Marketing
Use the web to market your business
Make the web work for you with marketing
For many businesses, making the web work for them means using it for marketing. The reasons are simple:
- The web has become ubiquitous in our modern society. Virtually everyone uses the web, in some form or another, daily.
- It’s cheap compared to other forms of marketing. Any business who has bought TV or print ads will tell you that they are expensive.
- It’s easier to target a specific audience on the web than with mass media.
- It’s easy to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. With the web you can track how many people have engaged with your ad, often in real time. With offline marketing, you will likely never know exactly how many people saw your ad, much less how many acted on it.
Besides having a well-designed, informative website, there are four primary ways to use the web for marketing.
Email Marketing
SEM refers to “buying” search results. When you search on Google or Bing, the results you see at the top and/or side of the page are actually text ads. When you click one, the company that placed it is charged a fee that is determined by an auction.
SEM is a quick way to get your content in front of people who are searching for it. You can start getting traffic to your site in a matter of minutes whereas traditional search engine optimization (SEO) can take months to start generating traffic.
Of course, SEM is not always the panacea it seems. Depending on the competition for a particular search term, it can get expensive. You must also choose search terms that will get users to your content and craft text ads that attract clicks.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a long-term approach to building a loyal following. It requires consistent, ongoing content creation or curation. It takes months to grow a base of users who continually return to your site in order to consume the valuable content you are creating.
It is sometimes called non-interruption marketing because you are not trying to stick an ad in front of potential customers. You’re creating valuable content that your audience wants to consume. In return for your great content, users reward you with their loyalty and commerce.
Social Media Marketing
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumblr, Yelp…. The list of social media sites seems to grow daily.
Which ones provide the greatest benefit for your business?
Which ones do your potential customers use?
Should you invest in Facebook ads? Twitter ads? Linkedin ads? What is the Return On Investment (ROI) of these ads?
Social media seems to have taken over the web. While it can be a great source of potential customers for some businesses, it can be a waste of time for others.
Developing a social media strategy requires a business to focus on who their customers are and which social media platforms they are using.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM refers to “buying” search results. When you search on Google or Bing, the results you see at the top and/or side of the page are actually text ads. When you click one, the company that placed it is charged a fee that is determined by an auction.
SEM is a quick way to get your content in front of people who are searching for it. You can start getting traffic to your site in a matter of minutes whereas traditional search engine optimization (SEO) can take months to start generating traffic.
Of course, SEM is not always the panacea it seems. Depending on the competition for a particular search term, it can get expensive. You must also choose search terms that will get users to your content and craft text ads that attract clicks.