The Benefits of Marketing Online

Marketing rules are the same no matter how big or small your business

is: (1) brand your product,
(2) determine who your target audience is,
 (3)

get the sales, and
 (4) establish repeat customers. Online marketing is

very effective in managing all four of these rules.

Online Marketing Defined

The definition of online marketing is: Placing your business or product

on the Internet for millions of users to access so that you can turn your

website into a strong tool to maximize your sales and business potential.

But online marketing is much more than putting your advertising online.

Marketing online includes such areas as communicating with your

customers, promoting your business or product online, and making sure

that your website content is useful and up to date. The great thing about

online marketing is that you don’t need to have a huge budget to put

together a marketing campaign that is effective. There are tools that you

can use to make your marketing techniques easy and profitable such

website templates, shopping cart templates, and online marketing

templates.

What You Need for Online Marketing to be Successful

There are some important points to consider before you get into the

strategies and intricacies of online marketing:

 Communication. An important part of online marketing is how

you respond to your customer’s e-mail. You don’t want to lose

potential customers after you’ve made the effort to have them visit

your website and then contact you for more information. E-mail is

a very effective and cost efficient way for you to generate more

sales. The key to this effectiveness is “consistency”. You need to

be consistent in your response to your customers. You’ll also want

to make sure that the tone of your e-mail corresponds with the tone

you’ve set in your website content.

 Human Resources. If you’re going to succeed online you need to

have enough people working with you. Efficient websites

incorporate a personal touch with a fast response time to

customers. Your goal is to turn the visitors to your website into

customers. The standard time for a return e-mail is from 48 to 72

hours. If you wait any longer to e-mail back you risk losing the

customer. This means that if you don’t have the man power to

return e-mail in two to three days you need to take another look at

your marketing strategy.

 Products people want to buy online. Before you start marketing

online you need to be sure that you have a product or service that

people want to buy. Customers need to find a value in what you’re

selling. There are two motivating factors when it comes to selling

online: cost and convenience. Ask yourself if customers will find

it easier to buy online than finding a local store. Is it cheaper for

them to buy this from you online?

Online Goals

Once you’ve established that there is a need for your service or product

you’ll be ready to determine your business goal and whether or not you

can meet this goal online. If your main goal is to sell a product online 

you should decide how you want to make those sales. For example, do

you want customers to buy from you online or do you want them to come

to you to close the sale? You’ll need to decide what action is needed for

the sale to be finalized. Small businesses need marketing efforts that are

targeted and precise.