Online Marketing
Online marketing, otherwise known as internet marketing, is the marketing of products and services via the internet. Many advantages to small business have been brought about by the internet. It offers a level playing field to those who may wish to expand their target base to other countries. This may have been too costly, or otherwise impossible in the past. This is largely because the entire cost of your marketing program can quite literally be the cost of your internet connection and your total time invested into the venture.
Online marketing blends together the creative and technical aspects of the ‘net, which covers design, advertising and sales. Basic methods will include search engine marketing such as with Google Adwords, or even just search engine listings, marketing through Blogs, etc. Viral marketing is included in this as well. Viral marketing consists of using a free e-book or software product that people keep passing on to others, hence the term viral. It’s important that you realize that online marketing is not as simple as placing a website and an order form online. Online marketing will consist of your whole package – An easy way for the potential customer to contact you, adverting banners and articles, etc. When you promote online, you are also branding yourself, and the impression you make in the early days will follow you around, so you’ll want to cultivate this image carefully. It’s much harder to get rumors of your great reputation floating around the internet then it is have a bad reputation spread like wildfire around the same channels.
Every small detail should be meticulously developed. The details all come together into one which form your online marketing campaign. Your advertising creatives, your product package, customer service, your website etc., all form a single image of your company in the eye of the customer, whether its an individual or another business. The image you project now, will ultimately decide if they will become your customer later.
Marketing online DOES NOT include a one time banner campaign and your hope to achieve sales of so many per thousand. The true key to an online marketing campaign is to establish a marketing plan, just as you would in the “real world”. The online marketing world is no different when it comes to business. If you don’t have a plan, and know which steps you need to follow, and when you need to implement those steps, then it’s all for naught.
Your online marketing plan should include the design and implementation of your website; ultimately, this is your storefront. If you went into a brick and mortar store, and it was so cluttered you couldn’t find anything, you wouldn’t stay there very long. The same is true of your website. People cannot buy what they cannot find, and they won’t stay very long trying to find it either. They’ll just move to the next site.
Your online marketing program will also include some sort of promotion or give-away. Perhaps you want to give a coupon or something of the sort, or maybe offer a free gift with each order. People love the idea of getting something for nothing.
Next you will want to include your advertising/message in your online marketing program. The message will be “short and sweet”, a call to action that will make the user want to click that ad. The design of the ad must be done well. You want to catch their eye, and make them want to read your short message. That short message should compel them to click the ad where they will want to read your longer message, putting you into a better position to make that sale!
Online marketing needs time. You need to nurture your business just like you would in the brick and mortar world. You need to keep putting your message out in front of the buyer. You need to keep pushing your name into the buyers’ minds. Let’s take Vaseline for instance. Nearly everyone associates petroleum jelly with the name Vaseline. Vaseline is a BRAND NAME, and not the name of a product.
Online marketing is all about getting your name recognized, and remembered. It’s about someone saying I need a widget, and associating it with your website, because they “read somewhere” that somesite.com had the best widgets around.
A good online marketing program will help you out for many years to come. This has been proven over and over again. It can and will continue to serve you for many years to come, as long as you follow it, like a bible, and offer customer service that’s unbeatable.
So remember – Online marketing, just like offline marketing, is the whole package. The website, ad material, product packaging, customer service, etc. all rolled into one!
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