ONLINE MARKETING HAS COME INTO ITS OWN - ANY BUSINESS CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE STRATEGIES
Marketing is one of those things which have taken the industry some time to figure out exactly how to adapt to new technologies. Through the nineties and into the first part of this century, advertising on computers was clumsy, and the coverage into normal areas of operation simply wasn’t there.But the tech boom of the late nineties, typified by Enron, left a lot of infrastructure available, and it made that infrastructure very cheap. As a result of this, networks were built, the speed of the system increased and coverage was extended to areas that it had not been. The USA still does not have the coverage of some other countries, but there are very few places now where you can’t get high speed internet.
source: techquark
MICRO TARGETING YOUR AUDIENCE
In the beginning, there were traditional types of advertising - banner ads and display ads, email ads and the like, but these are generally not very useful by themselves. Display ads do make more sense if you have the ability to track someone through cookies or other means; if the provider knows they are looking at cars, putting a display ad up for new cars makes sense - it is targeted. And that is one of the key advantages to online advertising and marketing efforts.
The way the internet is arranged, people automatically sort themselves out by what they search for and what groups they are in. In old style advertising, say in a newspaper, the owner of a hobby store who specializes in miniature trains would know if he takes an ad out for a week, he will reach 300,000 people.
He also knows that only about 4% of these are going to be model train enthusiasts (OK, that might be a little high). That is basically throwing away 96% of his advertising. But much old school advertising was more of a shotgun technique. You could narrow down your audience through journals or direct mail, but those methods were unreliable.
BUILD YOUR REPUTATION AND SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS WITH LINKS
The way that the internet has been adapted into everyday life has changed that though. Now the owner of the train store does not just put up ads, though. An effective internet strategy combines several different efforts. The social media is essential, of course - a Facebook account, and maybe a Twitter account, a blog and a webpage.
The effort is to tap into that community which you know needs your product; actively engaging people on Facebook and Twitter in a helpful way, writing articles and guest posts for other websites and for you own blog which will both increase your search engine rankings and your reputation among that community.
The interlinking of all these efforts, and putting timely and interesting material on them, will bring your name higher in search engine rankings, and that is good no matter what industry you are in, whether it is model trains or printer ink cartridges and compatible ink.
It is possible to put the internet to work for you in an organic way that helps you and helps the customer - online stores who offer good prices and excellent customer service are going to retain return customers just as local stores that do a good job will retain customers. As time goes on, some things will simply be easier to buy online because you don’t have a store close enough to go to, or the price difference is too high. An effective internet strategy can drive both foot traffic and e-commerce straight to your door.
Top Deals on Ink and Toner at TomatoInk