If you’re marketing goods and services using the internet it’s easy to get confused by all the technology and buzz words. Don’t despair. Today’s light-speed marketing still has the same basic elements as the old marketing – just a new way to describe it.
A successful internet marketing strategy has only four components. These are as follows:
Markets. You have to know who your market is. Actually, on the internet, this is a bit more difficult than in an old-fashioned retail store or even a traditional mail-order business. On the internet, finding the right market for your goods is going to depend on some combination of keyword advertising, email list development and strategic use of blogs or similar sites.
Offers. Offers are exactly as important as in traditional marketing strategies. No offer, no sale. On the internet, you may only get one chance to elicit an action from a web site visitor before they exit your site or an email reader before they hit the DEL key. It’s your offer that will make the difference. A good internet marketing strategy is always testing and evaluating different offers to optimize their effectiveness.
Presentation. On the internet, presentation counts. Whether an offer is presented on a web site, adjacent to a blog article, in a banner ad, or in an email can make all the difference in the world. And it’s crowded out there! Your offer has to be visible amidst all the internet noise!
Measurement. Perhaps the most important attribute of an internet marketing strategy, however, is measurement. This is the principle benefit available from the internet that simply wasn’t available before – fast feedback. On the internet, you can quickly determine what works and what doesn’t, and then adjust your strategy accordingly.
When you create the specifics of your internet marketing strategy, make sure you can articulate, precisely, how you will address each and every one of the above four points.