Great Marketing tips on How to build a successful online business

Early in my career, worked as a marketing director for a large company. Whenever I would complain about the lack of results achieved on a campaign, our ad agency would give me a song and dance about how we were improving our image in the marketplace and building up goodwill.

I learned quickly that I couldn't feed my family with "image," and my boss wouldn't give me a raise based on all the “goodwill” was generating. He rightly wanted tangible proof of my efforts, in the form of leads and sales. So, I hired a new agency that focused on results, and I built a tracking system to carefully measure those results.

In the shift from a mass- to a target-marketing environment, a results measurement system will keep you ahead of competitors who view marketing as a game of numbers, and not precision. Following these core tips will greatly help you build a successful business, both online and off line.

Tip # 1: Focus on the Right Numbers:

Too many marketers have a shortsighted view of their objectives. They may rightly be conce
ed with a campaign's efficiency in generating leads or sales, and evaluate the results in terms of the total amount of money spent and the short-term gain achieved.

By contrast, the Successful Marketer knows that marketing is a long-term process. He knows that the true value of each new sale is not just the immediate profit received; it is in the "lifetime value" of the new customer. He knows it costs only one-tenth as much to sell to an existing customer as it does to acquire a new customer.

After calculating lifetime value, two things should become apparent to you. First, because of the long-term profit potential, .most organizations should be willing to raise the price they are willing to pay to acquire a new customer. Second, individual customers are more important (and profitable) than most of us realize, and should be treated accordingly.

Tip # 2: Do No Harm:

There is a tendency in advertising today to do whatever it takes to get attention, regard¬less of the long-term effect. This has created a harsh climate, where it is legitimate to offend a small portion of the audience as long as enough people buy. The worst offenders in my opinion are:

a. Advertisements that insult any single group of people, such as business people, women, minorities, ethnic groups, or the physically or mentally disabled.

b. Ads that use sex to get attention when it has nothing to do with the product.

c. Ads that encourage or glorify violence.

d. Ads that denigrate any religion or religious practice.

So do yourself a favor. Don't resort to the easy, the cheap or the crude. Market in such a way that you help improve the culture, not destroy it.

Tip # 3: When in Doubt, do something.

The following quote appears in The 6 Imperatives of Marketing by Allan J. Magrath.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter if you're a lion or a gazelle; when the sun, comes up you'd better be running.”

This quote holds an important lesson for the Successful Marketer. Whether you are the largest organization in your niche market or the smallest, inactivity is a sure path 'to failure. In marketing, there is no such thing as perfect timing. The best time to act is always now. While you cannot expect that everything you do will be successful, you can expect that you will learn from your mistakes and improve, provided that you just do something.

Keep these tips in mind. They will serve you well every day in every marketing campaign.