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Internet marketing has three cornerstone principles: 1 . Immediacy. The web changes at a blistering pace and online audiences, whose attention spans are short, expect on-the-minute updates and Information. To keep the favor and attention of this group, you must respond to online messages and Interact with communities as quickly as possible. 2. Personalization. Customers online are no longer faceless members of a broad target audience – they are individuals who want to be addressed personally. SE the wealth of personal information available online to your benefit by targeting the relevant people precisely and personally. 3. Relevance. Communication online must be interesting and elevate to the reader, otherwise it will simply be ignored. With all the information that is competing for your audience’s attention, you must find a way to stand out and engage readers. The best way to do this is by giving them exactly what they want, when they want it. Introduction Internet marketing is the fastest growing and most exciting branch of marketing today.
As the world becomes ever more connected, keeping up with developments and trends is vital for marketers trying to reach new audiences – who are more discerning, fragmented and cynical than ever. Technology and software are changing t such a high rate that it seems almost impossible to keep up with trends. Products and services are evolving and adapting to the online sphere. The web is constantly shifting, growing and changing – everything is fleeting. How do savvy internet marketers cope with all this? They harness the power of the web – and Its myriad tools – for their own needs.
They find unique and personal ways to Interact with customers online. They plan, organize, Implement and measure complex Internet- wide strategies seamlessly. Most Importantly, they never stop learning, growing and adapting themselves. 1. 1 Explain the elements of Internet Marketing Internet marketing or online marketing Is transforming Into wider mixes of elements any company can use to Increase sales. Internet marketing can be utilized whether a company Is running a business totally or partly online or totally offline.
Today Internet marketing Is becoming an Increasingly Important phenomenon of every company’s marketing mix. Here we bring you eight elements of internet marketing which we believe in order of importance. Website: Website consists of text. Images, audio and video elements used to explain the company’s products and services. Capturing leads is one important feature in any website without which a company dialogue and they are a great way to establish your business identity. Email marketing: This element directly related to website which captures name and email addresses.
Information on products and services can subsequently be distributed. It is sometimes called inbound marketing. Banner advertising: This is placement of ads on a website for a fee. The similarity of this internet marketing element is traditional ads in newspapers, magazines or other electronic media. Article marketing: You may write or hire online writer to write articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. Articles have a viral probability to spread around the internet as article services permit re-publication while maintaining all back links.
This is one way to boost traffic to your website and to promote brand to a wide audience. Social media marketing: It has become an important part of marketing involving social networks like Twitter, Linked, Backbone and social bookmaking sites like Dig. Blobbing: Blobbing is part of marketing involving the act of posting comments and opinions, making announcements in a forum. These activities can be accomplished either by hosting own bolo or by posting moments and URL in other blobs related to your online products or services.
Search Engine Marketing: Search engine marketing is simply marketing a website on the internet through search engines. A company may improve its websites ranking through search engine optimization, purchasing pay-per-click ads or purchasing pay- for-inclusion listings in website directories. These are similar to yellow page listings. Online press releases: Online press releases involve placement of newsworthy features about a website, the company, its management team, its products and services with on online wire service.
The internet marketing has tremendous impacts on home businesses to exponentially prosper due to its reasonably lower cost to start, and has enabled home business owners to maintain internet presence. Internet marketing should be part of your business plan and your marketing strategy. 1. 2 Evaluate the internet marketing mix Being on the Internet doesn’t have to mean maintaining your own World Wide Web site. In fact, about 86% of the businesses people who are on the Internet say that they use it mainly for gathering information.
Let’s take a look at the different things hat businesses can do on the Internet: Information Gathering: There is a wealth of information on the Internet: about your customers, about your competitors, about your products and services. With an inexpensive (less than $20/month) personal Internet account you can tap into this rich resource; this is a low cost/low involvement way of entering the Internet marketplace, and we recommend that every business person spend a few months as an observer and information gatherer before plunging into deeper commitments.
