The Internet as an Essential Marketing Tool

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Online marketing provides a greater flexibility level whereby campaigns can be altered to test new markets, evaluate new programs and make changes more specific to a targeted market.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies who specialize in helping other businesses market their products and services online can successfully place them on the top or first page of major search engines and directories, such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc.

The Internet provides an important platform for building relationships with customers and increasing customer retention levels, and despite progressions in marketing channels, such as the introduction of social media, blogs, etc., email has remained at the core. “The focus is not whether you should, but rather how to integrate email marketing into your inbound marketing strategy.” (Kelley, 2015) Email marketing allows a business to create a valuable database of contacts. All the people who follow through on their calls-to-actions, and all the people who fill out the forms on the landing pages, will be added to the contacts database. The business can then target these contacts for appropriate email communication. Thus, rather than sending the entire contacts list one email, a business should be segmenting the list and sending a targeted message to the right people. You can start when a customer has purchased a product from the company’s online store. Begin the relationship by sending a follow-up email to confirm the transaction and thank the customer. Emailing customers regularly with special, personalized offers helps to maintain and grow the relationship.

In conclusion, when speaking to a business who would say that none of this was important, I would say that they are crazy and are losing potential revenue with no monetary investment. Social media posts can be used to drive targeted traffic. Social media can help boost the business owner’s SEO by driving traffic to their optimized pages which will help them climb faster in the SERPs. Social media can help build relationships with your client or potential clients. You can post and your customer base will post. This interaction creates a relationship and can lead to a better insight to the daily lives of the customer base. A business can even target specific types of users to improve their customer base.

A business can even use social media to respond to issues immediately and turn negative issues into positive feedback, which leads to brand loyalty. Everyone is doing it now and if a business doesn’t use social media then they will be left behind. Using social media to converse with customers is one of the best ways (if not the best way) to strengthen the rapport you have. Nowadays most marketers no longer struggling to understand why social media is important; instead, they are challenged by how to manage their social media marketing.

What does a business have to lose? Internet marketing is free to use and the ROI can’t be beat. It is important because it aligns with the way consumers make purchasing decisions. “Internet marketing enables you to build relations with customers and prospects through regular, low-cost personalized communication, reflecting the move away from traditional marketing.” (Linton)

References

Larson, J. & Draper, S. (2015). Internet Marketing Essentials: A Comprehensive Digital Marketing Textbook. [Electronic Version].

Kelley, C. (2015, Oct 25). The 6 Essential Tools for Effective Online Marketing. Retrieved from www.marketingv2.com

Why is Online Marketing so Effective? Retrieved from www.optimus01.com http://www.optimus01.co.za/why-is-online-marketing-so-effective/

[McKinsey & Company]. (2013, Mar 21). Making Data Analytics Work. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Sc5FFY-IVDQ

Linton, I. Six Benefits of Internet Marketing. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com