The Power of Internet Marketing

The world is about to reach a population count of 7 billion; 27% people in the world use Internet, the same figure stands at around 5% in India. Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. are rapidly increasing their footprint in the Social Media gamut. Hence, it is the age of internet and high time for Marketers to have an online presence to try and reach out the prospective buyers.

How to create our Online Presence?
We can always start with a website, the website is your online identity. It should be a good looking and easy to use and migrate website. The website should clearly illustrate your message or provide the relevant info you seek to communicate to your prospective customers; it should clearly specify your goals and ideology. The website should be hassle free and easy to use.
Customers reviews and feedback; and evaluations by web designers are two parameters which can be used to judge the quality of a website.

Now, after website provides us an online presence; we need to market ourselves on the internet as well. Internet marketing refers to one or more of the following:

1. Communicate the company's message about itself, its product and services.
2. Conduct research on various demographic needs of prospects/customers.
3. Selling products and services online.

Some of the components of internet marketing are as follows:
Setting up a website, Search engine Marketing, Search engine optimization, email marketing, Banner advertising, e-press releases, blog marketing, article marketing, Social Media Marketing

The underlying principle of using these components is to reach out to the prospective buyers. Social Media is increasingly becoming a very effective marketing tool. We can create Facebook pages, YouTube videos, use Twitter etc. to reach out to the people; one can also pay for Google Listings, or pay per click ads; similarly FB also provides you paid advertising space. Usually a mix of free and paid advertising on Google, FB etc. works out really well for firms. Again it all depends on the kind of product/service to be marketed and the marketing mix and marketing budget of the firm.

For example, i got some ads for ISB Application help in my Gmail inbox, i contacted some of the suggested sites and eventually ended up with the services of one of the Vendor; this was a paid Google ad listing delivered right to my inbox based on my mailing activity. A classic online advertising example.

Effective online Marketing is all about the following:

1. Building a list: This is the generation of traffic or rather targeted traffic; these are the people whom you target to sell your stuff. You can use ads, banners, blogs, social media etc. etc. to generate this traffic.

2. Establish relationship with the list: In this step you direct the traffic to your personal capture page, you get their emails and phone numbers; this is the process of Lead Generation. Now you follow up with this list using emails and telephone and build a relationship with them. This is the start of manifestation of TRUST.

3. Market to that list: Now, you can market to that list and drive them to your primary business.

The advantages of this approach is that it increases your credibility and visibility, the customers are more familiar with you, and provides you an opportunity to command premium prices.

As Kotler says, Marketing is a mix of Creativity and Science; Science ensures safety, it proposes marketing approaches which are less risky; on the other hand Creativity can at times lead to wonders. What is needed for successful marketing is a blend of creativity and science. Use ample science but do not drive out.