Awareness: This is comparable to a brochure, a yellow pages ad or store front signage. At this level, you might consider putting up a simple, low-cost web page that lets people know who you are and what you do. This format is especially useful for reaching tourists and newcomers, who are more and more turning to the Internet to locate basic services. Also in this category are classified ads that you can place on someone else’s web site. Awareness is an you provide assistance to your current and future customers.
High-tech companies have made good use of this technique by providing on-line manuals, software patches and e-mail help lines, but the concept is adaptable to any business. Think of providing schedules, Late-breaking discounts and coupons. Product reviews. Suggestions of novel ways to use your products, Catalogue. E-mail answers to inquiries, recipes or reservations for restaurants, gift certificates, trouble-shooting guides, gift suggestions, maps, size charts and newsletters. Leads: Many products and services do not lend themselves to direct sales over the Internet.
If your business relies upon direct selling you can use the Internet to generate leads. Tip: you will get more and better leads if you offer something in return for contact information. Sales: Shippable products can be sold directly over the Internet. Some of the secrets of successful direct sales are: Sell a well-known, branded product that customers feel comfortable buying, such as books, videos or music CDC. Sell low-cost, unique or hard-to-find items that people are willing to take a risk on. Take credit cards, checks or cyber cash online.
Give people a reason to come back to your site and buy more. 1. 3 Compare Internet marketing tools- e-tools. E-mail marketing: E-mail is the number one app with over 90% of internet users, Issues such as browser differences, targeting, and privacy are critical, Spam, creates a ajar negative for e-mail marketing, laws passed in 19 states, Only 3 years of significant use. Viral marketing: Hot Mail was one of the first examples of viral marketing, another “e” term for “word-of-mouth” advertising, Bulletin boards, e-mail; chat rooms are the major conduits for viral campaigns.
Affiliate marketing: Partnership and affiliate programs are booming, Cooperation between online companies, Commission programs and banner exchange programs lead this channel. Banner advertising: Pop-ups, pop-under and other new delivery methods are gaining acceptance, Branding is possible with banners. Search engines: Pay for position taking a strong lead, Search engine optimization (SEE) critical, Majority of users rely on search engines for navigation, Targeted audience, Accounts for over 70% of new site visitors, Turbulent arena.
Online publicity: The art of publicity is creating published articles or TV and radio coverage that casts y a company in a favorable light, To begin, a company will want to know how a company and its competition are perceived by and presented in the media now, Study newspapers, magazines, and online publications related to a presented in the press. Research: Log files, ASP log conversion, Metrics for e-marketing analysis Surveys.
CRM: Customer relationship management (CRM) entails managing the relationships you have with your customers present and future, CRM is effectively the combination of business processes, people, and technology working together to achieve a united goal: acquire and maintain satisfied and happy customers. 1. 4 Examine Interactive order Processing Interactive Order Processing is basic for e -commerce in order to be presented online businesses to customers’ authentic brands, easy services; practical purpose of e- amerce organized the whole process with specific order.
Selecting the right product is one of the most important points. Knowing marketing and creating the persona for our products are initial points. Persona profile has to be correct created with sense about customers’ demands and standards for buying and their values about products. We need to estimate their awareness about brand . From the beginning of buying process we have potential customers-they browse, the next action is shopping and we have to be prepared for action because number of potential customers is going to drop till buying.
How many real buyer we will get depends on it how strong and quality are our actions and communication with customers. This point of creating customers persona couldn’t be strict and we have to count on it that customers also are not strict in needs and wants. This is Just important for our orientation but not strict. Another point is how customers are able to buy and pay something. Very important is making difference between niche marketing and general market. We can say that our service or product is for everybody but we have to make segments according to characteristics of our reduces and to target some group of customers.
There is necessary great communication and feedback from customers. Making satisfaction of target users is very hard. We need to remove barriers for online shopping. We need to make in order processing many steps: promotions, creating customers trust and loyalty, making product easily findable, making easy customers’ decision making with easy registration option. 2. 1 Demonstrate the mechanics of Search Engine Marketing Search engine marketing definition: Marketing to internet users through natural search engine result page listings and paid advertising placement.
