With the morning sun shining bright you are sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of the weekend’s activities still fresh in your mind, you feel relaxed and think, today at least, life is sweet.

As you take a sip of your morning cappuccino a rush of cool air blows through the room and you catch a movement from the corner of your eye. You blink to find an impeccably dressed stranger now sitting in the chair opposite. You are surprised; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to ask who he is he begins to speak in what can only be described as a calm and reassuring voice.

‘The deal is this’

‘I am going to display your product on a billboard at each of the world’s cities busiest junctions.’

‘I will be able to tell you how many people see the advertisement, their nationality, age and gender.’

‘I will tell you what they think of your product and in many cases I will give you their contact details. While they are reading the billboard I will make it possible for them to view your website and, if they feel the urge, make a purchase.’

‘I will have all this all set up in just a couple of days and it will cost you less than what you would normally pay for a small advertisement in your typical trade journal.’

He stops for just a second. ‘Interested?’

Okay you might be forgiven thinking that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up from a dream or maybe it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But let us just take a minute. If you are still reading this I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I’m offering is the humble online survey.

Stop for one moment and start to associate an online survey not with ‘market research’ but with ‘marketing’. Not any type of marketing but ‘Marketing’ with a capital ‘M’ and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is effective, quick, direct and low cost.

You can advertise a published online survey on a website, or via email and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. The number of people that see a billboard can only be estimated where as the number of people that start a survey is a verifiable number.

By asking demographic questions such as age, gender and nationality you can collate important information that will allow you to measure the effectiveness of your promotion and ensure that you are interacting with your target market on a one-on-one level.

Unlike a billboard where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with an online survey you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using an online survey website it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Even if you throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe invest in some Pay Per Click advertising to capture a wider, or more focused, audience you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

‘So tell me. Is it a deal?’

Share and Enjoy:
  • blogmarks
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • BlinkList
  • connotea
  • Diigo
  • LinkedIn
  • MisterWong
  • Ping.fm
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz

Tagged with:

Filed under: Marketing

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!