Niche Marketing Strategy:
Create A Year Round "Virtual Summer"

If you are not using the tools outlined on this page as part of your niche marketing strategy, you will never realize the true potential of your business.

NOTE THAT THESE TOOLS CAN BE USED BY ANY BUSINESS OWNER.

Ten years ago, if you were to review the typical niche marketing strategy for businesses on the Outer Banks, it would be to make as much money as possible by targeting the visiting vacation crowd during the season, then hunker down over the off season.

That was then, this is now. With the Internet and advent of e-mobility, your small business marketing strategy can now create a "virtual summer" all year round. In addition, your target clients are no longer just vacationers, but the Outer Banks lover anywhere, anytime. If you do not take advantage of these tools, your business will be left in the dust. Today, quite a few Outer Banks businesses have websites, but are they anything more than virtual billboards? Read on to discover a series of tools that should put you on your way to making every day, the middle of July for your business. Each has been priced in a way to make them affordable for the small business owner. Use our Contact Us page to ask me questions.

So you know that I am not just hustling product, but have an understanding of marketing and sales. I work as a product and solutions development specialist as well as a sales support expert in the financial services industry for 30 years mostly bringing cutting edge technology for financial institutions to maximize client experience. The tools presented here will provide you the same benefits that are being used by the biggest companies. My interest in the Outer Banks began in 1991. We own two rental properties and understand the importance of healthy businesses on the OBX to the overall tourist business. I have scoured multiple resources looking for solutions that will bring real value to your business while ensuring you stay on the cutting edge without paying big company prices! I invite you to work with me to create your own VIRTUAL SUMMER.

If you do not want to read the entire page, here is a summary of the topics covered. Simply click on the link for the section of interest. Also note that most sections do have other pages linked to them providing further clarification and information. You will want to read those pages to get a complete view of that particular niche marketing strategy topic.

• Advertising & Public Relations

• Websites

• Website Tools

  • Online Stores

  • Live Chat

  • Paypal

• Mobile Websites

• Social Media

• Printing Solutions

To understand what set of tools would be an asset to you business, read more on small business online marketing tools.

Advertising & Public Relations (PR)

Most businesses are very familiar with print advertising, and there are a number of good resources on the Outer Banks. There is no need to go into detail here, because the idea is creating that VIRTUAL SUMMER. The issue with newspaper, magazine and other onetime type advertising is that they are here and gone.

To create a year around experience as part of your niche marketing strategy, you need to advertise with a year around business. One that is reaching your customers no matter how much snow is piling up outside. Think websites about the Outer Banks. These businesses never shut down, so as people are looking for information about the Outer Banks, they will also see your business.

Click the picture for the advertising options available on Outer Banks Revealed

Public Relations is the process of getting out important information about your business in the public mainstream. This is a key niche marketing strategy for every business. This used to require using a Public Relations (or PR) Firm. Not anymore. Now there are many online PR alternatives. One of the most popular is PRWeb. Depending on the level of service, PRWeb will cost anywhere from $80 to $360 per press release. The baseline service is actually free.

If you think you are ready to do press releases, click on the PRWeb box below:

Click on this link to learn more about the "what's and how's" of press releases and how they should fit into your niche marketing strategy and help your business grow.

Websites

Today, most businesses have websites. But let’s be brutally honest ... are they really much more than a bill board? They will have a few pictures of your business, a few witty sayings, an address, probably a phone number or email address ... but do they really sell your business? Do they really accent the key concepts of your niche marketing strategy? Is your website an extension of your brick and mortar store? If not, you are missing the mark.

Your website should make people want to not only come and visit your real world store but also your "online store" ... your website. Your customers should be able to do everything that they can do in your real store, short of holding the merchandise. This will bring your niche marketing strategy into focus.

That being said, I have built all of my websites using SiteBuildIt or SBI. The reason is they provide a structured process for building your site. Please note that they specialize in content oriented sites versus strictly store fronts. Store fronts and their options will be discussed later in this page.

When comparing each of the options, understand exactly what you are getting. The SBI price includes tools that will be additional to what you are paying for in the website hosting companies listed below. You decide what you do or do not need, then make the wise choice of what fits your business. If you are looking for more information on building websites, from both a business and technical perspective, follow this link for online business strategies.

