Top 5 internet marketing strategies and how online businesses can use them - Research Paper Example

Internet Marketing Submitted: TOP 5 INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES AND HOW ONLINE BUSINESSES CAN USE THEM Introduction Since the advent of internet and advancement in the way internet can be used, the number of internet users has been increasing day by day. According to World Fact Book, the total number of internet users as of 31st December, 2011 were 2,267,233,742. The stats even show that during the year 2000, the total number of internet users were only 360,985,492 (internet world stats, 2012). This shows that the total number of users within a period of eleven years increased by 528.1%. According to Facebook statistics, the total number of Facebook users as of 31st March, 2012 were 835,525,280 (Facebook News Room, 2012). These statistics show that internet is a place where businesses can get into contact with millions of users daily and internet itself can be used by businesses to grow larger than ever. When internet and online business was not in operations, businesses had a limited number of clients and their potential clients were mostly people living in their own locality. Even if businesses had to cross borders and gain more customers, they had experience heavy expenditure. This expenditure could only be conducted by very large businesses; today internet has even made small businesses able enough to tap a very huge market and to gain customers throughout the world. This writing will focus on the top five marketing strategies that can be used by businesses to promote themselves online, these strategies include: website marketing, online advertisements, email marketing, marketing through mobile and social networking settings. Body Several businesses that have a physical existence have even started spreading their business through internet sources, the art and science of conducting marketing activities through the use of internet is called e-commerce. There are various ways through which online businesses and physical businesses can market and promote their products online. Website Marketing A website of a business is just like a physical front for a business, whether business is selling a product or a service, website is the best option for promoting and generating sales as well as generating new customers. Just as businesses design their physical out lets in a proper manner to attract customers, similarly a business has to design their website in such a way so that the target customers get attracted to the business. The key point that every business should keep in mind while designing a website is that, the design of the website should be in accordance to the target customers of the business. One of the major advantages that businesses obtain through website marketing is that the businesses gets promoted 24 hours a day and seven hours a week, this is a major advantage as those businesses that do not have a website can only promote their products through their physical outlets which cannot remain open throughout the day and throughout a week. The downside of promoting through website is that most people do not get attracted to a product or service until they have experienced it through their five senses. Thus marketing through websites fail in instances where customers do not get the feel, taste or smell of the product or service. Online Advertisement and Promotion Just like businesses use banner, billboard and signs to promote their physical business, in the same way businesses can promote themselves through online advertisement and promotion. In online advertisement, the business can post pictures, links and videos of their business at different websites such as social networking websites where a huge number of people visit. The purpose of these advertisements is to get noticed by several numbers of people under one roof. Once people view these advertisements, they click on these advertisements and are taken to the businesses’ original website where they can obtain all the information they need. The advantage of this strategy is that more a huge number of people are attracted through these advertisements and traffic for the original website is generated. The disadvantage of this using this strategy is that if the advertisement is posted in places where the target market of the business is not seen, the business might end up wasting by implementing this strategy. Thus, it is important for the business to advertise themselves in those online areas where the target market of the business visits the most. Marketing through Social Media Out of the total number of adults in United States, 40% are members of social networking websites and out of this 40%, 39% visit social networking websites, once every 24 hours (Lenhart, 2010). Facebook being a social networking website is said to be the world’s 3rd most populous country if it were actually a country (Carroll, 2011, p.134). These statistics show that if businesses use social networking websites to market their products, they can easily reach out to a huge number of population. If for example: a business chooses to promote itself through Facebook, the chances are that the business might be able to attract a total population that is equal to being the 3rd most populated nation on earth. Still a huge number of people are not part of social media websites and the ever growing population clearly exhibits that in future the number of people being a part of the social media websites will increase gradually, thus marketers can use this option to reach out to huge number of people. Businesses can create their own pages within these social media websites and provide information through these pages, today; businesses such as Apple have even created their own page on Facebook to promote their products. Social media marketing requires time and effort, in social media marketing, businesses have to remain in constant touch with the potential customers and provide solutions to the queries of the customers. If businesses do not invest proper amount of time in this form of advertisement, their efforts to promote their products through social media will fail. Email Marketing The concept of email marketing exists since the option of email accounts came into existence (Scott, 2010). In this form of internet marketing, businesses send emails about their company and products to a huge number of people. These emails are sent to those individuals who fall under the target market of the business. The future of email marketing seems to be quite bright as consumers use email accounts every day for communication purposes. The advantage of using this medium of marketing is that the business can promote their products in the most inexpensive way and can reach a huge population at the same time. The disadvantage is that people might ignore the email if it doesn’t catch their attention, thus the email has to be able to catch the attention of the recipient. Marketing through Mobile Increase in the number of users of mobile phones all over the world has made marketing through mobile a very favorable option. In this form of marketing, potential customers can be informed about a product through short message service or multimedia message service. Mobile phones are to stay in business for the long run as they provide ease of communication, thus mobile phone marketing strategy can be used for the long run. Mobile phones are personal so owners tend to carry them all the time, thus businesses can promote their product anytime they wish to. The amount of information that can be shared with customers through mobile marketing is quite limited; this is a potential disadvantage of mobile phone marketing. Conclusion If online marketing strategies are used in appropriate manner, they can turn out to be of great advantage for businesses. The cost of this form of marketing is very low and the upside is very high, thus investing in such marketing activities is highly advisable. References 1. the. (n.d.). World Internet Usage Statistics News and World PopulationStats. Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. Retrieved June 23, 2012, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm 2. Key Facts - Facebook Newsroom. (n.d.). Facebooks latest news, announcements and media resources - Facebook Newsroom. Retrieved June 23, 2012, from http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22 3. Lenhart, A. (n.d.). Social Media and Young Adults | Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project. Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved June 23, 2012, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx 4. Carroll, E., & Romano, J. (2011). Your digital afterlife: When Facebook, Flickr and Twitter are your estate, whats your legacy?. Berkeley, CA: New Riders. 5. Scott, D. M. (2010). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Read More