Search engine racketing is a multi-billion industry spearheaded by Google, Being, and Yahoo that is often broken down to two segments – free (organic) and paid (inorganic) search. Free search engine marketing, or search engine optimization (SEE), uses on-page and off- page strategies to help search engines better understand the relative importance of a websites pages. Search engine advertising, of pay per click (PC) advertising, are advertising platforms search engines provide to advertisers to place their ads. Due to firms would like to say, it’s often hard to determine good SEE/PC experts from bad SEE/PC snake oil salesmen.
Search engine marketing services offer three core benefits for your business: Productivity – By providing a series of keyword management, keyword search tools and automation tools enables you to accomplish more search engine marketing in considerably less time, and with clearer workflow personalization. Relevance – The software creates a system of daily keyword suggestion, and arms you with negative keyword tools that help you to consistently refine your keyword list. This will help you improve your search engine rankings and, in turn, earn you a better Quality Score in Ad Words.
Value – It is designed to discover new, inexpensive keyword advertising opportunities, and the keyword ad software secures algorithmic pricing advantages for you from the search engines. This saves you money by ensuring a low minimum bid, saves time otherwise spent searching and analyzing manually, and generates better results for your search engine marketing campaigns. In the coming paragraphs, we’ll show you how the tools go about providing this improved efficiency, value, and traffic quality so that you can improve your paid search returns, your organic SERE rankings, and your overall search engine marketing strategy. . 2 Email Marketing Newsletter 1 . Your basic newsletter tells people what’s going on at your company, of course. But are you providing your audience with tips on how to use your product or service? Imagine being a software company, that normally only provides a newsletter with some basic product updates, training dates and other event and company news. Nice, but not helpful in a dedicated way. 2. Besides Just learning how to use your product to the fullest, people need help on -what- to do with your product: how can they use it to the Max, to do their work better and be more creative?
This is where you can inspire them: give them examples of what other customers did with the reduce to create something wonderful, do a special event or perform a specialized task. 3. Why not integrate your other channels in your email marketing campaigns? With that, I don’t mind the basis Backbone, Twitter, Linked and other social network icons below articles for people to share. I mean dedicated campaigns to promote other channels, with clear benefits for the audience. For example, in case you have an awesome Youth channel: how can people know you do?
By sending an email when a new video or video series is uploaded, this can tie in with events, where an event id??e is posted afterwards: you can send out an email then too. 2. 3 Follow guidelines for best practice in online public relations Public Relations (PR) is the act of managing communication between an organization and its key public stakeholders, with a focus on building and maintaining a positive image. PR professionals execute campaigns targeted at specific audiences, to influence opinions and measure public perception.
Typically, Public Relations involve: Evaluating public exposure, opinions, and attitudes Developing policies for communicating with the public Implementing communication programs across media channels Integrating communications with Marketing programs and brand Creating goodwill between the public and the organization Public Relations Elements As you build your PR strategy, keep the following elements in mind: Audience Targeting – a fundamental technique in PR is targeting a specific audience for your planned communications.
Select the appropriate audience before creating your message to ensure you will appeal to their interests. Press Conferences – this method allows an organization to select a specific group of Journalists, analysts, or other constituents, when communicating its position on a given topic. It is assumed that the speaker will answer questions, following their speech. Press Releases – providing a written statement to the media, usually communicated via newswire to many sources. Generally, Journalists quote press releases verbatim, as if they had completed an interview.
If you don’t have a standardized template, download our Press Release Template to help you get started. Optimized Press Release – written communications posted on an Internet news portal. Be sure to include many carefully selected keywords so that top search sites, such as Google and Yahoo News, index your release. This medium allows you to connect with readers, rather than Just journalists. E-newsletters – newsletters are an excellent way to keep in touch with customers and prospects. By having people register online for your newsletter, you can build up your email-marketing database.
Investor Relations – communicating with current and potential investors is another critical dimension of public relations. Websites – this communication vehicle provides steaming audio and/or video content to your audience and can be viewed on their convenience. A well-developed webmaster is an excellent method for generating leads and industry buzz. Speaking Engagements – positioning your key executives as experts in your industry is another effective way to add credibility to your organization.
