Like many people in small business, you may be wondering if taking a trip on the “Information Superhighway” is worth the gas money. Well, it probably is. Online marketing is a low-cost way to communicate directly to your prospects and clients—making it ideal for massage therapists, consultants, accountants, writers, graphic artists and many others.

There are different ways to market online, ranging from placing a classified ad on one of the commercial online services (e.g., America Online, CompuServe) to setting up a home page on the World Wide Web. This article focuses on what is a good first step in your online marketing plan—using a commercial service to find and communicate with potential clients.

Is Online Marketing For You?
Online marketing works for businesses seeking local, regional, national, or worldwide customers and prospects. In general, it works for businesses that:

• Offer specialty or niche market products and services;
• Consult or share expertise as part of their marketing;
• Offer technical products or other services that change frequently;
• Hold open houses or seminars;
• Accept orders online, by phone, or by fax;
• Bill through credit cards;
• Are willing to take the time to win one customer at a time;
• Want to broaden their geographical reach;
• Have client education programs already in place;
• Are organized to process inquiries from prospects.

The On-Ramp
All of the commercial services, such as America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy, offer software interfaces to help you navigate their services (available for either Windows or Macintosh). All offer introductory bonuses, such as free hours or a free first month.
To find out which service will work best for your business, sign up for one at a time, and poke around in the areas relating to your product or service. (Remember to discontinue the service at the end of the month to avoid being charged.) The annual cost of being connected to any one of the online services is right around $200 for most users.

Curbside Selling
The fundamental operating principles of all online services is to offer a place where people can find helpful resources. (See Figure 1.) Most commercial services provide areas for marketing information. These include the classified ads, forums and E-mail.

Classified Ads: This is the only area you can place overt sales information (see Figure 2). The price of placing an online ad is anywhere from reasonable to free, so give it a try. Keep your ad between two to four lines. List an offer—special pricing, free samples, and so on.

Forums (also called Channels): These are areas where people with similar interests or businesses exchange messages (See Figure 3). Forums are a great place to reach your niche and find customers. One way to do this is to establish credibility by giving free advice and openly sharing information. Respond to messages left on the bulletin boards and upload helpful files into the libraries. Blatant self-promotion is prohibited. Any message containing only sales information will likely be deleted by the system operator. Each service has its own rules regarding the listing of prices and phone numbers, so read these rules before you start marketing.

E-mail: E-mail allows your clients to contact you via your online E-mail address. For example, it allows clients to enter sales orders or questions about health concerns. The best way to use this marketing tool is to check your messages daily and respond to inquiries immediately. Remember to list your online address along with your mailing address on your stationery and promotional materials.
Be prepared to address the inquiries you’ll get from online members. Develop electronic marketing materials, such as a text-only brochure, a sample issue of your newsletter, or order forms that you can download to inquirers.

Test Drive Your Offer
One way to test offers is to place various classified ads or library files online and count the number of downloads each one receives. If you’re developing new products, use the number of downloads to see which subjects are of most interest.

Test marketing online costs a fraction of the amount of direct mail, results are available in a matter of days, and it’s environmentally friendly. In addition, marketers have found that online tests mirror the results from traditional direct mail tests. However, the online marketplace is still very new, and there are no guarantees regarding the number or quality of the leads you will receive. While this unexplored territory is exciting, don’t expect your online marketing efforts to replace your current, tested methods of marketing.

Rev up your marketing engines and take a Sunday drive online. Hopefully, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the marketing opportunities awaiting you.

Elaine Floyd is the author of Advertising From the Desktop, Marketing with Newsletters, and Quick & Easy Newsletters on a Shoestring Budget. She owns Newsletter Resources in St. Louis, and can be reached at: 314-353-6100, or http://www.newsletterinfo.com.