If you have a business (or working for one) but haven’t yet market your business in internet, then you’re probably missing out on significant number of potential customers.
People spend more time in internet these days, with smartphone become mainstream and internet become fast and affordable. They use internet for various things – from contacting each other, sharing information, searching solution for their problem, looking for information and so many others.
Product and service are designed to solve people’s problem, I believe, and it includes yours. If you market your product and service in internet, chances are somebody, somewhere, is searching the solution for his or her problem and will see it. This very short contact can earn you a customer, if you’re present in the internet that is.
If you’re new to internet marketing, it may seems complicated and difficult, what’s with all the jargon like traffic, conversion, engagement, and so on. But, if you’re willing to give up some time to learn about it, it’s actually simple. You can even learn the concept from the scratch on your own, although applying it successfully may take more effort.
The key to internet marketing is to understand every elements of it. And then, learn what to do and how to do it right for every element. There are six main elements of internet marketing, and here they are.
- Website
Website is where you do your business (e.g. display advertisement or sell product) so make sure to set it up well. Website should look professional and easy to navigate, especially for first time visitor. There are so many dubious-looking website out there and most of them are scam, so display is important to separate your website from them, at least at the first impression. If you have no idea about web design, hire someone. Make sure all the necessary information (about the product and contact information) is visibly displayed even if visitors change page. Some website owners add online chat or online call feature to help customers who need more assistance. - Blog
Integrate your blog to your website. If website provides basic information about your product or service, blog can give your readers wider scoop but still with relevant topics. Blog articles are good to convey information that doesn’t fit with the menus on the website, for example, interview with an expert about your products or tips and tricks on how to use your products. The more contents you have, the better chance it is for your website to rank high in search engine. Of course, the blog contents should offer insight and valuable for your customers and not only promotional materials. - Social Media
Website and blog don’t promote themselves (unless you do some guest blogging). To attract traffic (visitors), you’ll want to promote your website and blog in places with wider reach, such as social media. There are so many social medias to choose, from the hugely popular Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to more segmented Pinterest, Tumblr, and Snapchat. Recognize who your target market, do some research about the social media they use the most, and then establish your presence. Learn the strategy to maintain social media as well, such as what time to post, how often, and what to post. - Advertisement
If social media doesn’t bring enough traffic, you can consider paid advertisement. The most popular one is advertisement offered by Google, since most of internet users use Google as their search engine. When users type their relevant keyword and get the search result, Google will place the link to your website on top or displayed it next to the search result, ensuring the visibility of your link. Google Ads also charges Pay-Per-Click (PPC) instead of over period of time, therefore maximizing the potential of every penny you paid to Google for advertisement. - Freebies
You can offer freebies for first time visitors so they have chance to experience your product better. You can offer free e-newsletter, webinars, or trial version of your product. When your customers have gotten the value of your products, they will come back to your blog. This is the first start of conversion, or converting visitors who at first may only want to read your blog into customers who trust you and your product, and willing to pay for it. - Email Marketing
When you’re offering freebies, make them exchange it with their email address. Periodically, send them email about new blog post, current promotion, or simply give them greetings during special holiday such as Christmas or Thanksgiving. This is part of nurturing audience. Email marketing helps you reminding them about your website. Link the email to your website to drive traffic again. Also, even if they haven’t visited your website for quite some time, periodical email will ensure they still remember your brand. Provide RSS subscription button in your website, so visitors who subscribe will get notification immediately whenever you update your blog. - Analytics
The last component is analytics, or statistics depicting how well your blog is doing from the traffic, leads, conversion rate, and other useful metrics. Analytics help you to monitor your website’s performance. Because it is quantitative, you can even compare the analytics of your company to those of your competitors, provided you got information about how your competitor is doing. Analytics also set internet marketing different from other media channel, since its success and failure can be clearly seen, therefore next time it can be seriously addressed. Analytics for the first period of the business can be used to see if your target has hit the mark or miss by a landslide.
The basic concept isn’t that hard, is it? As long as you have willingness to learn little by little and at the same time try internet marketing directly on your own hand, I’m sure in short time you’ll get the hang of it. As long as you’ve understood about seven elements of internet marketing, you’ll be prudence in treating them, and this is what will lead you to success.