Many Small and Medium size businesses may already have a web presence but how effective their site actually is to their business, whether it be brand awareness or generating sales, may be debatable. Creating a website for your business is simply not a “Field of Dreams” scenario whereby “if you build it they will come”, there needs to be some form of marketing undertaken in order to generate traffic to the site.
Let’s highlight this point even further; there are an estimated 47 Billion webpages out there (accoridng to worldwidewebsize.com ‘s stats from Google, Yahoo! and Bing as of 7th May 2013).
If expecting your site to compete (be found) in it’s given business realm online seems the same as trying to find a needle in a haystack then think of a carefully constructed Marketing Strategy as the magnet that helps pull that needle up from the bottom of the hay!
So What is an Online Marketing Strategy?
An Online Marketing Strategy is, in its basest form, a plan that sets out Goals and Objectives along with Activities and Practices to achieve the aforementioned items. Because Marketing (especially online) is a multifaceted channel there are many activities available and these are often whittled down to those of best fit and maximum return on investment for the client.
Are these online marketing activities very expensive?
The short answer to this is that they don't have to be. Online Marketing budgets can give you more bang for your buck in certain channels, for example Pay Per Click [PPC] advertising can be set-up with capped daily spends, scheduled times and maximum cost per click - all of this gives you greater control over your online marketing and more importantly your budget. Running a campaign for a month in many cases works out cheaper than traditional offline advertising, and more importantly provides detailed metrics (clicks) that allow you to measure the success of any online activity you are running. In the example of anyone selling online it’s very easy to see the conversion rates i.e. clicks that led to purchases.
Aside from PPC, which requires regular assessment of advert performance and competitors bidding, there are many activities in a Marketing Strategy that can be carried out by the client if they wish to reduce the cost of outsourcing all of their online marketing activity. For example, with a little guidance and training a client can be shown the best practices for content population on their website (news articles included). Many strategies also call for Social Media activity via Facebook or Twitter. And once a schedule is drawn up as part of the Strategy the client can follow the simple steps to keep their brand or products front of mind for followers.
How Do I get Started?
An Online Marketing Strategy is created by assessing your current online presence and that of your competitors. A discussion about the goals, targets, target audience and budget all factor into the proposed plan.
If you would like to learn more about online marketing or to speak to someone about creating your own online marketing strategy, then please contact adsmart.ie today.
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