With the term “small business” we mean virtually any company that operates online or offline, which may or may not have online customers. We tend to use the term “small business” because large companies have probably outsourced Internet marketing and the company’s online presence to specialized departments.
Surely you have some specific questions regarding internet marketing. Reading the following will definitely help you understand more about this topic.
“Since I do not have my products on the internet, why should I do Internet Marketing?” This is the most common question that comes to the mind of business owners when learning about internet marketing and not selling online. The answer is very simple and immediate.
Even if your business is not active on the internet, Internet Marketing is highly important as nowadays, customers decisions about their purchases are mainly influenced by searches and discussions on the internet. It is normal to want to do some market research before making any purchase, and the most powerful and free tool that generously offers this feature is the internet. If your business and products are missing from this space then you understand that you are missing out great customer acquisition opportunities.
A recent study by Nielsen and Google on the use of mobile phones for product purchases found that 84% of shoppers use their devices to decide what to buy, even while they are in the physical store. This is a very simple example that firmly demonstrates the importance of having an effective online presence even for small businesses.
“My clients are not on Facebook, why spend money on something that will not give me anything in return?” This is another question that arises in entrepreneurs and deserves to be discussed in more detail. Internet marketing is not just about Facebook or Google as most people think. Social media is just one of the many tools currently available in the field of internet marketing.
A well-designed internet marketing campaign is capable of covering a range of technologies that will focus more on those that provide a higher ROI (Return On Investment) to your business. If your customers do not use Facebook, but still search on Google then it would be good to give more weight to Search Engine Marketing.
“I am already doing internet marketing and I have not seen any results.” Many entrepreneurs who have used the internet as a product promotion tool respond somewhat like this when they hear about Internet Marketing. The biggest mistake these people make is that they do not use the right metrics so they do not know if the strategy they are using is effective or not in order to make the right decisions.
In order for companies to benefit from internet marketing, they must take into account the above and be more prudent in interpreting and analyzing the results they get from the measurements so that the conclusions they draw lead them to more correct decisions subsequently.
The benefits of internet marketing for small businesses
As you read this, there are millions of people searching Google, Yahoo and Bing for products, there are thousands of people using the Apple Store, Google Play Store and Amazon AppStore to download apps to their mobiles and there are millions of people using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and a dozen of other social networks.
A well-designed and effective internet marketing campaign will penetrate all markets and bring your company to the screen of every potential customer.
If during their search they do not find your website (either because you do not have one or because it is not properly optimized) and they find your competitors, then what will happen? You will probably lose customers to your competitors.
On the other hand, if you have a good website that is optimized for all devices and all users, then you are more likely to retain those customers and your investment in Internet Marketing will keep you ahead of the competition. Get to know your customers better. Find out what they prefer and need.
Internet marketing tips for businesses.
If you are confused about what to do or do not have the time or staff to do Internet Marketing then your next best option is to hire an Internet Marketing company to do the job for you.
Web Site: It may sound silly, but yes you need to have a website in order to do proper Internet Marketing. Once you have created your page, you need to make sure that it is of high quality and that is based on best practices and web design standards.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): When you have a high quality website, the next step is to work on search engine marketing. SEM has 3 parts that are very important for the overall success of any campaign:
1) Optimization of your website in order to have better visibility in search engines but also to create a more user-friendly environment.
2) Techniques You Can Use To Promote Your Website Using Legitimate Practices.
3) Take advantage of the pay per click feature provided by many advertising platforms (Google Adwords, Yahoo ads, etc.) to get your message across to more people.
These 3 parts are independent of each other, but for best results they should be used in parallel.
Social Media Marketing: A very popular method for promoting your business online. Recent studies show that there is an increase in the rate of traffic to social media, which is very encouraging for internet marketing.
People love content and companies that can provide the right content to their potential customers win in the end. This is nothing new, but with the growing number of internet users and their constant pursuit of quality information, if you want to stay on top you need to invest in content marketing.
For example, if you sell coffee makers then your website should have top quality coffee maker related content including product descriptions as well as technical features, customer reviews, maintenance information, customer support forums, images, videos, comparison tools etc.
If you are not able to sell online, and you have, for example, a law firm and you are looking for local clients, then your website should have information about the company, the staff, the experience, the location, the ways in which you make an appointment, general advice on legal issues, etc.
Email Marketing: The success or failure of email marketing depends on many factors, but it is important to use email marketing as part of your overall marketing campaign and not as a standalone service.
For example, when you are ready to launch a new product or service or open a new store you can send it to your customers and let them know. Also giving them a 10% discount or some other form of reward will make them happy to receive your message.
Mobile Marketing: Mobile use is on the rise nowadays and as more people use smartphones, the importance of mobile marketing is increasing. Google has already invested a lot of money in mobile research and believes that mobile marketing is not just an option, but an imperative for any business.
The first thing you need to make sure of is that your website is mobile friendly and that it is optimized for viewing on a variety of mobile devices. Apart from that, you can also invest in creating a mobile parent application that will help you find even more customers.
Banner Advertising: In addition to the above methods, there is also the traditional option to advertise on other related websites. If there are quality websites or blogs in your field that offer advertising space, it is not a bad idea to try to promote your business through them.
The biggest mistake people make when it comes to buying advertising space from other websites is the fact that they do not measure the return on investment. In other words, you need to know what users are doing as soon as they click on your ad, how much time they spend on your website, what pages they visit, what actions they take, and how much of that turns simple browsing into a marketplace. Once you have all this information, you can decide whether or not your ads should continue to run.
Conclusion.
Internet marketing is imperative for any serious business, even if it is not directly connected to the Internet to make sales. Whether you are providing a product or a service you should invest in its online presence for all the reasons explained above and for the simple reason that this is the way businesses operate today and you have no choice but to follow the this trend.
Finally, if you do not have the knowledge to do this at home, it is one of the most convenient services to outsource and take advantage of their many benefits.