Other website hosts to consider are:

Website Tools

The website tools discussed here will be extremely important to your niche marketing strategy to create that Virtual Summer experience. These tools bring your real world store to your online customers.

Online Store

Hopefully you reviewed the page for online business strategies, as it will become quickly apparent why these tools and the Mobile Website section will be key to driving your niche marketing strategy and starting your own online business. An online store allows you to provide your product to your customers any time anywhere. In addition, you don't even need to maintain inventory. That is a huge cost savings in itself. Below are four solutions for developing your online store. To see a comparison, follow the link to setting up an online store. If you would prefer to do your own research, each has a detailed site explaining how they work.

Live Chat

In an excellent article by Craig Goldwyn, he sites that studies have shown that 75% of all online shopping carts are abandoned. Some of the principle reasons cited are:

• High shipping prices (72%)
• Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)
• Changed mind (56%)
• Saving items for later purchase (51%)
• Total cost of items is too high (43%)
• Checkout process is too long (41%)
• Checkout requires too much personal information (35%)
• Site requires registration before purchase (34%)
• Site is unstable or unreliable (31%)
• Checkout process is confusing (27%)

Now your niche marketing strategy can compensate for these statistics. By adding live chat to your website or online store, a person can be there to answer questions your customers may have. And it is quite reasonably priced for even the small business owner. Website Alive has plans that start with two operators that will continually monitor your website and help maximize the closing of your sales.

PayPal

PayPal is the most popular means to pay online. If you do not have a business account, get one. It will allow you to send out invoices even to those who do not have a PayPal account. It will also allow you to consolidate your affiliate income in one place. There is no sense having a niche marketing strategy if you cannot get paid.

Mobile Websites

Mobile websites will be the most cutting edge of all of your niche marketing strategy. With the popularity of smart phones (IPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.) and the advent of the IPad and similar devices, the scramble is on to reach the consumer through this new medium.

The iPhone user is by far the heaviest user of these applications in the US, with Android coming up quickly. Companies like BiznessApps, UBuildApps and MyAppBuilder focus on this area. Others, like 99Apps, have even a tighter focus, that is developing applications for restaurants.

The challenge is to find an application, or app, that can cover all of these alternatives. HTML5 is a language that can span all of these devices and therefore consolidate the number of apps you need for your business. Better still, Octomobi has developed a solution that will take you all of thirty minutes to build your own app for your business. I put one together for Outer Banks Revealed. There is even a button you could add for daily deals. And, this solution is priced for the small business owner, at only $9.99 for the full service. I am using the free service. Follow this link to find out why mobile websites are the wave of the future, and why you need to be there now!

Social Media

Everyone seems to be jumping on the social media craze. From Twitter to Facebook, small businesses are looking for ways to stay in touch with their customers. If you use Twitter, but only Tweet intermittently, how effective is this niche marketing strategy? We have developed a service that will provide three tweets a day that will keep your customers focused. You can then fill in at other times with a personal approach to build the long-lasting relationships. Contact us through our Contact Us page get more details on this unique service.

Here is a service that combines two of the most popular social media platforms on the market today, Foursquare and Twitter, to add to your niche marketing strategy. Imagine being able to monitor when a potential customer "checks-in" at a neighboring business and being able to reach out to them with a coupon to entice them over to your business. "Checking in" is how you use Foursquare to let people know where you are, and in some cases, get automatic discounts. What do I mean? Well say you own a restaurant, and you just found out some people just "checked in" at the neighboring jewelry store. It is just about noon, so they might be hungry, right? Well welcome to the power of Tweet Two. You will not only know they are there, but can send them a coupon for your business through Twitter to get them to eat at your place. Now that is social media at its best! Imagine the possibilities for your business. Check it out.

Printing Solutions

With all of the emphasis today on social and digital media, print advertising is still an effective way to go. Your small business marketing strategy still must account for this important channel. Business cards, refrigerator magnets, t-shirts, and flyers are all tools the small business owner uses. These can also get very expensive very quickly. PSPrint can help you solve those printing issues.

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