Developing an Effective Marketing Mix 

A business can't rely on just one marketing approach, but must develop a whole spectrum of marketing strategies, operating simultaneously, in order to survive and flourish in a competitive world.

This article contains older information. Go here for newer information on miscellaneous Internet marketing strategies.

Many website owners pat themselves on the back if they can employ just a single Internet marketing strategy. But successful web and brick-and-mortar businesses know that the key to success is developing a diverse marketing mix that works.

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Italy where our daughter told us about one of her favorite restaurants in Florence.

As I got acquainted with Mohamed Goda, owner of Caffé Internet Caruso, Via Lambertesca 14-16r, Firenze, I was immediately aware that this entrepreneur was employing several simultaneous marketing strategies. The survival of his year-old restaurant depends upon these strategies being effective. Let me describe and translate them into Internet marketing strategies. I hope this will help you in developing your own marketing mix.

1. Personal presence. Mohamed believes in earnest marketing. He stands right outside the door to Caffé Internet Caruso, at the side of a narrow medieval street where auto traffic is forbidden, seeking to make eye contact with passers-by. Some are his fellow shopkeepers and downtown workers looking for a spot for lunch. Others, in this quintessential tourist location, he sees for the first time. If he makes eye contact he greets them, and, if encouraged by their response, he tells them what his restaurant has for lunch. He is not slouching or chatting idly with a friend. This is purposeful "networking." Once he brings a customer in, he seats him or her, brings a menu, and returns to his important post in front of the store.
   
   Savvy Internet marketers are very aware of creating a personal presence to greet visitors to their site. A photo, a personal word, a way to engage them in conversation or a free gift. Live chat is one of these tools. Other purposeful networking is done in e-mail discussion groups and mailing lists. Internet marketers are involved with their visitors, and are constantly finding ways to attract visitors' attention, and bring them into the site where they can be seated and begin to consider a purchase.
2. Word-of-mouth. Of course, word-of-mouth is vital. We came because our daughter had been to the restaurant several times before. How do you facilitate word-of-mouth recommendations? First, provide superior services or products. Then use tell-a-friend boxes and send-this-page-to-a-friend scripts. Encouraging subscribers to forward your newsletter to a friend or associate is important in growing your subscriber list by word-of-mouse.
3. Fliers to attract tourists. Mohamed employs a person during the tourist season to pass out fliers in the nearby piazza (city square). These are in English, what Mohamed calls the "international language" that nearly all tourists in Florence understand. The fliers feature a fixed-price lunch and dinner menu aimed at tourists with a map on the back to show location. Mohamed calculates that €1 spent on flier distribution nets him about €8 in revenue. What corresponds to fliers on the Internet? An inexpensive e-zine or banner ad -- low-cost advertising distributed in a likely website or newsletter.
4. Simplified pricing structure. Mohamed's pricing itself is an important part of his strategy.
   
   If you've visited Italy, you know that pricing of meals isn't simple. There's the antipasto (appetizer), a first course (primo piatto, pasta or soup), then a second course (meat or fish), often a vegetable plate, and a dessert. To sit down rather than stand to eat in an Italian restaurant you pay a cover charge (coperti) of perhaps €1.50 per person. And most restaurants add a service charge (servizio), similar to the American 15% tip, but built into the bill.
   
   Mohamed's pricing, on the other hand, advertises "no cover charge" and does not include a service charge. Tourists who receive Mohamed's fliers are attracted by the simple, all-inclusive, price. Of course, Caffé Caruso's menu includes all the parts of a traditional Italian dinner, too, but Mohamed makes it easy for tourists. Clear pricing brings him new customers and low pricing brings them back.
   
   I discovered the importance of simplified pricing in 1995 when I began developing small business websites and stores. In those days, no one would give a fixed price for a website. Pricing was fuzzy -- and scary. I pioneered a fixed price for a specific number of webpages, a move copied by hundreds of competitors. I knew that small business owners are much more comfortable with a clear fixed price than with a fluid price. They are afraid of being ripped off -- and I don't blame them. Clear pricing was one of the keys to my business success. On the other hand, websites targeted at enterprise-level companies should keep pricing hazy, since deals are always negotiated and may include a whole variety of services.
5. Internet connection point. In cities all over Italy you can find Internet cafés. Mohamed includes an Internet connection point at his restaurant to give people another reason to come in regularly -- Internet service and reasonably-priced meals. He fills a need many tourists are feeling -- e-mail withdrawal. 
   
   Internet marketers have found that free or low cost services increase visitor flow to a website. Then these visitors can be induced to purchase products and services. My Web Marketing Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket), for example, brings many people to my site, who later subscribe to my free publications as well as to my paid Web Commerce Today newsletter (www.wilsonweb.com/wct). They also see and  purchase practical e-books (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks).
6. Fliers to attract locals. While tourists crowd Florence most of the year, Mohamed needs to market to locals if he wants any business November through February. For this he distributes a different flier in Italian designed to attract those who work in central Florence during the day. He clearly defines his two major target groups and designs marketing efforts to reach both groups effectively.
   
   Does your site attract more than one type of people? Have you developed profiles to describe the different groups that come to your site? Do you market generally, or do you target your marketing to the precise groups you are seeking to reach?
7. Referral Fees. Mohamed has developed promotional deals with hotels and travel agencies that offer 5% commission on all the business they send him. This directly corresponds to affiliate marketing with complementary sites on the Internet. With what kinds of other Internet companies can you work referral deals? Having a working affiliate program enables you to compensate your partners.
8. Group Meal Pricing. Caffé Caruso also offers tour groups fixed prices for group meals. This corresponds to special deals Internet businesses make for bulk sales of goods or services.
9. Interior decorating. Mohamed has spent considerable money on signs, fixtures, tables, decorations, etc. -- all of which have marketing implications. If a restaurant looks cheap, it strongly affects the inherent marketing message. Ditto with website design.
10. Guidebooks. Caffé Caruso is just a year old. I asked Mohamed about getting listed in tourist guides. He said that was expensive, but he is considering it for next year. I found that some of the best guidebooks don't charge anything for a listing, but reflect the editor's preferences. Mohamed could develop a campaign to have selected satisfied diners contact the guidebook publisher to suggest that his restaurant be included in the next edition. Guidebook listings correspond to directory listings on the Internet. Some are free, some charge. If you can be listed, for example, in Yahoo! Directory, it will bring a lot of traffic. Is it worth $250 per year for the listing? I think so.

Probably Caffé Caruso employs other marketing methods. But I hope you get the point that a going enterprise can't rely on just one marketing approach. It must develop a whole spectrum of marketing strategies, operating simultaneously, in order to survive and flourish in the competitive world of restaurants -- or Internet sites. Try a number of promising approaches, and then concentrate on the ones that offer significant revenue for your expenditures. A successful marketing mix is the product of intelligent experimentation. Need some ideas? Re-read my popular "Web Marketing Checklist" (www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm).