After authoring my last post about the potential of websites I came to two conclusions about web marketing and why it’s so effective.
It’s Effective?
I am often told by potential clients that “I will never get a customer online.” Many of the businesses we deal with are targeting a very specific niche. That niche is often older wealthy people or high-end services that aren’t usually associated with success online. Sure, you can sell t-shirts online, but can you really sell estate-planning or high-end Remodeling services in Naples or Fort Myers, FL?
CEOs and the elderly don’t use the Internet!
But they do! (more to come in later posts)
Without getting too far off topic, my point is websites are often misclassified as a supplemental form of marketing. Industries that have conventionally succeeded with post-cards and brochures sometimes have trouble switching from a physical medium to something digital. Its impersonal, it will never work.
But, online marketing and websites do work. Our own personal statistics, for our own website as well as our clients’ reveal that websites and Internet marketing beat older more conventional forms of marketing (sometimes by 1000%’s). Most importantly though, after experimenting with online marketing (pay per click, social marketing, article marketing, etc.) many of our clients completely switch; online marketing becomes their primary form of marketing!
Undoubtedly one of the big reasons online marketing is so successful is because so many people are moving online. Studies put U.S. Internet usage and availability in 75% of households. There are a lot of reasons why Internet marketing is more effective than conventional marketing…
there are two BIG reasons why Internet marketing is so successful:
1) Internet Marketing Turns Conventional Marketing On Its Head
Internet marketing is so successful because it turns conventional marketing on its head. In conventional marketing you force yourself in front of your potential customer. You send them a direct mail postcard, you create a billboard, or tv advertisement and try as much as possible to get their attention - to atrract their eyes or ears. Maybe you’ve done your homework, targeting a very specific list, but you’re still asking for their attention – and who knows when and if you’ll get it.
Online marketing is the complete opposite, your potential customer always find you. By strategically marketing and creating your website you ensure your audience sees you when they are looking for what you have to offer. As long as you’ve taken the proper steps (setup a nice site, organized things for success, and written your pages well) your services come pre-sold, by one of the greatest word-of-mouth tools ever created, the search engine!
In Internet marketing your client seeks you out.
When a user goes to a search engine, types in something they are looking for and your website appears it is a huge vote of confidence. Google is effectively telling your future customer “Hey… I know a great construction business consultant. Why don’t you check them out?” And Google and the other search engines are good friends to billions of people throughout the world.
2) Timing
The other important thing to note about why Internet marketing is so successful is timing. Unlike the targeted post card, (which may reach the right audience but may do so after a long day of work, when it and the other “junk” mail will get promptly thrown out) Internet marketing and your website, when done well, will only appear when your target market is looking for you.
If a user searches for “apples” your video production company shouldn’t come up. And our best friend the search engine knows this. But, when your audience is searching for “video production” suddenly the results displayed change, your website appears – you reach your target audience at the exact moment they need you.
12 Aug | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Internet Marketing.
