What is Online Marketing?
Online marketing refers to the practice of using web-based marketing channels to market a company’s brand, services, or products to its target audience. There are many types of online marketing, making it a practice that is wide, varied, and highly effective.
Some methods and techniques used for online marketing are email marketing, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), Google Ads, and display advertising. The point of online marketing and these varied methods is to reach and connect with potential customers through the channels where they’re the most likely to spend their time. Knowing which channels to focus on depends largely on understanding your business’ target audience.
For example, if your business caters to men between 18-35, the bulk of your online marketing should take place on social media platforms they’re more likely to frequent like Instagram or Twitter. Overall, using online marketing as a way to get the word out on your company.
What is the Process of Online Marketing?
Online marketing is done by using web-based channels to reach your company’s target audience. This marketing type is different from traditional marketing in that mediums historically used for widespread advertisements like print, television, radio, and billboard advertisements are swapped out for social media, online ads, email campaigns, and more.
Online-based mediums are just more effective because people are much more likely to see and engage with your advertisements. Social media makes viewing, sharing, and engaging with advertisements and content easier than ever before, meaning that when a business shares any form of content, they can rest assured that it will be seen. How much it is seen and engaged with depends on the size of the business and its customer following.
It is important to note, however, that having a lot of followers on your social media platforms and a lot of names on your email list does not immediately guarantee customer interaction.
There’s a lot you have to do to make the first move so that your followers want to engage with you and share your content with their followers and friends. In this way, online marketing is somewhat collaborative, like the Internet itself.
The wide acceptance and adoption of the Internet for business and personal use has made online marketing a business’ best bet for customer engagement. Thanks to digital mediums and platforms, online marketing can be executed a number of different ways.
Types of Online Marketing
The following are some of the most popular methods of online marketing:
SEO-Driven Blog
A blog can be an impactful way to drive users to your website. This is a useful way to converse with your customers as well keep them informed and up-to-date about your products, services, and your business. A blog can be used as a way to generate feedback from engaged customers.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is a method that encompasses search engine optimization (SEO) and paid advertising. SEO is the process of fine-tuning your business website so that it ranks highly on the average search engine like Google or Bing. SEO is a free technique that you can do yourself.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is paid search marketing. This means there is a pay-per-click fee when search engines display your ad. When users enter certain keywords, it may trigger your ad. A user can click on this ad to get to your business’ website or an advertising landing page. Although this comes at a cost, it can boost ROI and growth.
Email Marketing
When you have a subscriber email list of some potential customers who have expressed interest in your brand, you can begin your email marketing campaign. Email marketing is a useful way to interact with potential customers and provide them with valuable information about your business and products. It makes it easy to share news about upcoming events, special offers, and more through newsletters.
Why is Online Marketing Beneficial for Business?
When it comes down to it, online marketing is beneficial because it gives your business the ability to measure the impact it has on its customers on any given channel.
Through site analytics for your different channels, you can measure how much users are engaging with your content, how many visitors become paying customers, and how widely your content is shared. You can also learn which channels are most effective at bringing in new customers so that your business can continue to grow and your conversion rate can increase.
Online marketing is taking the business world by storm, so it only makes sense to learn how to do it and do it well. Luckily, there are many ways to execute a strong online marketing strategy, and your business will be better for it. Whether you use all online marketing techniques or just a select few, you can rest assured that your business will see substantial improvement.
In the digital age, connecting with customers is easier than ever, and having a good relationship with current and potential customers is the best way to get business moving.
At Directive, we pride ourselves on our expertise across all online marketing channels. Are you having a difficult time utilizing those channels to boost your online marketing efforts? You deserve better! With a free custom proposal from us, you can partner with our team to help boost those efforts.
