Proven Types Of Online Marketing To Boost Your Business.
There are as many different internet marketing strategies as there are business who want to advertise. Some prefer to reach out and talk directly to their customers, while other prefer to cast a wide net with search engine optimization. All of these different strategies use different types of online marketing, but the building blocks are all the same. Every campaign, from the smallest local business to the largest Fortune 500, uses a mix of these 5 proven methods for online marketing.
Social Media Marketing
There’s no denying the huge power of social media, especially now that everyone and their grandmother — sometimes literally — is on Facebook and Twitter. Social media marketing consists of using different sets of tools to organize social campaigns, monitor social networks for feedback, and engage directly with customers.
This sort of marketing works extremely well for local businesses, thanks to the tools that are in place for micro-targeting. Smaller businesses will be able to build and then engage with a local community directly. Social Media Marketing is also used by large corporations, though. Typically a large company will use special software, called Customer Relationship Management (CRM), in order to monitor social networks for a mention of their name. Then they will spring into action and engage with the target.
Whether your business is big or small, engaging in social media marketing means talking with your customers, making them aware of special offers, keeping them happy, and encouraging them to come back for more.
Web Advertising
Pay per-click, or web advertising, is one of the oldest methods of online marketing. Your business pays an advertiser to serve banner or sidebar ads to potential clients. One of the benefits of traditional web advertising is that you pay pennies for each engagement, and typically only people interested in your services will click the ad. On the other hand, if your advertising is intrusive or poorly done, it will reflect badly on your brand.
Web advertising isn’t without its risks, but a good campaign will get solid results. It works best when you can identify your target customers and which websites they frequent. Then it’s only a matter of paying to have your name put front and center. Pay per-click advertising has stuck around this long for a reason — it works.
Email Marketing
Contacting your customers through email is an excellent way to make sure they know about a special offer. Email marketing also gets good results because potential customers have to opt-in to receive your advertising. That usually indicates a high level of interest, which translates to a good conversion rate. On the other hand, you need to make sure that you have something relevant to say if you’re sending an email.
Email marketing is perfect for accompanying larger campaigns. Unlike some of the other methods, email marketing almost always works better in conjunction with another advertising method. For instance, you can create a landing page with a mailing list signup form and then direct traffic there with a pay per-click campaign. Email advertising has a lot of the same benefits of social media marketing, but the conversation is one-sided in favor of the advertiser.
Search Engine Optimization
Knowing what your customers are searching for can be a powerful thing. It allows you to craft your message in such a way that you rise to the top of the search engine results page. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, can allow you to reach a huge audience. In order for SEO to be done well, it takes quite a bit of research. The hard work pays off in the end, when people searching for your product or service see your name at the very top of the list.
SEO is often one of the first internet marketing techniques that people are exposed to. In order to be successful, you should do SEO research before you write any advertising copy. Your copy will be geared toward certain keywords which your customers are searching for. SEO works best when you have all of the research done before you begin the campaign, or even build your website.
Content Marketing
When you create and share media, whether it’s a picture, video, or article, you’re engaging in content marketing. This sort of marketing is closely related to social media marketing, and typically the two will be used together. Other times, content marketers will use a blog or website and stay independent of social media. Depending on your company’s needs, content marketing can be tailored quite a bit. For instance, a music store might prefer to share clips of a song, while a visual artist would probably prefer pictures.
Content marketing is popular because it gives the customer something of value, and encourages them to continue to interact with your brand. It does have drawbacks, and can be expensive, but it’s very popular because it works so well. Having just one story or video go viral can triple your customer base and make your company the focus of the internet, even if it is only for 15 minutes.
Promote Your Business with Online Marketing
Even though there are only 5 proven types of online marketing, they can be mixed and combined in so many ways that your business is sure to find something that fits. The most important thing is to monitor your results, be patient, and change what isn’t working. In that regard, online marketing is the same as a lot of traditional methods, just with a much longer reach.
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