Online Marketing has become a large focus for most corporations globally and it is easy to see why. As opposed to traditional marketing methods such as print advertising, marketing through online channels is globally accessible, targeted and measurable.
Ensure Global Accessibility
Acquiring leads and sales by driving the primary focus through an eBusiness platform, as with all elements of business, rely primarily on the marketing.
The Internet has made information much more accessible, and in turn the reach of any product nearly effortless. It is changing the way people communicate and access information on a daily basis. The number of people who access the internet daily amounts to approximately 250,000,000. Your product or company needs to be easily accessible via the Internet and more specifically stand out in order to leverage this shift.
With the number of people searching the Internet on a daily basis compared to the number of competing websites for your industry, how do you ensure that your website stands out from the crowd?
Identify Your Demographic Target Audience
As with traditional marketing methods, it is important to firstly identify your audience.
Alongside this it is very important to identify the following:
- Your Vertical Niche - this will determine the theme of the content on your website
- Online Competitors - from the theme, it will identify who your online competitors are.
- A Unique Selling Proposition - this will assist to identify how you can pitch your online campaign to gain an upper hand on your competitors.
- Your Goal - what you want to achieve with your site
Identifying these criteria will ensure that you choose the correct channel to communicate your message through.
Channels
The online opportunities for a company are varied across a broad spectrum of channels, however the most important criteria is to ensure that your vehicle of marketing, your website, is as robust it can be, not cluttered and easy to navigate prior to implementing an online marketing campaign.
The foundation to any online marketing campaign is to ensure that your company is found on all the major search engines.
A good place to start is with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) comprised of paid search marketing (Pay Per Click - PPC) and organic search marketing (Search Engine Optimisation - SEO).
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is aimed at achieving a page one placement in the left hand side results in Google for example. The key to a great Search Engine Optimisation campaign lies predominantly in the content of a website. Having established the theme of your website, your online competitors and target audience you have within your reach the resources to establish the key-phrases that searchers would enter into search engines to find information about your company or industry. When a website ranks well for a variety of keywords and phrases in the major search engines, incoming traffic, brand awareness and online sales increase and the company makes a return on its investment.
Pay Per Click (PPC) is aimed at achieving top three sponsored position placement on the right (or first two on left) results in Google for example. PPC advertising is targeted by keywords and context. Instead of relying on your site content, and especially if you need to enter the market aggressively, paying for your key-phrases is ideal. You effectively purchase your traffic to the website by paying each time a searcher clicks on your advert from a search engine. Payments vary according to multiple factors. In order to decrease the financial outlay it is imperative that the psychological aspects of the website are according to usability and conversion best practice. This implies that each visitor should ideally turn into a customer. When clicks convert to sales, pay per click advertising can yield impressive returns on investment.
Social Media Marketing is a close second to Search Engine Marketing. Social Media or otherwise referred to as Consumer Generated Media can be described as Word of Mouth advertising. It is based on the assumption that all individuals will refer a service, product or person on the basis that they have achieved something in return. It further states that individuals are far more likely to purchase a service or product etc if it was referred by a trusted source, such as for example an acquaintance, friends or family. Social media sites have become a great resource for online marketers and businesses looking for widespread online exposure. Target audiences can be narrowed down far more than other methods of adverting as social network websites typically profile their users. These profiles are used to target advertising too in terms of their interests, thus advertisers have the ability to target a niche audience that have to some extent been pre-qualified.
Blogging is another popular social media channel for business. Blogging is low cost, can achieve a following when developed and run properly, and serves as a good and informal way to communicate directly with customers, build content and build an online reputation.
Other profitable channels to market your campaign through include email and affiliate marketing.
Measurability
A big plus for online marketing channels is that unlike traditional advertising channels, eMarketing allows for high accuracy in tracking results. All campaigns are measurable. For example, advertisers placing an advert in the front page of a popular business oriented magazine will not be able to track exactly how many people have seen the advert. Although you are able calculate circulation statistics, this does not guarantee that the advert has been viewed, or that any sales have evolved from this advert. Online marketing channels allow advertisers to see exactly how many people have seen their advert, on what day, in which country and whether this ad led to a sale.
The evolution of eCommerce and eBusiness practices has created online marketing channels that are simple to use, adaptable, targeted and incredibly fast. The popularity of the internet has propelled the use of online marketing channels from "nice to have" to non-negotiable. Every business should have an online marketing strategy to maximise the exposure and to leverage relationships with their customers.
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