Market Research

I've been thinking a lot today about marketing. What all it entails, what it's supposed to do, etc. I wasn't educated formally in the discipline, so everything I've learned has been from trial, error and experience.

Internet marketing, is, wellm a subdivision of Marketing. As such, one would think the general principles that have a pedigree in traditional marketing would have the same in terms of the Internet.

I found myself asking questions today like:

1. What is a target market? How do you define it?
2. Are surveys important, and why?
3. What makes a good survey question?
4. Should I send regular communications to current clientele? If so, what kind, and what should they say?
5. How do I determine the demographic attributes of my best customers? Which sources do I use, and how do I know they're reliable?
6. What exactly is branding, and how do I do it effectively?
7. What types of advertising are most effective for my business? Least effective?

These and other related questions were floating in my head today. As I pondered them, I realized that they were all marketing questions.

What is my point? Not sure. But I think what I'm getting at is this: It pays to ask yourself these types of questions of your own business.
And if you're doing marketing consulting for a client, don't just create an SEO plan and implement it; take time to work together with the client to answer these types of questions.