In our previous post we argued that if you are not using Internet and Social Media for marketing you are wasting lot of advertising money. Not only that; but you are also missing an opportunity to reach large number of customers who are increasingly on the Internet. The central tenet in selecting an advertising platform is that you should advertise where your customers are and these days your customers are spending more and more time on the Internet as opposed to traditional platforms such as television and newspaper.
Advertising on the Internet can take many different forms. They are suitable different businesses and budgets. You should look at all the possibilities and select the ones that fit your style, budget, capability and customer preference.
Below we have identified several avenues for Internet advertising along with their characteristics and trade-offs they present.
- Web Site – This is one of the earliest forms of advertising on the Internet. Web sites for businesses have been around for as long as the Internet itself. In our mind, a web site is a must for any small business these days. As a small business owner you can choose to provide basic information such as location, hours and coupons or can establish a full blown online store that sells directly to customers. You can hire outside consultants to create a web presence for a very reasonable rate.
- Blog – A blog, such as the one you are reading right now, enables you to establish a sense of community with your customers and provides an opportunity to create on-going dialog with your customers. You can use the blog for variety of reasons – new product announcements, answer customer questions, educate customers and raise overall awareness of your company and products
- Email Newsletter – Email newsletters are somewhat similar to blogs with the exception that while blog uses a pull model where customers need to go to the Internet to read it; email newsletter pushes the information to them. You can choose to do the newsletter on weekly or monthly time line and provide the information similar to those provided in Blog. Email newsletters also enable you to stay in touch with your customers on a periodic basis.
- Search Advertising – This is one of the newer forms of advertising that has grown like weeds in the last few years. Google made this popular with its short advertising links shown alongside search results. The search advertising provides a low cost way to reach customers. Besides, you pay only when customers clicks on the link rather than paying blindly in other traditional forms of advertising. This improves your return on advertising spend. You can also target the advertising to the customer who is searching for the products you are selling.
- Social Media – This is the latest trend in the advertising world that is becoming more and more popular. We think that social media presence is a must for any small business these days. If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter account you are missing a large opportunity. Our favorite is a story of cupcake maker who sells cupcakes in his van and uses social media effectively to reach his customers.
One last piece of advice – you should plan to stay with Internet advertising for a long haul. Particularly, certain forms of Internet advertising such as blog, email newsletter and social media take time to attract audience and generate large traffic. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the results right away.
How have you used Internet advertising for your business? Have we missed anything here?
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