Contact industry event planners to determine which speaking engagements would be a good fit. Corporate Events & Sponsorships – sponsoring industry trademarks, community events, or charity fundraisers, demonstrates commitment to being an industry leader. Be sure to develop a policy for this medium, to avoid under-the-radar expenditures. Analyst Relations – many industries have analyst firms who provide objective research & advisory services. Be sure to contact these firms to establish a relationship and monomaniac your competitive advantages.
Public Relations Best Practices Consider these Best Practices for effective PR Strategy: Segment Various Target Audiences – evaluate your target audiences, such as customers, prospects, partners, suppliers, etc, and segment into relevant sub- categories. Determine Customer Information Sources – talk to representatives from your target audience categories to identify where they go for information related to your organization and industry. Build Media Source List for Each Segment – create a high-level list of potential media outlets that correspond to your customer information sources.
Review Media Sources & Identify Journalists – look for online editions of your media outlets to determine which Journalist would be an appropriate contact. Develop a relationship with these people as they have a large influence over what content will be published. Evaluate Distribution & Delivery Options – there are three traditional distribution options: newswire, media database, or individual correspondence. Most PR applications automate the delivery process, and can Deliver – avoid the end of fiscal quarters or year-end, as many large organizations will be flooding the media with their results.
Don’t get your message lost in the clutter. If you are launching a new product or service, identify the optimal time to send your message, I. E. Two weeks prior to an event in a specific geographic region. Select the Right PR Tools – review the following section of this report to get an understanding of the PR tools & services marketplace. Monitor Coverage – monitoring websites, blobs, or other media outlets for mentions is a critical step in the PR process. There are many tools to assist with this process, including website/bolo monitoring, press clipping services, or video clipping services.
Measure Results – the hottest topic in PR s the ability to measure campaign results. Evaluate the total coverage, tonality (positive, negative, or neutral), sources, and how your organization compares to the competition. Be sure to ask your PR service provider how reporting and analytics are integrated with their solution. 2. 4 Demonstrate how businesses can use new digital media communities So, how can social media help your business? Here are 12 important points about that: 1 . If your business relies on lasting customer relationships and repeat business (as most do! , the social media is the best thing available for building and maintaining throng and relevant relationships with people/customers. Bar none. 2. Whatever business you’re in, our customers are almost certain to be using it already. You should try to connect with them in a way that’s convenient and easy for them to connect back. Social media allows you to make one-to-one contact with your clients. 3. In terms of ongoing investment, getting started on social media is very low cost compared to more traditional forms of marketing and promotion.
Most of the basic applications are free to use and even buying a few bits of software (APS) to make things work better is fairly inexpensive. Consequently, your ROI should be quicker and greater. 4. Social media can help you understand what is right and what is wrong about everything from your own company and products to your competitors or industry as a whole. Using social media to listen and monitor what the public are saying about things relevant to you and your business can provide highly valuable market knowledge. 5.
Social media is a great way to instantly share anything you want to with your existing or potential customers. But bear in mind it is rarely a successful direct marketing channel in its own right. 6. By successfully engaging with our customers via social media, it’s likely that they will enthuse among their social media connections and so your reputation will grow. It’s simply digital word-of- mouth. 7. Social media can be an effective way to manage your own PR and reputation. It allows you to deliver your success stories more effectively and even react to crises before they escalate. . Most people expect a business to have a social media presence these days. Failure to be involved can make your enterprise look behind the times, old fashioned and out of date. 9. Social media can enhance your brand awareness. If your branding is consistent across different media, you will create something more recognizable and dynamic. Plus, by using social media, your brand can become more rounded and develop a personality. 10. Social media can your sector can easily connect and work with you. 11.
