4 Ways To Market Your Business Online

1. Create a simple, effective Web site.

Does your Web site describe your product or service in a succinct, compelling and visual fashion? Does it answer potential customers' needs in, say, less than 10 seconds?

"Once they click to your Web site, you have between 5 and 8 seconds to convince them you can help," says Larry Bailin, CEO of SingleThrow Internet Marketing in Wall, N.J., and author of the soon-to-be-published Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From? (Larstan Publishing).

Your home page should include the bare essentials, Bailin says. "People are looking for exactly what they typed in, with calls to action," he says. "It's critical that you address their issues on your home page. Get to the point and get rid of anything that doesn't need to be there."

Your Web site should be easy to navigate and right on target, and a "Contact Us" button should be prominent.

Also, make sure your site appears high on search engines' results pages. By including keywords and terms in the code, your site will appear higher up on Google and others. These days, any good web designer will be able to handle such search engine marketing as part of the design and programming package. Still, it's up to you to know the best way to describe your product and service to potential customers and then turn them into qualified sales leads.

"Don't think too much about the bells and whistles," warns Bailin. "Think about the connection that you're going to make and the way you're going to help people. Make it clear to them and you'll win every time."

2. Become a blogger.

Entrepreneurs who blog can reach a new audience by writing in a conversational way and showing the human and personal side of their business, according to William Beutler, senior online analyst for New Media Strategies, a Web 2.0 marketing firm in Arlington, Va.

"Make your industry interesting to people by writing in a conversational manner," he says. "Give people a glimpse into a world they don't know."

Beutler believes new businesses can benefit greatly from blogging. "There's still an untapped audience in a lot of industries that are just starting to grow," he says. "You have the potential to establish yourself as an expert in the field just by being the first person to write something interesting about your field."

3. Try podcasting.

Podcasting is a relatively simple technology that is being taken quite seriously by some Fortune 500 companies. And all you really need to get started is a decent microphone, a digital recorder and editing software.

Podcasts allow you to make the most of your inner impresario, plus, your show and the subscriber audience it may lure can give you an edge over competitors.

"Podcasting is still unique enough in many industries that it can allow you to stand out a bit," says John Jantsch, a Kansas City, Mo., marketing coach and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide (Thomas Nelson).

"Podcasting makes a ton of sense for many small businesses for several reasons," says Jantsch. "A voice, rather than simple words on a paper can convey emotion and personality. It's much easier to connect to that."

Jantsch offers this tip for the podcaster trying to bring attention to his business: "Invite a key strategic partner to be a guest on the podcast and you're likely to get the attention of high-level experts, authors and even prospects."

4. Smile, you're on YouTube!

YouTube is not just for classic media clips, cute pet tricks and bizarre dorm antics anymore. With a YouTube link on your Web site and vice versa, you have a new marketing tool. But don't be so crass as to post blatant infomercials about your small business.

6 People That You Will Need

Nothing incredible is accomplished alone. You need others to help you, and you need to help others. With the right team, you can form a web of connections to make the seemingly impossible practically inevitable.

The Instigator:

Someone who pushes you, who makes you think. Who motivates you to get up and go, and try, and make things happen. You want to keep this person energized, and enthusiastic. This is the voice of inspiration.

The Cheerleader:

This person is a huge fan, a strong supporter, and a rabid evangelist for you and your work. Work to make this person rewarded, to keep them engaged. This is the voice of motivation.

The Doubter:

This is the devil’s advocate, who asks the hard questions and sees problems before they arise. You need this person’s perspective. They are looking out for you, and want you to be as safe as you are successful. This is the voice of reason.

The Taskmaster:

 

This is the loud and belligerent voice that demands you gets things done. This person is the steward of momentum, making sure deadlines are met and goals are reached. This is the voice of progress.

The Connector:

This person can help you find new avenues and new allies. This person breaks through roadblocks into finds ways to make magic happen. You need this person to reach people and places you can’t. This is the voice of cooperation and community.

The Example:

This is your mentor, you hero, your North Star. This is the person who you seek to emulate. This is your guiding entity, someone whose presence acts as a constant reminder that you, too, can do amazing things. You want to make this person proud. This is the voice of true authority.

