Elements of Internet Marketing

By Jillian Anderson | June 24, 2009

Though people have been finding ways to market on the Internet for years, its broad marketing potential is still pretty new.

In my experience, most small business owners aren’t yet familiar with what internet marketing is and how it differs from/relates to traditional marketing media. I hope to answer some fundamental questions, or at least paint a clearer picture with this post.

Since we are talking about the world wide web, there are many advertising and marketing possibilities.  But what’s best for your business?  Well, that depends on your desired outcome (and budget). I’ll highlight three of the most common ways to market on the internet.

In addition to a company’s website, search engine marketing, social media marketing, and banner ads have proven to be highly effective in generating both web and foot traffic.  All of these are useful marketing elements that enhance a company’s internet presence to promote offline business and online sales.

1.) Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This is largely organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A comprehensive SEO plan is an essential component of any online marketing strategy.

SEO is all about relevant links and content – making both people and search engines happy. When a site’s content is laid out in a way that is easy to navigate, provides valuable/relevant  information and stays up-to-date, people are happy when they land there, stay there, come back, link to it, etc.   Search engines know what makes the people happy within a site and are programmed to promote sites that people will find valuable when they search.

Every website has a ton of SEO content potential, but few small businesses take advantage of how the internet works and how people can ultimately end up on their website.  Without SEO in mind, small business websites are close to useless (as no one will find them).

SEM also encompasses PPC (pay per click) sponsored search results.

Tracey’s written previously on the value and process of SEM/SEO.  If you’re thirsty for juicier SEO details, take a look at Tracey’s Google and the Basics of Search or How to Get to the Top of Google?.

2.) Social Media Marketing (SMM)
A very hot topic, this one is kind of tricky to nail down and can be broken into multiple levels and methods.  Marketing in social spaces is not cut-and-dry; you can’t just get on and broadcast your message.

Social media is fundamentally about social people, but it can function as a marketing tool for relationship and reputation building/management – and there are many ways to go about it.

But why should you bother?

• TOMA (top of mind awareness)
• Customer service
• Brand management
• SEO
• …the list goes on.
  

The stronger a company’s online interactive presence, the stronger its relationships will be with the customer, and the more loyal the customer will be to that brand.

3.) Banner Ads

Of all internet marketing platforms, banner ads are the most similar to traditional marketing and advertising.  The concept is actually fairly simple, initially.  You pay a relevant web site owner to post your ad and hope that people will click through to the advertised website or simply show up at the store to buy the advertised product.  Banner ads can also be placed as PPC (pay per click) and incorporate geo-targeting, etc.

4.) ***Bonus: Email Marketing

I don’t really consider email as a type of internet marketing, but many marketers do and it is certainly worth mentioning.  For the most part, it seems that people are more familiar/comfortable with email marketing (because it’s not new) than with the things that I mentioned above.

Email is a great opportunity to precisely target/personalize/adjust your messages, track results, stay in touch, etc.  From newsletters and tips to promotions and coupons, email is a consistent marketing player and has a strong ROI potential.

Most of the online marketing strategies that we’ve seen to be effective include one or more of these elements.  Plus, when used in conjunction (and right) each piece will complement the efforts of the others.  And if approached properly, internet marketing can be a win-win situation for both companies and customers.

Please comment with any questions that are still unanswered!  I’d love to hear what you have to say, even if you don’t have questions (i.e. you love this post, hate it, disagree; we’re 100% on the same page; I missed something, etc).  Say hello.

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