-By Marshall Marcovitz

Marketing these days means a lot of experimenting. How does the gourmet retailer compete against the big competition like amazon.com? "I want to develop a more robust Web site. I understand the opportunities for creating customer loyalty that flow from utilizing my community of cooking enthusiast buyers, but what's it going to cost me?" That's what I hear from gourmet retailers around the country. "I've tried in-store loyalty programs, e-mail buyer and prospect lists, and regular sales promotions. Now what do I do?"

There is a marketing maze out there. What do you choose, and how do you choose what's most cost-effective for your company? What lessons can be learned from successful marketers? To help sell cookware (let's call our imaginary company the Kitchen Galore store or KG), KG designs a Web site where serious cooking enthusiasts can send e-mails requesting cooking tips, new product information, or trade recipes featuring their favorite dishes. On another site, the store offers behind-the-scenes clips of All-Clad and Calphalon cookware being manufactured. KG is giving its community a good reason to keep coming back to its Web site again and again. It has even developed an e-commerce capability where customers can make purchases using their credit cards. This all costs money, but it is paying off handsomely. KG has even trained one of its office personnel to do the basic day-to-day maintenance of the Web site.

Beyond the Internet, KG has tried word-of-mouth campaigns, where the store taps loyal customers to tell others about new products, and in-store marketing.

For example, to support a new flavor of coffee, Kitchen Galore placed promotional stickers on coffee grinders and coffee makers in their store.

What's happening at KG is typical of the spaghetti-on-the-wall approach that defines marketing in this new-media world. Consumers have a lot more choices of retail outlets to shop, and are a lot less patient about wading through static Web sites that don't offer entertainment value, or involve the visitor in a community of like-minded cooks. Marketers are trying to win back their attention with a grab bag of new strategies.

New Media Choices
Retailers are plowing money into the Internet and finding creative ways to take advantage of the medium's strengths. For instance, they're targeting sales pitches to particular audience segments with unprecedented precision and creating ads that don't look like ads, such as humorous Web sites that people pass along to their friends. I've even noticed that marketers are trying to grab customers in the aisles, placing ads on the shelves of supermarkets. How about trying that strategy in your retail store?

Retailers must assess the viability of the myriad of new communications options available, as well as their near-term and long-term scalability. Behind all this experimentation is a rapidly changing shopping landscape. A world dominated by BIG Internet marketers like amazon.com, huge department store national chains, and well-financed public retailers like Williams-Sonoma. "Trying to beak through with consumers is definitely tougher and it's definitely a challenge." -- That's what I hear being said around the country.

The good news is that these new media choices mean new ways for companies to spread their message. Consider the possibilities the Internet offers. You can place a video ad before online text advertising. Think of how exciting a Calphalon new product introduction video would be before a text listing of all the Calphalon products you stock. Sell the sizzle of cooking with professional-quality cookware. Advertisers can also use the Internet to market in a much more targeted way than in traditional media like mail order catalogs. Cookware retailers, for example, can have their ads appear on search engines when people are hunting for information about buying cookware.

On the other hand, the Web has made it easier for companies to create buzz about a product using traditional sales pitches. Companies can create an attention-getting Web site and tell people about it by e-mail -- relying on word-of-mouth to bring in more viewers. Some retailers are also turning Web logs (blogs) into a marketing forum. They're beginning to treat bloggers like regular media outlets, sending them press releases and trying to get them to write about their products. Marketing now requires trying to fuse yourself into life events. Getting inside the head of the consumer is the goal.

Measuring Results
How do you measure results through each of these new methods in this new environment? There is more and more clutter than ever before, and more and more channels available to talk to customers than ever before, so there is more science associated with it. So how do you educate yourself? I'm an avid reader so I always start with written information. I type Internet Marketing and do a Google search to see what cognitive and scientific information is available on market research, companies' ad campaigns and brand perceptions. I'm looking to discover how to design a campaign and figure out where my ads should run.

In the late '90s when I started out marketing on the Internet, I was taught to look for forms of media that brought in lots of viewers -- so-called boxcar audience numbers -- and to use media that was the most intrusive. These days, I rely less on those lessons. Now, a marketing campaign's central idea or premise needs to extend to not only traditional outlets such as retail stores, print (direct mail including mail order catalogs) and radio, but also to the Web and mobile devices.

The broader mix means campaigns require a lot of oversight. Marketing efforts must be keenly choreographed. It's not just flooding the market with messages. It's trying to use more of a rifle shot than a shotgun approach.

Marshall's Wisdom for the Web:
1. Viral Marketing Campaigns -- For years, my friends have used e-mail to share jokes and gags. Now advertisers are realizing that the popularity of e-mailed jokes can be a conduit for viral marketing campaigns -- so named because they're meant to spread a marketing message from person to person, like a virus. The use of video, music and games in viral-marketing pitches often triggers higher pass-along rates. Use your imagination to create viral messages with content containing recipes, cooking tips and new tools to make cooking more creative and more fun. Marketers believe ad campaigns are more effective if they engage consumers, getting them directly involved, such as through creation of a viral e-mail.
2. Online Social Communities -- Online social communities, such as MySpace.com, help people interact with others on a greater scale and share information. Recipe-sharing, favorite tools-of-the-trade and famous chefs' signature recipes are a few ways of engaging consumers, and getting them directly involved in the community of serious cooking enthusiasts.

Marshall's Top 10 Web & E-mail Marketing Tips:
1. Discover what information is crucial to analyze.
2. Make blogging pay off.
3. Always measure results.
4. Channel surfing: Explore new possibilities.
5. Improve your e-mail response by improving your lists.
6. Online surveying: Is a little information dangerous?
7. Gain market share using customer-created content.
8. Utilize best in-store practices to increase online sales.
9. Build a powerful e-mail program.
10. Slice and dice your list for improved e-mail offer results.

Marshall Marcovitz is the founder and former CEO of the CHEF'S CATALOG, a leading Internet shopping site. Currently, he is a lecturer, a university professor and a marketing consultant. He may be contacted at mmmellow9@yahoo.com.