Make your Web site impossible to ignore

Rename the company…

e.g.
www.comfy-slippers.com
www.pictureframes.co.uk

The Obvious

So obvious most companies forget!
Make sure ALL your staff know the web site address
Get a friend to phone up and ask "what is your web address?"
Make sure they know the relevant email addresses as well

Company Stationery

Print your website address on every piece of stationery or written communication that leaves your business

• Letterheads
  
• Business Cards
  
• Compliment Slips
  
• Leaflets
  
• Brochures
  
• Christmas Cards
  
• Accounting correspondence - invoices, statements and payment slips
  
• Cheques
  
• Payslips
  

Publicise your web address

Stick it on:-

• Your shop front(s)
  
• A sandwich board outside
  
• Till receipts
  
• Price labels
  
• Carrier bags
  
• Car window and bumper stickers
  
• LED display sign
  
• Uniforms (embroidered or printed on fluorescent overjackets)
  

Print it on:-

• Calendars
• Pay and display car park tickets
  
• Theatre and cinema tickets
  
• Buy a self inking rubber stamp and use it on everything you can
  

Outside

• Signwrite company vehicles - cars, vans, lorries, motorbikes
  
• Put a sign in a field (with the landowner’s agreement!)
  
• Advertising lorry
  

Liven up the landscape with…

• Flags / bunting
  
• Banners
  
• Large posters
  
• Tourist info signs, e.g. the Fovant Badges board
  

On a larger budget...

• High-powered night-time projection onto the side of your building
  or Hot-air balloon/mini-zeppelin advertising
  

The website

• Identify your market - know who you’re aiming at
  
• Look at competitor / similar websites - what are they doing? Is it effective?
  
• Focused appeal - not scatter-gun
  
• ‘Introduce a friend’ voucher - with an offer
  
• Directions to your office
  
• Update your website regularly to keep it fresh
  
• Special offers
  
• Co-ordinate with the season, with events (Valentine's Day, Christmas, holidays)
  
• Exclusive areas - people like feeling ‘special’, e.g. members area, journalists / media area
  
• On-line feedback form - keep it simple
  
• New products
  
• Give-aways - free samples
  
• Show off its features
  
• Produce a leaflet introducing the website - distribute it widely
  

Tell people

• Telephone hold message
  
• In conversation
  
• Business networking clubs
  
• Software / hardware / product user groups
  
• Seminars
  
• Put your web address on PowerPoint or overhead slides
  
• Give talks to local clubs and charities
  
• Training courses
  
• Sales seminars
  
• Domain name on Lecterns and name badges
  
• Send it to your customers
  
• Direct Mail - send a mail shot to selected target audience
  

Send cards

• Send birthday cards if you store their date of birth
  
• Web address on front of card if possible but at least inside (if you really can't do any better make sure it is on the back)
  
• Send anniversary cards (weddings or anniversary of the year they first did business with you)
  

Deliver your address

• On delivery packaging - perhaps on the sticky tape used to seal the box
  
• Franking machine message
  
• On receipt notes
  
• On the product itself (possibly a sticky label)
  
• Enclose an info sheet about the website with goods
  
• Newspaper inserts
  
• Door-to-door drops (Royal Mail can do targeted / wide area drops)
  

Advertise your services

• On radio/TV - local radio packages start at £150
  
• On E-Bay - advertise a single item with the message "to see more items like this, visit our website at www.cravenplan.co.uk"
  
• On billboard adverts
  
• On bus shelter posters
  
• Back/side of local buses
  
• Put a card in the window of your local newsagent – great for businesses with a local market
  
• Local / specialist / trade newspapers
  
• Produce ‘fun’ give-aways. This could include keyrings, badges, caps, pens, T-shirts, umbrellas, dog leads / dog jackets, coasters, mouse mats, mugs
  
• Hold a launch day / evening / open day. Invite journalists and special guests within your field of interest in conjunction with local advertising. Hire a hall, set up a few Internet computers and invite the public in to see your site! Give them free gifts - and don't forget to let the papers know!
  
