It’s a familiar problem, one that is faced by every company: How do you promote that you exist in the most cost effective and productive way?  Many traditional sales or marketing promotions that use radio, TV, or direct mail are impersonal, expensive, and not always effective.  Why?  Because you are hoping to reach a handful of customers by sending to the masses.  And the masses know very well how to tune you out. 

Using smart interactive promotions you can use word of mouth and turn your customers into sales people. Keep reading for four interactive promotional methods and five ways to do it.

Turning Customers into Sales People

The Internet is a social medium.  People are constantly talking to their friends, family, co-workers, strangers, you name it.  A good website will generate word-of-mouth, and by extension, new members and customers.  Four simple and easy to do tools to take advantage of the power of the web are affiliate programs, tell-a-friend programs, email strategies, and linking strategies.

1. Affiliate Programs

The idea behind affiliate programs is straightforward: other websites link to yours, and you pay them a commission for each customer they send your way.  Amazon.com built their business on this strategy.  They were able to generate thousands of new customers and got their name splashed across the web just by using this word-of-mouth method.  Be warned however: You’ll need a reliable tracking system to match incoming users to the site that referred them.  Don’t consider this unless you have the resources to make it work.  To find out about a program of your own, go here:
http://www.mymarketingguide.com/content/view/665/83/

2. Tell-a-Friend Programs

It’s one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book.  Customers are urged to tell a friend, and rewarded when they do.  These types of programs have stood the test of time because they really work.  And on the web, they have a whole new life by providing a genuine service.  By building-in ways for your website visitors to answer surveys, invite friends to chat, email articles or favorite links, send favorite photos, etc. you cantake advantage of new interactive Tell-a-Friend tools.  One ski area site, for example, let visitors send ski reports to friends, and help build buddy season pass sales by using special “member only” pages.  The variations are endless.  For a good article on programs like this (which you can email to a friend too), go here:
http://www.mymarketingguide.com/content/view/100/2/

3. Email Strategies

The basic challenge web site's face, is that of human memory.  People come back to your website only when they remember to.  And usually, that isn’t often.  So the challenge is to remind them.  As often and as persuasively as possible.  Email is the way.  Email has another advantage, it can be easily shared.  So sites often find that customers forward their newsletters to friends, giving them great publicity and bringing in new customers.  There are a number of email strategies to choose from.  Including: newsletters, headline emails, customized reports, and announcements.  Your strategy will vary depending on your focus and goals.
To see an email strategy at work, go here
http://www.mymarketingguide.com/component/option,com_letterman/Itemid,91/

4. Linking Strategies

Hyperlinks (or just “links”) are one of the defining features of the web and an awesome word-of-mouth strategy.  The ability to leap effortlessly from one page to another creates a world of possibilities.  Within your own website, you can link visitors back and forth between services and products, you can suggest related stories, you can point them toward related websites, and you can also really confuse them.  But that’s not the point now.  The point is that links are important!  And every marketing strategy should take full advantage of them.  Links will attract new users, raise awareness, and improve your search ranking on sites like Google.

There are five different kinds of links:
a)    search engine listings (i.e. Google),
b)    directory links (i.e. through a trade organization),
c)    links on other sites (i.e. weather.com or some site that attracts a similar audience),
d)    headlines or “tips” on other sites that you provide content in exchange for a link back to your site,
e)    paid links or banners for online advertising.  

Which ones you choose to use will help to make and keep your site popular.  Many times, a site's popularity is directly proportional to the number of links leading to it.  To check out who’s linking your site visit our SEO Free Promotion Tools area .

How to get links

-Press Release

One way to generate some inbound links is to submit a press release about your site to PRWeb.  Starting at $80 a release you can send your press release electronically to more than 4,000 web sites, databases and online services including Yahoo!, MSN.com, AOL.com, News Alert, Lycos, Alta Vista, Excite and many others.   Find out more :
http://www.mymarketingguide.com/content/view/667/83/

-Forums

Many forums allow you to register, add a relevant comment or thread and sign your comment with a website. Again, another way to generate a link. Some forums are so popular that search engines visit them often and can find your link in a new post.

Here are a few places to find forums:
http://www.delphiforums.com/
http://www.voy.com/
http://www.ezboard.com/

-Online Articles

Writing and distributing articles to online article directories is another very good way to create links to your site. These aren't always particularly high quality links but they can provide volume.

Here's a list of some the most popular article directories.
http://www.ideamarketers.com/  
http://goarticles.com/  
http://ezinearticles.com/add_url.html  
http://amazines.com  
http://www.articlecity.com/  
http://bpubs.com/  
http://promotenewz.com/  

-Blog Comments

Posting relevant comments on blogs is another way to create inbound links.  Adding commentary where you can is a great online networking strategy and can have the added benefit of creating links if done properly. (Media outlets are great for this.)

One of the best places to find blogs that are talking about your keywords is at a blog directory called Technorati - http://www.technorati.com  

-Testimonials

Sending testimonials to other website owners endorsing a product, book or service can be a great way to pick up a one way link. Many site owners love to post testimonials right there on the home page - prime real estate! Login to myMarketingGuide.com to get your Testimonial Template!

Putting them to Work

Word-of-mouth on the Internet can deliver spectacular results.  When you help visitors find your website; accomplish their task at hand; and let them help you spread your word you will see fast and effective bottom line growth.  Which is a win-win for everyone.

By Samantha Rufo, nxtConcepts, Ltd
nxtConcepts Ltd is a next generation company using innovative ideas, proven marketing programs, and cutting edge technology to help build business.   For more information on anything in this article or nxtConcepts, go to www.nxtConcepts.com  .

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