Business Overview

Executive Summary

Jenkins Marketing Inc aims to provide marketing services to targeted business environments in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. This plan seeks to generate a significant increase in company sales and profits from the delivery of retainer consulting, project consulting, market research and industrial analysis, feasibility studies, and strategic analysis and reporting services, compared to the preceding year.

The highlights of this plan are the targeted gross margin and sales-revenue. The targeted gross margin and sales-revenue for each of the first five years of this plan are presented in the following chart and the tables presented later in this plan. These figures represent the key prospects available for Jenkins Marketing Inc These targets are attainable through a proactive approach to the candidacy of clients, teaming-up with technology providers, and partnering with reputable local and regional engineering suppliers and construction firms to reduce competition, improve pricing, and reduce risks.

This business plan has been created on the basis of five years of market research. Data conclude the size and growth of the market and geographical segments, customer needs, perception, and buying behavior trends have been on the upswing, and are expected to continue in this trend for the next five years. Jenkins Marketing Inc feels that it is able to fill the hole in the marketing niche, and will benefit from operations beginning in January, Year 1.

1.1 Objectives

Jenkins Marketing Inc objectives are to make an equal and fair profit in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing services industry. This goal is to be reached by attaining  the numbers presented in the Sales Forecast and Financial Plan topics.

1.2 Mission

Jenkins Marketing Inc offers companies, government institutions, nongovernment organizations (NGO), and individuals reliable, high-quality, and cost-effective consulting services for various purposes. Our services include business development, market development, market intelligence, industrial sectors analysis, and channel development on a global scale.

The situation in the United States is currently characterized by the facts that times are tough, investment appetites are low, industries are cutting costs, and budgets are being slashed. Fully aware of this situation, Jenkins Marketing Inc, after completing a five year research study, has come to the conclusion that its potential clients would be interested in doing things in a smarter way, with good support of a reliable and efficient market intelligence. Jenkins Marketing Inc believes that it can provide both solutions and value creations to its clients. 

1.3 Keys to Success

The are two keys to success that Jenkins Marketing Inc is focused on. These are broadly characterized as Internal and External Factors, and are explained in more detail in the following two sections.

1.3.1 External (Business Environment) Factors

The United States is now living in an interesting era: the process of change from the "old economy" to the "global new economy" brings a tremendous development growth of e-commerce, mobility of capital, and liberalization to the region. Since the new global economy brings new economics, new market structures, new industry structures, and new company structures, the profile of customers has also changed. Customers have evolved from "solution demander" to "value demander," and from "clients" to "business partners."

Jenkins Marketing Inc is proactively focused on establishing relationships with multiple digital contents, companies, regional (provincial) government offices, NGOs, and individual customers as its prospective business partners.

1.3.2 Internal Factors

The company feels that it controls its own success through some basic internal factors. These are:

1. Selling and Marketing Power. The services the company provides are made attractive in order to maintain a certain percentage of B2B and B2C clients. Being a market intelligence services provider, business and market development consulting services provider, and business and sales representative, Jenkins Marketing Inc demonstrates a successful approach in converting its reputation into an excellent brand to ensure the conversion of its clients' knowledge into their intellectual property, thus creating value for its clients.
2. Excellence in fulfilling the promise. Clients do not buy features, they buy benefits. To realize a benefit, a claim must be made and proof presented. This company has had success on claim after claim. 
3. Developing visibility to generate new business leads. Participation by the company in online business affiliations with reputable global players of e-business technology is a necessity. Two of these players are Lead Net Pro and Social Media Explode. Strategic relationships must also be made with companies, government institutions, regional (provincial) government offices, and NGOs, as well as with individual customers.
4. High-quality service and customer satisfaction. Everything the company sells is guaranteed; therefore, the services have to do what the customers want, and do it well. Long-term customer satisfaction is critical to the survival of the company.
5. Create multiple opportunities from a single line of expertise. Jenkins Marketing Inc is able to leverage from a single pool of expertise into multiple revenue generation opportunities: business development, market development, market intelligence, industrial sectors analysis, and channel development on a global scale, as well as sales assistance for global companies in the Indonesian market.
6. Key management team. The right management team is integral, and must have a strong foundation in marketing, management, finance, and services development. The company is confident in its team.