• Use a PR company
  

Press releases. Send updates of recent events (including launch days) to:-

• Local and national newspapers
  
• Specialist and trade publications
  
• On-line magazines (e-zine’s)
  
• Local MP’s and councillors
  
• Get Press releases professionally written by:
  RUARI MCCALLION
  ROOMOURS
  1 GREY MEWS
  FOVANT
  SALISBURY
  WILTS
  SP3 5LA
  Tel: 01722 714808
  Web: roomours.co.uk
  Email: info@roomours.co.uk
  

Become an exhibitionist

• Take a stand at a trade fair
  
• Display your web address on portable display systems - from £225
  EDWARD THOMAS
  DISPLAYER
  18-19 PORTWAY BUSINESS CENTRE
  OLD SARUM
  SALISBURY
  WILTSHIRE
  SP4 6QX
  Tel: 01722 416164
  Fax: 01722 416179
  Web: displayer.co.uk
  Email: info@displayer.co.uk
  
• Visit fetes and festivals - sponsor tickets / programmes/ stalls / prizes
  

Things to avoid

• Paid for links with no stats - you MUST know how many visitors are seeing that link: monitor the click-through rate.
  
• International advertising for a local service - American / Russian surfers are possibly not your market.
  
• Cheap search engine submissions - you get what you pay for; automatic software-based submissions
  (a) don't work, and
  (b) can get you permanently banned from leading search engines.
  

Magazines

• Get your product or service reviewed by specialist publications
  
• Advertise in selected specialist magazines
  

Sponsorship

• Donate money or goods in return for advertising - sponsor a ...
  sports team, charity, special event, school sports or sports equipment
  

Domain Names

• Register misspellings
  
• Register variations
  
• Use generic domain names
  
• Register dot-com and dot-co.uk, with and without hyphens
  
• New sub-domains - biz, info, others
  
• Use different domains for different campaigns to measure response
  
• Form links with related websites
  
• Directories
  

Search engines

• Use a specialist such as Cravenplan
  Chris Stanbury
  Cravenplan Computers Ltd
  Wilbury Barn
  Swallowcliffe
  SALISBURY
  WILTS
  SP3 5QH
  Tel: 01747 858000
  Web: cravenplan.co.uk
  Email: mail@cravenplan.co.uk
  
• 80% of web surfers use search engines to find new sites (source Forrester Jun 2000)
  
• 55% of all web purchases are by users who originally arrived from search engines (Source NDP Group, Jan 2001)
  
• Paid submission, paid inclusion, pay per click
  
• Banner advertising. Banner ads cost approx. £15-35 per 1000 views (approx. 1% click through) and are best used with special offers
  

Marketing

• Spread it about with viral marketing
  Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Classic example is Hotmail - free email address publicised at the bottom of every mail sent by its users.
  
• Create a campaign for e-mail marketing with a gift incentive for the users.
  
• Buy a TARGETED e-mail list NOT ‘150 million e-mail addresses for $150’
  

e-mail

• Build a database of e-mail members via your Website so that you can send them news
  
• Prize draw for registrants
  
• Mailing lists www.liszt.com
  
• Put contact details and a short sales message on all outgoing e-mail signatures.
  

Use the Internet

• On-line bulletin boards / newsgroups (remember ‘netiquette’ - no spamming)
  
• Word of mouth should not be underestimated
  
• SMS (Simple Message Service)
  
• Send a bulk message - it worked for New Labour!
  
• Get an SMS list from a specialist marketing company
  
• Bulk-mail the list with a message and prize incentive
  
• Fax campaign. Send a fax shot to a selected list. Include an incentive to respond e.g. exclusive access to your website, free top-of-range product, fax preference service (www.dma.org.uk) - need to check users are not on list - best to deal with reputable agency.
  

Telephone marketing

• Check local papers for job ads. If they're hiring, they're active.
  
• Use a specialist company