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Save $250 off any $500 purchase of books, sermon kits, and pastor kits at http://ping.fm/Xim62 Redeem online. Use promo code SAVE250. You can also call us toll-free at 1-800-224-2735.

Add a Virtual Tour to your Website

A virtual tour can be an interesting and valuable addition to your website, and if you do it properly, it can be a valuable part of your internet marketing ideas. A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of video images. They also may use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and text. Virtual Tours can allow a user to view an environment without actually being there whilst on-line.

There are a number of issues to take into account before adding a virtual tour to your website.

1. What is the goal for your tour?

2. Who are you trying to reach?

3. What kind of interactivity will your audience most appreciate?

4. What kind of bandwidth will you be working with?

Pathmaker Marketing can help you with virtual tours and other kinds of website design. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.

Define Your Online Objectives

by Randall Mains

I marvel at how often clients come to us at Pathmaker Marketing and do not have a firm grasp of exactly what they want us to accomplish for them. This seems to be as true for those companies who are seeking a small business marketing strategy as those charities who are interested in non-profit fund raising.

For whether they are looking for an online marketing tool, church outreach ideas or search engine optimization services, their goals are often murky and poorly defined. An example would be those who put together an internet ad without having defined how to evaluate the results of the advertisement, or measure its success.

First, as you develop your online ad you need to know what, exactly, you are expecting it to accomplish for you.

There are basically a few strategic things that you can hope to receive from your internet marketing endeavor – - a list addition, a lead or a sale. Typically, your product or service will determine which you should expect. For example, if you are selling your services as an Architect for Church Expansion, you will undoubtedly pursue leads, not sales.

On the other hand, if you are selling a $49.95 product titled “6 Steps to 1,000 Perfect Sermons,” the end result is more apt to be a sale than a lead.

Once you fully understand your objective you can better measure the results. Making this determination will allow you to decide whether or not your advertising program was a success.

Second, as you determine your objectives you will find that they may be different depending on whether you are prospecting for new customers or selling to your current ones. Example: is the list email you are using an “internal” or “external” list. For an internal list, one where you are contacting current/past customers, you may decide that for a thousand dollar investment you will want to realize $10,000 worth of sales. It might be more, it might be less – - you should be able to determine this because you will already have a track record with those individuals.

However, with an “external” list, a list of potentially new clients, you may be pleased even if you don’t break even! For the same thousand dollar investment, a return of only $750.00 might be acceptable because you are acquiring new names/clients for future upselling to your internal list. These individuals will have ongoing upsell potential and a “life time value,” which may be very significant.

It is vitally imperative that you define your objectives, for without doing so you cannot determine if your campaign was successful or not! Too, you may want to set up a “scale” of probably/possible success. If your “goal” is to glean $10,000 on a $1,000 investment, and you only glean $8,500, you might decide that the program was, albeit short of your expectations, still a success. As with any goal, not reaching the ultimate goal does not mean you failed.

It is possible that you may need help in defining and refining your objective, and we at Pathmaker would be more than happy to assist you in this. However, before you invest in an internet advertising be sure you know what you expect it to do for you!

Pathmaker Marketing is ready to help you determine your online objectives and would love to talk to you about how our strategies and experience fit with your organization. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.