In our last installment of this series on the 5 P’s, we went over the prospect and how you need to know who you are going to be presenting your product to. In this installment we’re going to go over the 3rd of the 5 P’s, Promotion. This is actually my personal favorite because it is the one where, if all the other P’s are in place, this one can take you to the next level. Keep reading and you’ll find out how.
What exactly is promotion? Well, it’s taking your product and putting it out there. It’s called advertising. You’ve seen tons of ads all over the place such as TV, radio, newspapers and so on. Every product is promoted in different mediums and in different ways. Some products don’t promote well on non visual mediums because you really want to see the product. Radio is great for promoting lawyer services because you really don’t need to see what the lawyer or his office looks like. A nice voice and a phone number to call is all you really need. Sure, TV works better, but radio is a viable option.
On the Internet, everything is visual. Your web site is going to be seen, regardless of what’s on it. So the methods you use to get people to your site are nothing more than tools to do just that. So in that respect, every medium on the Internet, whether it be classified ads, Google Adwords, forums, traffic exchanges, safelists or what have you, are all going to achieve the same result…to get people to your site.
However, there is more to promotion than just what mediums you use. There is also the type of ads that you run as well. You’re speaking to an audience. Depending on who your audience is, you’re going to speak to them differently. For example, in an earlier installment, I talked about acne cures. Most likely, a product like that is going to be targeted to kids. Well, you’re not going to speak to kids the same way they you’re going to speak to an older person. The language you use will most likely be today’s slang. If you don’t relate to the kids, they won’t relate to your product.
On the other side of the fence, taking the example of the 65 and over crowd who is looking for Medicare solutions, you’re not going to write ads calling these people “dude.” It’s not going to fly and you’re going to turn off your audience.
So, how do you know what kind of ads to run and what voice to use with your target market? This is actually so easy to do. Unless you’ve created a product that has never existed before, most likely somebody else is already marketing a similar product to your target market. Simply look over their ads and see how they speak to the target market. You’ll get the best education from this method.
If your promotion is not right on the mark, it won’t matter how good your product is. The message won’t get across.
In our next installment, we’re going to cover the 4th of the 5 P’s.
See you then.
