The world of online marketing has made it possible for people everywhere to become entrepreneurs. The online market is crowded with competitors. What can a business do to gain a profitable chunk of Internet traffic? New business owners can emulate some of the simple, yet effective marketing techniques of the pros to stand out above the rest.
Before approaching their market, businesses must accurately and specifically define who that market is. By defining a specific niche, a marketing team can structure their advertising campaign to achieve the greatest result.
A business that only focuses on its product or service, to the exclusion of all else, is not capitalizing on society’s current trends. What are the priorities of people within that niche? What are their main concerns? How can a business meet its needs? By way of example, a company that works within the medical field may address the parental concern over a recent medical outbreak by providing free preventative, as well as printable sheets containing symptoms and treatments.
Offering free information and ebooks as well as doing some legwork to find helpful links will all address the niche’s main concerns. Giving away timely information is an excellent way for a company to prove it is on the cusp of what matters to its customers.
It used to be common practice to load a sales page with vague promises, meaningless guarantees, and barrels of hype. For a time, it worked. Not anymore! Yes, the occasional newbie or desperate marketer will fall prey to the dishonesty of the hype-driven salesperson. Most consumers know better and are immediately turned off by empty hype and unrealistic promises. For a business to do well in the Internet world, it needs to be upfront with customers. It must present informative and helpful content and legitimate services.
An excellent tool for reaching a target audience is an online video. Pages with videos are far more attractive to the average viewer than plain text. They cause people to stick around a site longer. The extra time the potential clients spend there gives the marketer precious moments to present the highlights of the company, product, or service. Videos also give a visitor a sense of connection to the company.
One of the most crucial components of a strong marketing plan is often overlooked. It is the customer service department. Site visitors should easily be able to reach a customer service representative at any time, at least to leave a message. No businesses in the 21st century should withhold their email addresses or similar contact information from customers.
All complaints, questions, and problems should be acknowledged with a sense of urgency. Most companies begin this process with an auto-responder. A real person must make a real connection rapidly and frequently during the time the issue remains open. Failure to supply quality customer service will chisel away at a company’s customer base.
Old-school online marketers often bought supposedly prequalified lists of email addresses to whom they would send unsolicited emails and advertisements, much like telemarketers in the real world. Today we call that spam. Spam is generally filtered out of inboxes. When it ends up in an inbox, disinterested viewers delete it immediately.
Today marketers encourage voluntary subscriptions to newsletters and other lists. People can also follow companies on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Time spent establishing relationships with customers will pay off in the form of repeat customers and increased site traffic.
To succeed in the online marketing world, a business or marketer needs to be comfortable with the most current Internet marketing trends. Companies need to be willing to adapt their strategies to fit the needs and trends of today’s consumers. Following the ebb and tide of the ever-fluctuating Internet world will aid marketers on their way toward a profitable online campaign.
