As the old hats of TV and newspapers migrate to online advertising, the Australian internet marketing industry has cracked the $2 billion barrier for the 09/10 financial year. The savvy entrepreneurs of the modern business world recognise that if you want to be competitive, it is essential to engage in internet marketing.
So, if internet marketing still doesn’t grate your cheese, or you’re unsure as to its relevance, let me give you a few points as to why you must integrate it into your businesses marketing mix:
Firstly, placing an ad in the Yellow Pages might seem to be your first point of call when it comes to getting your business out there. However, it can be costly and hard to measure its success. People are time poor and therefore rarely take the time to flick through the endless amount of pages when they can Google it and find what they’re after almost instantly.
Secondly, online marketing can be tailored and targeted to very specific target markets, meaning your audience WILL get the message and sooner. It is an affordable alternative to pricey print and broadcast marketing. Let’s face it; your audience is already online and if your business isn’t there, you’re not getting their business!
Thirdly, creative ads can be created in order to attract your markets based on their specific interest. Furthermore, businesses have the opportunity to create specific landing pages or micro-sites dedicated to the users specific need. This strategy helps to increase your overall online conversion rate and can have a huge impact on sales.
The first place to start for most businesses is within the search engines. Many vendors (such as Reload Media) offer SEO & SEM programs that can help your business to appear on the first page for a number of you most profitable keywords. This means that when people search for keywords or phrases related to your business, you will appear on the first page of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
It is no wonder that the phenomenon of internet marketing continues to grow. If your business is not implementing internet marketing into your marketing mix, pop it onto your “things to look into list” a.s.a.p!