Introduction
Online marketing is the use of digital marketing strategies and electronic devices to promote your business. Online marketing can include many different ways to reach customers, including social media, email, websites, blogs, and search engine traffic. Almost every type of business benefits from online marketing as it is a great way to reach people where they already are: online.
What is Online Marketing?
Online marketing is the art and science of selling products and services over the internet. The art involves finding marketing strategies that target your desired audience and translate into sales, while the science includes the research and analysis needed to measure the success of those strategies. Online marketing is also known as digital marketing or internet marketing.
How Does Online Marketing Work?
Online marketing uses a variety of digital and electronic means to disseminate a message to current and potential customers. The message can be shaped as an image, text, or video and is distributed across any number of places. It can be as simple as a social media feed or as complex as a comprehensive strategy that includes multiple channels such as social media, email newsletters, websites, and more.
The type of online marketing that will suit your business will depend on the nature of your business, the habits and demographics of your target audience, your budget, and other factors. Market research will lead you to the appropriate strategy or mix of strategies for your products or services, and detailed performance metrics will indicate the most successful strategies for you.
For example, a hair salon looking to incorporate online marketing could add an Instagram feed showcasing photos of hairstyles done by its stylists to highlight their talent. A Facebook page could feature positive reviews from happy customers and display a link to the salon’s website, where potential customers can find information about bookings, available services, and interior photos of the salon.
Do I Need Online Marketing?
Online marketing has become increasingly important for small businesses of all types.
In the past, online marketing was something local businesses could ignore in favor of traditional methods. However, as consumer habits have changed, shoppers are more likely to search for purchases online before buying. In fact, they are likely to look up a product online even while in the store. Overall, all businesses should ensure some online marketing is included in their marketing mix or risk losing business.
Types of Online Marketing
There are as many types of online marketing as there are ways to find information online. However, there are several key methods to know for success.
Search Engine
Online marketing includes search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). SEO is the process of tweaking the text on your company’s website so that it ranks at the top of search engine results when potential customers enter search terms that match your products. Improving your website for better performance in search results costs nothing, and a high-ranking website can bring in a lot of organic traffic (traffic that occurs naturally to the site).
On the other hand, SEM is a paid marketing strategy through search. Search engines such as Google charge fees to display your ad when a user conducts a search using one of your keywords. These fees are also known as pay-per-click (PPC) fees.
Note:
SEM statistics can provide excellent insights into the effectiveness of your ads. For example, the ad click-through rate metric tells you how many times people clicked on your ad compared to how many times the page containing the ad was viewed. It gives an indication of how appealing your ad is to people. The more appealing it is, the more likely it is to be clicked.
Online Advertising
There are many opportunities for online advertising. One tactic can be using banner ads embedded on web pages. Other options include interstitial ads, which are ads that appear before or between content pieces. Various social media providers, such as Facebook, also sell ads on their platforms.
You can use email to send newsletters and product or service offers tailored to customer needs. You can also keep your customers updated with company news, upcoming events, and special offers.
Once you build a shared email list of potential customers who might be interested in your products or services, email marketing is a very effective way to reach them, as your message lands in their email inbox, where they are likely to see it.
Social Media
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest (to name a few) are opportunities for online marketing. They work best when they are part of a comprehensive content marketing strategy that emphasizes the quality and usefulness of the content you create for your brand.
Note: Don’t forget the “social” in social media. Social media marketing works best as a conversation with your customers. It requires active engagement rather than just posting ads for your products or services.
Blogging
Maintaining a blog is another way to engage with your customers and keep them informed about your products or services. The blog can be used to share tips and gather helpful feedback.
The more value you provide to customers through the expertise you share in your blog, the more likely you are to enable your customers to invest in your product.
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Sources:
The Balance only uses high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we verify facts and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
KPMG. “The Truth About Online Consumers,” Page 13. Accessed Nov. 18, 2020.
Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/online-marketing-2948352
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