Marketing Solutions that Are Worth the Investment
The Internet is full of marketing products that supposedly help businesses attract customers. The problems with many of these products is their design. Most target general marketing, but many do not address the unique strengths of each business. What you buy is a box, but does that box fit your business? Many of these marketing products offer so many options, pricing tiers, and formulas that they become too complex for many small-business owners. How do you find the marketing products that are worth your investment? Follow your marketing strategy.
Start with What is Available to You
The big three choices are Internet marketing, print marketing and radio advertising. Print marketing and radio advertising work on the same marketing principle. A business pays for an ad spot that airs or circulates to all listeners or readers. Notice that the word all is used. So whatever that ad cost, it plays to all users.
Internet marketing, however, is an interest-targeted marketing platform. Rather than use the word “all” as a description for all of the Internet or all the people in California, it uses the word all to describe all the people interested in cats. If your business sells cat toys then targeting your cat toy ad to cat lovers makes dollars and sense. Sense, because who is more likely to buy cat toys? Cat lovers or the soccer mom stuck in traffic when your radio ad aired?
Why Internet Marketing Works for You
Internet marketing is “the” big deal because it works for all sizes of businesses. So how do you tell which program or product is the best investment for your business? It is as simple as following your market strategy. Providing that your business has a marketing strategy that matches to your business goals.
Internet marketing works because it offers a sophisticated way for you to offer interested Internet users enticing offers. In fact, some platforms allow customers an online tracking feature so that you see where those people are in the sales process. Recognizing that Internet marketing allows fine-tuning of the marketing process.
How to Get Started?
Start by comparing products. Oracle, for example, is a leader in cloud-based technology. Mark Hurd, one of Oracle’s co-CEOs helped develop a product called Eloqua. Its design handles cloud-based email marketing. Other marketing products include social media marketing platforms and SMS platforms. The question to ask yourself is how will these marketing platforms fit your business model.
How Do You Target Your Ads to Potential Customers?
A good tip is to take full advantage of the data that customers give to you. The more data you collect, the more options you have to reach potential customers. That means your options for targeting customers grow too. Social media sites make excellent data collection sites. Your business website collects data too. By targeting content to readers, they become engaged in your content and your products.
If your business has a Facebook page, you can market on Facebook by buying ads. Ads target viewers by geographic and demographic metrics, which you can control. Facebook ads target by interpretation of the ad content that is then matched to the search preferences of Facebook users. Businesses pay for ads based on pay-per-click or PPC, and clicks can eat up your marketing budget quickly. This is likely not the best option for many small businesses.
Eloqua is Mark Hurd’s cloud-based marketing platform that offers targeting, conversion, market technology, engagement and data analysis. It also offers support both from its free education center to professional marketing wizards. Also, it is highly customizable to your business, and it is not PPC based. Eloqua is a better option for many small businesses. Especially if you are a new Internet marketer.
Begin the marketing process by understanding your marketing strategy. If you focus on how marketing products mold to your business, instead of how your business must mold to a marketing product, the real marketing options show themselves. They offer solutions that address your unique business. Those are your winners.