The goal of every good marketing campaign is to reach its
"target market". Whether that be new or existing customers,
entire or niche markets, to promote the company as a whole or a
specific product; the measurement of a marketing campaign's
success is how well the target market is reached. And how well
the target market responds.
Advertisers spend tremendous amounts of time, money, and effort
determining demographics of target markets to best aim their ad
campaigns. Sometimes more market research is performed than the
entire time the product being prepared for market spent in
research and development.
Large market survey companies have evolved to assist advertisers
in this process. Many pay participants for their opinions to
gain wide and valid data regarding responses to products and
their advertising messages.
At the same time, publishers, broadcasters, cable companies and
a whole other host of folks who sell advertising time or space
perform similar demographic research to better assist
advertisers in reaching their "target markets". They note which
shows are most watched, which columns are most read, which drive
times are most listened to. They record which population
segments are receiving these audio, video, and printed messages.
All this information is combined to provide a better opportunity
for advertisers to get their targeted marketing message to their
target market.
On the internet, there is an additional way to target your
marketing message. The internet has changed numerous facets of
the marketing world. Thanks to the speed with which information
can be gathered and then re-distributed, the internet has even
changed the way we view marketing information. Whole new terms
for marketing and advertising have evolved: spam, mass email,
pop up and pop under windows, exit windows, banner exchanges,
and more. Do you notice that all these terms have a negative
connotation to the internet user? Not so with the topic of
today's article.
Portal Marketing is the development of advertising messages
which are displayed to very targeted groups of internet users.
First, you have to understand what a portal website is. Portals
are webpages that serve as mini-directories on very targeted
subjects. Portals may be made up of specific groups of web sites
who are paying for their advertising or listing on the portal
site, or they may be made up of web sites added by the portal
owner because he or she felt they were of value to other
internet users interested in the portal's topic. Or they might
be made up of a combination of both.
Portals do not attempt to catalogue the entire internet. Portals
are much like the hub or center of a wagon wheel. They are a
jumping off point for links or spokes to numerous web resources
on a like subject.
So what does that mean for the advertiser?
Portal sites are very targeted sites to disseminate your
marketing message. They are recognized as valuable resources to
the demographic groups you are trying to reach. They are ranked
high in numerous search engines because they do a fantastic job
of playing the link popularity game. They also are only too
happy to have you marketing within their walls.
How do you market on a portal site?
Very much the same way that you market on any internet web site.
You can purchase banner advertising or text links. You can
provide valuable content to the portal site and therefore often
times get your marketing message out by way of a byline or a
link free of charge. You can participate in the community. You
can sponsor contests or moderate forums or chat boards.
Virtually anything you do on a relevant portal site will fall
under the category of marketing. Because any way in which you
make your presence heard, seen, or felt you are reaching your
target market.
There are portal web sites for just about anything you could
want. http://www.primmart.com is a portal site for primitive and
rustic shopping. http://www.mommyportal.com is a portal site for
mom business marketing. http://www.moneymakingmommy.com is a
portal site for work at home opportunities. http://www.wahm.com
is a portal site for work at home mom resources on everything
under the sun. http://www.thenetworkforwomen.com is a portal
site of all things of interest to women on the internet.
http://www.i-Cop.org is a portal site for businesses on the
internet who have made an effort to police themselves and each
other, providing internet shoppers and consumers with superior
service every time. Even the category pages within The Open
Directory Project http://www.dmoz.com are in effect portal
sites. A brand new portal site for moms doing business on the
internet is http://www.internetbasedmoms.com.
If you want to find a portal site on which you can begin doing
targeted advertising, run a search. Because of their high link
popularity status, a great search engine to use is Google.com
What if, unthinkable though it might be, a portal web site
doesn't exist that reaches your target market?
The answer is so easy I can hardly believe you would ask. Start
one!
Internet real estate is still the best buy going. Find a
relevant domain name that is available. Register it. Host it.
And build it. Shazaam. You are now in a position to portal
market.
But how do I build a portal?
Compile relevant resources for people and build a site around
it. As traffic levels grow you will be able to sell advertising
space. But remember that whether the portal site itself ever
actually turns a profit or not, it is still the cheapest and
most targeted advertising space available.
What are the added bonuses for setting up your own portal site
to use as a marketing tool?
Much like publishing an ezine or writing articles, you are
continuing to build yourself as a leader and knowledge base in
your field. And that is probably the most powerful marketing of
all!
About the author:
Shannan Hearne-Fortner is the President and Wizard of
http://www.SuccessPromotions.com Marketing Your e-Business
Better through creative marketing and knowledge. Guerrilla
Marketing. One-to-One Marketing. Relationship Marketing. Your
Marketing.
