Free Internet Marketing Plan

October 1, 2008

Here is a free internet marketing plan intro that will help you craft your complete internet marketing strategy.  Let me be absolutely transparent.  I want you to craft a great internet marketing plan using all kinds of free and cheap internet marketing tools and techniques.  Then I want you to realize that it is very valuable to do it, but it is a lot of work, so you will submit your project to our Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant Network.

Internet Marketing Plan – Step One

The first thing you need to do is focus on the outcome you want from your internet marketing plan.  I do not mean vague things like more sales.  You have to think about your selling process and understand what internet marketing can do for you.

  1. Can internet marketing create sales directly?  Is it likely people will buy from you online?  It depends on the product.
  2. Can internet marketing generate leads for you?  Will people pick up the phone and call you?  Will they submit via a form?
  3. Will your internet marketing effort generate stronger brand awareness?  Will it strengthen your ability to close sales when you are calling on people in person?
  4. Can internet marketing be part of a drip marketing strategy where you help people get to know you and eventually call you?  Email auto responders are a good example of this.

That list is not a pick-one list.  Ideally you will have some things to sell, some ways to generate leads and some techniques for strengthening relationships.  But you have to be clear on the outcome before you can start.

Internet Marketing Plan – Step 2

Next you need to plan out your internet marketing strategy.  Think of the entire thing as a funnel.  And if you have three outcomes you want, then you have to build three funnels.  Some of the things high up in your funnel will probably give people options to drop down into different funnels depending on their interests.

You know where you want to get people, but how do you find them?  There are several different ways people will find you and begin exploring what you have to offer.

  1. Press Releases
  2. Search Engines
  3. Word of Mouth
  4. Affiliates
  5. Paid Ads
  6. Social Media
  7. Online Advocacy

Before you invest huge money into ads, make sure you test the conversion and profitability of the page people are landing on.

Keep in mind that you will not get instant results from many of the online options.  Because the internet is so crowded and noisy, it is hard to stand out and get noticed.  It can take months or even years to build a credible site that has a real audience.

So for this step two, you should have your Internet Marketing Outcome defined and have your funnel strategies listed on how you are going to build traffic and awareness for the marketing outcome you want.

Example:  I want people that are thinking about becoming a Virtual Buzz Assistant to visit this site and join our network so that I can help them be better virtual marketing assistants and help businesses find virtual assistants that they can depend on to help them promote their business.

  • I have the sign up page which is the end of the funnel.
  • I have the site and blog, which is the middle of the funnel.
  • I write articles to generate search engine traffic, such as this one about free internet marketing plans
  • I use a variety of social media sites to create higher visibility for the site.

Without going into too much detail, you can see how this internet marketing funnel is built and works.

Internet Marketing Plan – Step 3

Now you have a plan in place.  The next step is doing it.  Marketing is never a set it up and forget it proposition.  You will have to try things, experiment, track your marketing results and ROI and keep making adjustments.  Also, even if you get great visibility one day, it is not easy to maintain that visibility for the long haul without considerable effort.

That is why we created the Virtual Buzz Assistant network.  If you create a good, detailed markting plan there are many people available that can help you execute it.  But do not think that because you have outsourced particular internet marketing tasks that you can forget about your internet marketing effort.  It is up to the owner or CMO to keep an eye on the reports and results to ensure great ROI.  And if the numbers are not where you want them, then experiment and adjust, don’t just stop doing it.

I have seen a lot of people give up. Blogging is an excellent example.  People get excited about blogs, they start a blog, then when they do not get a big audience or sales quickly, then simply stop blogging.  It is not a question of whether blogs work as part of your internet marketing strategy or not.  The question is, are you doing the right things with your blog.

Internet Marketing Plan – Step 4

At some point you reach a time where you have to assess your effort and make some decisions.  If something is working, you need to put more time and money into increasing that effort.  If something is not working, you have to ask yourself why and decide if the effort needs changed or is it simply not reaching the right people.  You do not want to give up on things too quickly, but you also do not want to keep throwing more money at failing strategies.  Move your resources to what works.

I hope this free internet marketing plan article is valuable to you.  People always make requests on this site to get more buzz, but they have not done their homework and written at least a simple internet marketing plan.  If you cannot clearly define the marketing tasks you want a virtual assistant to do, then you cannot expect them to get results for you.

Don’t have time to write your Internet Marketing Plan?  Then you can always pay someone to write your internet marketing plan for you.

- Thank You!

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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Comments

One Response to “Free Internet Marketing Plan”

  1. Internet Marketing Articles « Ron McDaniel on October 1st, 2008 12:54 pm

    [...] Free Internet Marketing Plan [...]

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