Marketing campaigns are valuable within the business sector
for many reasons. Many companies use these campaigns for promoting new products
or services, but they are also extremely useful in introducing a new business
name, and helping to create a brand that is well known to many. Within this
post I am going to introduce several internet tools that can be utilized in
introducing a new business, and for my example I am going to use Sweetie Pete
Treats, a home bakery business that specializes in custom decorated
cookies. As Sweetie Pete Treats is
unknown to the general populace, it is necessary that the scope of the first
marketing campaign to be to introduce this amazing new company.
As an up and coming business, Sweetie Pete Treats may find
Software as a Service programs very useful, as they are a convenient and lower
cost alternative to software that has to be downloaded directly to the
computer. This will save on storage, as well as upfront costs associated with
many types of software. Three very useful SaaS programs that can be used within
a marketing campaign for planning as well as implementation are “Marketing Mo”,
Constant Contact, and Blogger. To read more about their applications within
marketing campaigns CLICK HERE
During the creation of the company website, Sweetie Pete
Treats can make use of ”EasyPrototype”, a rapid prototype tool that will make
it easier for each department to have input into the design, as well as the
requirements for creating a website that is functional and user friendly, while
maintaining the capability to make continuous changes. After the
completion of the website, it is important that the web design team utilize a website emulator, such as Adobe Browser Lab, to test the website to make sure
that the formatting and layout will be compatible with the various browser and
operating system combinations that users may have.
Another excellent group of internet tools are firefox add-ons. There is a wide range to choose from, but
with a custom cookie business, a picture can tell a thousand words, therefore,
my favorite is Pixlr Photo Editor. This
add-on can be used to edit, crop, and create more professional pictures for
blog posts, brochures, websites, and price lists. After creating these beautiful pictures, it
will be necessary for Sweetie Pete Treats to create a gallery of their work, and send these examples
out to their potential clients. I recommend using Animoto, a program used to
pair photos, text and video to music, thus helping to capture prospective clients’
attention, as well as presenting these photos in a more creative way. Below is a short example of an Animoto video used to review Pixlr Photo
Editor.
During the marketing campaign, the use of a blog, as well as
social networking sites, is a good way to publicize the company in an efficient
way. By using a Mash-up, such as
#tweet-a-lot, Sweetie Pete Treats can hold Twitter competitions to boost the volume
of internet chatter about their company, sending more visitors to their
website, and blog, as well as increasing their list of contacts.
As the list of contacts grows, it will become necessary for
Sweetie Pete Treats to have a way to organize and store the information. This
is where choosing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software will be
beneficial. MXContact is a good choice
for a small business, as it runs within Outlook, so there is no need for
expensive training, and there are several editions available to meet the needs
of any size business. While utilizing the standard functionality of Outlook,
there are many features added that will make Outlook a powerful tool as a CRM.
This list of contacts can then be uploaded into an email
marketing program such as “Constant Contact”. This program will allow Sweetie
Pete Treats to send out a newsletter to their contacts, offering news about the
company, links to their social networking pages, and will even allow coupons to
be added to the newsletter. Constant Contact allows newsletters to be delivered
at a time of your choice, as well as supplying reports of who has opened, read,
or clicked through on one of your links, making it an extremely valuable tool
for understanding your clients’ interests, and needs. As an added bonus, if
Sweetie Pete Treats included a link to their Animoto Video within their
newsletter, it would create an efficient way to distribute examples of their cookie designs.
This is just a short list of the internet tools available to
Sweetie Pete Treats, as they begin their marketing campaign, but each of these
tools will prove a valuable asset in creating a marketing campaign that is both
successful and efficient.
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