In our digital age, having an online marketing strategy is not only recommended for any business, your customers expect to be able to engage with you online – even if you are a brick-and-mortar store. The internet is now one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to increase sales. This means having a comprehensive internet marketing strategy in place, and properly managed.
We all know internet marketing is the selling and promoting of products and services on the internet. But I’m going to throw some terms at you now; search engine optimization, blogs, affiliate marketing, email lists, social media, CPC. The internet is it’s own world of advertising.
There are many, many ways to promote your products online using these techniques. I recommend using a professional to help you navigate this new world with ease, but if you are just wanting to step out and learn a little more on how to start building your own online strategy, let me tell you some easy ways to begin.
Here are our top tips for starting getting you ready to market online:
- Study your competitors: Look at their strategies and sales process, by visiting their websites, sign up to their newsletter and maybe even going through their purchase procedures. This will give you key insights you can use – what works and what doesn’t.
- Know your market: Know your target audience and speak to them directly. Others will then follow. The majority of your online marketing budget should be focused on your target demographic.
- Look around at other brands: Both within your market and other affiliated brands will provide ideas and inspiration of what you could do. By knowing what’s hot, and what’s working, you can get ahead.
- Make it a multifaceted internet marketing strategy: There are many online portals out there that will increase your brand awareness and reach. Make sure you’ve covered everyone you want to use, and launch the campaigns at the same time. Go live fast!
- Manage your brand image and name: When you go online, you’ll be dealing directly with your customers. This will bring the good feedback, and perhaps highlight customer issues. Make sure you have someone looking after your online presence to deal immediately with any problems.
- Setup tracking capabilities for your campaigns: By setting up analytics for your campaigns, you can track their success. As the campaign runs, be ready to respond to what’s not working and stay flexible – you are now marketing in real-time.
- Make sure you are ready across the business: Communicate the launch date with your staff and make sure everyone is ready to respond. If it’s online sales, make sure you can fulfill orders on the day.
