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Today Mashable, and several other blogs, reported on the rumor that Google has just purchased Groupon for $2.5 billion.The acquisition would allow Google to integrate Groupon’s deals with Google’s newly enhanced Google Places.

If the rumors are true, the deal would position Google well against rival Facebook, which recently announced Facebook Places.

The larger question, of course, is: where is all of this heading? As “location-based” marketing continues to merge with “promotion-based” marketing, the industry giants are signaling that the likely trend of the future will be the merging of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses with the technological savvy of the Internet business communities.

What effect will this have on the smaller, niche-oriented businesses? How about the corner bakery? Or the local nightclub?

How can the mom-and-pop business of the future successfully compete? What combination of check-ins, promotions, incentives, and merchandising will work tomorrow? What exactly is the road forward?

Tell me what you think.

Related articles

• Unconfirmed Report Says Google Acquires Groupon (webpronews.com)
• With Groupon, Google could go beyond engineers (news.cnet.com)
• Google rumored to have bought Groupon for $2.5 billion (downloadsquad.switched.com)

Technorati Tags: Google, Groupon, location-based marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, promotion-based marketing

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By Scott Spooner

The trend over the last year is for location-based marketing beginning to merge with promotion-based marketing. Witness the announcement this week of Coca-Cola teaming up with local malls to create a scavenger hunt of sorts that pays off with real promotions in the form of gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise.

Over the last couple of years, several authors (including myself) have predicted that the first wave of location-based marketing efforts – where consumers “check-in” for virtual badges or “mayorships” – would play out as consumers begin to lose interest.

These predictions seem to have been borne out based on the continuing low percentage of consumers who chase after these virtual payoffs.

Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and similar companies are about to change all that; and maybe in the process, change the rules of promotion marketing as well. These companies, and more like them every day, are realizing that location-based marketing can be a real driver in terms of getting consumers into a store, but it will take the coupling of a strategic promotions campaign to persuade those consumers into making a purchase.

Technology has put the consumer in the driver seat when it comes to selecting (or ignoring) competitors; and in this current economic climate, many are willing to wait on the sidelines and see what incentives show up.

Now it is up to the marketers to use that same technology to not only woo those consumers back into their stores, but also to combine the power of location-based marketing with promotion-based marketing in order to successfully compete in this rapidly changing marketplace.

What do you think? How can your company strategically use a combination of location-based, and promotion-based, marketing to increase both traffic and sales?

Related articles

• Foursquare Gets Pepsi, SCVNGR Answers With A Fizzy Partner Of Its Own: Coca-Cola (techcrunch.com)
• Location-Based Cola Wars: Pepsi, Coke, Foursquare and SCVNGR (readwriteweb.com)
• Coke Targets Teens With Black Friday SCVNGR Promotion (mashable.com)

Technorati Tags: coca cola, location-based marketing, Marketing strategy, niche marketing, promotion-based marketing

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article drills into your marketing strategy. Here we will focus on your target market, and the goods and services you sell. This article should get you thinking about how to plan your marketing efforts in order to maximize your marketing dollars. ~Scott]

By Krista Baker

If you have just started a business, you are probably eager to get the word out and start marketing. This is where many small-business owners get stuck. What are the best ways to market your business? How do you get the most bang-for-your-buck?

Before you can answer these questions, you must look internally at your core business strategy. Entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of trying to be “everything to everyone” and the thought of turning away business can seem foolish when you are strapped for cash. Yet the quickest way to burn through your marketing budget is to try to target everyone.

The best marketing plans start with a quick assessment of your core business strategy.

1) What is your business identity? How do you differentiate your business from others like you? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why should customers and clients do business with you instead of your competitors?

2) Who is your target market? To market cost-effectively, you must know and understand the main problems and frustrations of your market. What are their demographics? What do they want? What do they need – and is that different from what they want? What is their decision-making process for purchasing the types of products and services you offer?

3) What products and services do you offer? You can’t be and do everything for all people, so what do you sell? If you try to sell a laundry list of products and services to everyone who contacts you, you will end up confusing your prospects – and confused prospects don’t buy. The best types of products and services to sell involve aligning your core strengths with what your target market desperately wants. How can you use your strengths to solve a major frustration or pain that your market has?

These three questions are interdependent. You must be able to adequately answer all three before you start any marketing campaign.

Conducting Market Research
Once you have a clear idea of what you do best, what your market wants, and the types of solutions you will offer, the next step is to clearly explain your core products and services in a way that communicates why you are the premiere choice for solving your market’s problems over all other options available to them.

The best way to do this is to conduct basic market research. Go out and talk to people in your target market. Ask them if they have ever had the problem your products and services solve. Ask them how they solved their problem. Ask them how they made their purchasing decision and what attracted them to this particular solution.

Don’t assume you know the answers to these questions. Get hard data. Otherwise, you are just guessing.

