In the modern age there are so many outlets a business has to reach out to its desired market. I am going to suggest 5 marketing methods that provide an integrated approach to targeting the right people for a new product or service. A combination of SEO, social media and traditional marketing methods are the key to a successful launch.

Search engine optimisation

SEO is a process to ensure your website appears for a number of targeted keyphrases. If you are an established company and already actively involved in internet marketing, you already have a stream of target driven potential buyers visiting your site on a daily basis. At this point in time they will not know you are launching a new product, but it is important to get ahead of the game. SEO is not an instant process. You need to get ahead of the big launch, add a new page to the website so the search engine have time to crawl the site and index the information.

Social Networking

With around 90% of all internet users regularly interacting with some form of social media, 500 million Facebook users and 190 million Twittering away that is a huge amount of people to share information with. Obviously not all of them are going to be interested in what you have to offer, by building up a profile of friends and followers you have an easily accessible market to start creating a “buzz” around your new product. It is important you interact with people, take an interest in their lives and build up relationships. One example of a brilliant social media campaign is Skittles, they have 14,909,637 followers. If you have ever thought about the theory of the “human web” and six degrees of separation 14million + followers is a massive market to get excited about a new product.

Email Marketing

Everyone likes the feeling of being the first to know. It is basic human nature to feel pleased someone trusts you enough to share it with you first. Email marketing campaigns with an early pre-view or the chance to pre-order is a great opportunity to make some early sales and nurture your customers feelings towards your company.

Guest Blogging Strategy

Blogging is huge. I would be surprised if anyone could tell me of a niche that does not have an active internet community behind it. It is in your benefit to keep up to date with latest trends and industry news related to your business. Take your time to make an effort to get to know the webmaster, what the blogs audience like and how they structure their content. You can the approach them for a product review or a guest blog post.

Traditional Marketing

Although the internet has been a complete revolution, traditional marketing methods are tried and true. Local publication, industry specific publications, local radio, TV (if your budget goes that far) and industry specific events are all ways to reach your target market. It is important before any product launch you spend time understanding the buying behaviours and the demographics of the market you want to aim your products/services at.

A traditional marketing strategy of understanding your market is as important as ever, but you are missing a massive opportunity to reach out to a wider market through the internet and social networking that was ever possible historically.