How To Market Online

There is no doubt that anyone, from the big leagues to the minor ones, knows that spreading the name of the business online is a necessity for almost any business. The battle that takes place in the virtual marketspace translates directly to the physical marketplace—meaning, that if a business can get an advantage online, this will also affect its physical presence in the market, either in the form of sales or increased awareness.

Here are some basic tips that can help you make an effective online marketing strategy:

Plan. How do you plan to market your business online? Will you make an online store? Or will you use it simply to update people on your new products and promos? Once you have decided how you will use your online marketing tools, it’s time to set your budget. True, there are websites that offer free postings, and free accounts, but will you really settle for free if you know that your competitors are purchasing premium postings? If you have multiple avenues online, (websites, fan pages, video channels, etc.), you might want to include in your strategy the checking of your return on investment in every one of them. Different channels are effective for different types of websites and stores. What works for others might not work for you. See to it that the return of your allocated budget for a channel produces a decent return on your sales. Factor in as well the amount of effort you put in maintaining such channel. If it does not give satisfactory results, you might be better off reallocating that budget and effort to another channel that works better.

Content. As they all say in online marketing, “content is key.” As people today evolve into the sharing generation, content that grabs the interest of readers, arouse curiosity, and steal the show gets to take the lead in online marketing. Contents can be anything that sends viewers to your website—but the most potent are those that are truly useful to your target market. Several companies have started converting their websites into a half-blog, half-store page to improve engagement with their clients.

Interaction. What good is a page if it’s just as good as a printed brochure resting on your desk? No matter how interested your audience is with your contents, there won’t be any result if you keep them hanging. Interact, answer their questions, like and thank their positive reviews about your company, make them feel that they are not transacting with a cold-hearted business, but an organic team that is alive and aware of the needs of its fans. Let them see that they are accommodated properly even if they are yet to buy whatever you are selling. Your online customer service should be just as good as your actual customer service.

Also take note of what we call “viral marketing.” Viral marketing is when you create a content that is so appealing that your viewers take the time to share it to their friends, even without you telling them to. In short, it spreads like a virus. Viral contents can reach a number of audience that you might not have even expected, so make sure that your contents are things that people want to share, or at least, people want to appear on their feeds. This can be a catchy video, offers that they absolutely cannot refuse, contests, and the most common— educational and inspirational articles.

During your early stages with even the most aggressive online marketing strategy, do not be disappointed with the slowness of viewer interactions you will receive. This does not automatically mean that you are doing something wrong. Just give it a little time, continue to upgrade and update, answer comments, be engaged, and study your audiences’ demographics. Your likes and views will slowly but steadily increase. Combine different strategies, and bombard your audience with unique and shareable contents to boost views. Soon, you will be dealing with thousands of audience, and you have another problem at hand—dealing with a flood of queries. But it’s better to be flooded with interactions than being desert-dry, right? Hold your ground in the online marketspace, and continue to discover different avenues that you can publish your ads over the Internet.

Internet marketing is crucial for virtually all businesses. It is truly complex and rapidly evolving but that must not deter those who are committed to improving their marketing. However, you must know how to do it right by understanding the strategies and tools that would help you reach your objectives.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-6, Sunday, September 6, 2015. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.