Internet Marketing Plan

To formulate an effective Internet marketing plan for your company you'll need to be clear on your marketing objectives, and what can be achieved within your budget. Look at and think about the ideas below, devote a small amount of time each day to consider your Internet marketing plan, and brainstorm ideas with colleagues:

1) Do you need to improve your online communication? (in other words, are you using the Internet and your site effectively to reach new clients and enhance your company's reputation as an industry leader? Should you look into e-commerce and shopping cart technology for your site's Internet marketing plan (are people likely to use your site as a point of sale? Do you have the time and money to invest in e-commerce technology and consistently fulfil your customer orders?)

2) Do you need to enhance your site's visibility (and do you need to improve your search engine optimization to get your company listed higher up the search engine rankings? Should other companies be linking their websites to yours?)

3) Do you need to communicate your site's advantages over existing competition? (you can do this via industry discussion boards, forums, and newsgroups) What's your unique selling proposition that sets you apart from your competitors? Can you fashion yourself as a market leader by publishing industry news on your site, and commenting on industry-specific press stories? And more importantly, are you doing enough research into the activities of your competitors? How successful are they, and what web presence do they have?

4) Are you researching enough about the profile and needs of your existing customers (a registration or online questionnaire can help to achieve this) and researching the needs of other potential customers? Who is your ideal customer - are you reaching all these people?

5) What is the budget for your Internet marketing plan, and how quickly do you need to recoup this money in sales? Can you set yourself two budgets - a minimum, if you don't see the returns you need in your desired timeframe, and a maximum, if returns are higher than expected? If your Internet marketing plan yields higher returns than expected, do you have more money to develop the plan and capitalize on it?