On the other end of the spectrum, there are loads of companies telling you
that you can make a fortune overnight on the Internet and who try to sell you
some form of "Internet marketing program".
Today, Internet marketing, or online marketing, is evolving into a broader mix
of components a company can use as a means of increasing sales - even if your
business is done completely online, partly online, or completely offline. The
decision to use Internet marketing as part of a company's overall marketing
strategy is strictly up to the company of course, but as a rule, Internet
marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of nearly every company's
marketing mix. For some online businesses, it is the only form of marketing
being practiced.
Internet Marketing Objectives
Essentially, Internet marketing is using the Internet to do one or more of the
following:
•Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its services
online.
•Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of
existing and potential customers.
•Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.
Internet Marketing Components
Components of Internet marketing (or online marketing) may include:
•Setting up a website , consisting of text, images and possibly audio and video
elements used to convey the company's message online, to inform existing and
potential customers of the features and benefits of the company's products
and/or services. The website may or may not include the ability to capture leads
from potential customers or directly sell a product or service online. Websites
can be the Internet equivalents of offline brochures or mail order catalogs and
they are a great way to establish your business identity.
•Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing a website online via search
engines, either by improving the site's natural (organic) ranking through search
engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing
pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to
offline yellow page listings.
•Email marketing, which is a method of distributing information about a product
or service or for soliciting feedback from customers about a product or service
through Email. Email addresses of customers and prospective customers may be
collected or purchased. Various methods are used, such as the regular
distribution of newsletters or mass mailing of offers related to the company's
product or services. Email marketing is essentially the online equivalent of
direct mail marketing.
•Banner advertising, which is the placement of ads on a website for a fee. The
offline equivalent of this form of online marketing would be traditional ads in
newspapers or magazines.
•Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a
company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online
wire service.
•Blog marketing, which is the act of posting comments, expressing opinions or
making announcements in a discussion forum and can be accomplished either by
hosting your own blog or by posting comments and/or URLs in other blogs related
to your product or service online.
•Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and
having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then
have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit
re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained.
Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the
distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience.
Internet Marketing and Home Business
Of all of the components of Internet marketing, prospective customers and
clients expect a business to have a website. In fact, not having one could raise
a red flag to a prospect. Online usage has become so pervasive today, many
prospects might easily choose to do business with a company that they can get
up-to-date information on 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Even a business that only has very local customers, such as a single location
restaurant or shoe store can benefit from having a website and engaging in
online marketing. And, those businesses whose customers are not restricted to a
geographical area might have a difficult time finding an alternate method of
attracting customers that offers the reasonably low expense and worldwide reach
of a Web presence.
Because of the "virtual" nature of most home businesses, websites, if not an
absolute necessity, can certainly provide benefits to a home business operator.
Since most home-based businesses don't have a physical location, a website
provides an inexpensive means for prospects to get to know what you do or what
you sell and can even be a "storefront" for selling goods and services directly.
The Internet has greatly enabled home businesses to prosper because of the
reasonably low cost to start and maintain a web presence. Therefore, Internet
marketing should be part of your business plan and your marketing strategy.