Social media can help your business website grow traffic. Major search engines now include social media updates and posts in their results. For better rankings with Google some form of presence on Google Plus is almost essential. If your business is involved; you will have more chance of being found on the web. 12. Finally – social media is NOT Just for young people with no money and too much time. Recent stats show that the average age of a Backbone user is 38 and that the average age on Twitter is 39. 3. Conduct Secondary Market Research Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies, industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, chambers of commerce, and so on. It’s usually published in pamphlets, newsletters, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers. Secondary sources include the following: Public sources: These are usually free, often offer a lot of good information, and include government departments, business departments of public libraries, and so on. Commercial sources: These are valuable, but usually involve cost factors such as subscription and association fees.
Commercial sources include research and trade associations, such as Dun & Broadsheet and Robert Morris & Associates, banks and other financial institutions, and publicly traded corporations. Educational institutions: These are frequently overlooked as valuable information sources even though more research is conducted in colleges, universities, and technical institutes than virtually any sector of the business community. 3. Design an online survey 1 When to use an online survey Online surveys have a number of advantages over other methods of collecting information.
In particular, they are: Cheap – there are no printing or postage costs. Flexible – you can use questions that have drop-down menus, or in some cases, you can direct people to specific questions depending on the answers they give. Quick – you can start getting responses to your survey within minutes and most people respond within two or three days of being asked to complete a survey. Cost-effective – since respondents enter their answers directly into the survey, this saves you time ND money in entering data yourself and also makes analysis quicker and easier. Choosing a free online survey-provider A quick search on the internet will bring up details of numerous companies who provide free online surveys. But these free surveys come with some limitations, particularly in terms of: The number of surveys you can create The number of questions you can ask on each survey The number of responses you can collect 2 How to get started Once you have chosen a survey-provider, you simply register for the service and are to spend some time mapping out your survey on paper (particularly if you are lancing to use skip-logic). 4 Different question types An open question with a text box I. . Where respondents can write whatever they like. For example: How has our service helped you over the last year? A question with multiple answer-choices I. E. Where respondents select one or more options from a list that you present to them. A matrix of multiple responses I. E. Where respondents can select only one answer in each row. 5 Designing your survey It may seem obvious but the design of your survey is really important in terms of making people feel inclined to complete your survey, guiding them through it and insuring they give you the information you need to collect.
Here are our ten top tips to help you design your online survey. 6 Launching your survey Once you are ready to send out your survey, here are our top tips to help you get a good response: Draft some introductory text which explains what the survey is about, why people have been asked to fill it in, how long it will take and how the information will be used. Consider offering an incentive which can help boost your response rate. For example, you might want to offer an opportunity for people to enter their details for a prize draw. Decide how long to leave your survey open for.
Generally, it’s a good idea to leave it open for a minimum of one week although it doesn’t need to remain open for much longer than a couple of weeks. People tend to fill in online surveys soon after they receive the request – or not at all! A reminder can be helpful in boosting your response-rate but don’t send out more than one. Decide how you want people to complete your survey. For example, do you want to give them the option to exit the survey and go back to it later or do you want respondents to be able to complete your survey only once? Make sure it goes to the right people.
It’s important that your survey reaches the people you intended; otherwise this could distort your results. Remember to close your survey on the day you decided on otherwise you may get late responses trickling in and affecting your findings. 3. 3 Demonstrate the use of electronic customer relationship marketing Electronic customer relationship marketing is a concept that emerged from e-commerce; previously customer relationship marketing was done using traditional means of communication, now organizations are able to interact with their customers through electronic means of communication.
Organizations have databases of their customers, they used to inform them through printed catalogues and were calling them on their phones; this takes a lot of time and money. Relationship marketing Relationship marketing is about building a relationship with a targeted audience. The relationship between individuals using E-CRM is more dynamic and one on one. Websites have chat windows where clients can interact with the organization to ask their queries. Websites that sell products such as apparel tend to send mailers frequently to the customer so that they are aware of new products or discounts that re offered to them.
Service sector relationship Service oriented companies have customer query options where they can fill up forms when they have some issues. Web hosting sites have a one on one approach with their clients. Customers can send e-mails when they have a problem and Previously this use to take several days but now due to E-CRM customers can have their problems resolved almost instantaneously. In a nutshell, E-CRM helps organizations to connect with their target audience at a more one on one level. They are able to keep the customer engaged and develop a good relationship with them.