Many people skip this step because it isn’t as sexy as putting up a website, being #1 in Google or creating a beautiful brochure, but if you try to skip the market research step, you end up with a very hit-or-miss marketing campaign. You try lots of tactics – and some may work – while most result in a lot of money wasted for few results.

Marketing that works is based on psychology. If you understand what your target market wants most, where they go to research potential solutions, and how they decide to purchase a solution, you will know where you should be advertising, what types of marketing tactics will be most effective in attracting new clients, and what your marketing materials should say.

Need help writing your marketing plan? Download your free 45-page strategic marketing plan guide today at http://www.getclientstoday.com. This hands-on workbook covers the 6 steps for creating your marketing strategy and includes a fill-in-the-blank marketing plan template you can use to craft your monthly marketing plan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Krista_Baker

http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-Strategy—3-Key-Questions-to-Dramatically-Increase-the-Number-of-Prospects-You-Attract&id=3758636

Related articles

• Ready, Fire, Aim (marketingtechblog.com)
• Bullseye! Hitting the right Demographic in Your Digital Marketing Campaign – SMN Webcast, Tuesday July 27 (searchengineland.com)
• How Do You Market Successfully Today? Same As Always: Creatively (hubspot.com)

Technorati Tags: market research, Marketing strategy, niche marketing

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on using Facebook in concert with other social media to drive traffic to your home site. As its dominance increases, Facebook is a social media site that shouldn't be overlooked. ~Scott]

By Lindy S. Diffenbaugh

In this article I am continuing to focus on Facebook as a powerful and dynamic marketing tool. Buzz all over the World Wide Web reflects that Google traffic is drying up. It is not the cash-cow that it was five-years-ago or even a year-ago. Where will it be in another year? Of course no one knows that for sure, but wisdom dictates that if Google traffic has been your bread and butter in business, then it might be a good idea to search out other ways to generate traffic for your business.

Buzz on the World Wide Web also reveals Facebook as the rising star in arena of marketing and lead generation. That makes an awful lot of sense when you consider that all consumers are people. The fact is more people are hanging out on Facebook for longer time periods than any other social media site today. People are also setting marketing and buying trends on Facebook. Consider these statistics:

• People spend over 700 billion moments on Facebook every month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content ( such as articles, photos, links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) are shared on Facebook every month
• The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups, or events
• 150 million people access Facebook through external websites every month
• More than 150 million are accessing Facebook through their mobile devices every month and are considered to be twice as active on Facebook as the average user.

With statistics like that and with the economy in the condition that it is currently in, it is not surprising that major corporations such as Starbucks, iTunes, Soft Drink Companies, and more, all have a presence on and a strategy for marketing on Facebook. My question to you the marketer is, do you have a strategy to create and employ a Social Marketing Plan to attract the social consumer?

Whether you do or do not have one yet, you must consider employing Facebook in concert with other social media sites such as Twitter, Linked-In, Word Press Blog, and YouTube. I say this because for the social consumer, everything begins with a search. When they type in their search, it should be your goal to show up everywhere they go on the web. After the social consumer types in a search, they read articles, reviews, and public announcements. They search blogs to find someone who is talking about the product that they intend to buy. They review videos and demonstrations of the product that they are searching for and they do comparisons of different brands and different companies that promote them.

How well you do in the social consumer’s search and review process will produce social currency for you on Facebook and other Social Media. According to Brian Solis, social currency is equal to a favorable comment or someone hitting the Like Button on your Facebook, YouTube site or your Blog. Reputation, trust, and relationships are earned when people are attracted to your promotion, product, or price. Your ability to excel in this process will earn you the reputation and status that you deserve. When you attract a following on Facebook you will develop exponential success. This true because the people you attract who want to hear what you are going to say next, have attracted people themselves who are waiting to hear what they say, what they think, and what they recommend. It is a marketer’s dream, it is free, and it is powerful.

The bottom-line of this article is that the current marketing trend is moving more and more towards Social Media in general and Facebook in particular. If you want a piece of the action, now is the time to start developing and employing your marketing strategies for Facebook and other Social Media. No one knows what the power of Facebook will be a year from now. We do know that today it is huge and it shows no sign of slowing down. Let the reader understand!

Are you struggling with creating, developing, or employing a social media? If so check out my resource block below. I am here to help you move forward with your marketing plan.

***

Lindy Diffenbaugh is a Mental Health Therapist and Life Coach by Profession. She has followed the trend of Internet Marketing and the Home Base Business in order to help others move forward and get beyond the perils of the current economic threat in our nation, to a place of personal and economic strength. For more information on how Lindy can help you prosper, even in a down economy, visit, http://www.LindyzBiz.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lindy_S._Diffenbaugh

http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Employ-Your-Facebook-Marketing-Strategy-With-Other-Social-Media-to-Attract-Social-Consumers&id=5170026

Related articles

• How American Companies Use Social Media (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
• The innovations of social media (ayerviernes.posterous.com)
• Social Media Trends for Businesses [video] (thoughtpick.com)

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Marketing strategy, niche marketing, social media