The world of online marketing can be a daunting place, with the sheer number of options out there it can be hard to know where to start and which marketing strategy would be the best for your business. Whatever you do don’t panic, take the time to assess each option to work out which strategies you can apply to your business while leaving some of your marketing budget left over for tea and biscuits. So which online strategy should you go for?
Pay Per Click
Pay Per Click, better known as PPC is an advertising strategy that allows your website to feature on the first page of search results for certain key terms, for example “Blue Shoes”. If you want to receive results quick and attract visitors to your website that are already searching for what you have then this is a good strategy for. It is quite costly though so you will need a healthy budget to play with. PPC is also good for seasonal marketing as it gets quick, albeit temporary results. It is not a long term strategy but if your business specializes in a certain event or time of year then it can be a rewarding strategy.
Social Media
Social media marketing is really something that all businesses should be doing as it is free and it reaches a large audience almost instantly. The key is to strike up the right balance between only creating a Facebook or Twitter page because everyone does and spending 5hours a day updating your status. Social media should be used as just one part of a bigger marketing strategy with a few promotional messages, questions or competitions being added regularly to increase your brand image.
Email Marketing
Email marketing can be a dodgy strategy but if done correctly and within the law it can produce results. It is relatively cost effective to send out promotional emails to parties that you believe will be interested in your product or service but you must be sure not to turn promotional material into to pesky spam. The best way to promote your latest offers and services through emails is to have customers and visitors to your site sign up to a weekly or monthly newsletter. This way you will know that they are actually interested in reading your material and won’t instantly mark it as spam as soon as it pops up in their inbox.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a lot like PPC only it brings more long lasting results but it takes a little bit longer to achieve them. Think of PPC as renting a house and SEO as paying a mortgage, SEO for small business may take longer but it is more effective and cheaper in the long run. If you want to sustain a successful online marketing campaign for certain key terms that relate to your business then SEO is definitely the choice for you. It will drive relevant customer to your website and increase your overall brand awareness. SEO will also increase the strength of your website in the long term.
Which of these strategies would you go for? Maybe all of them?
