Five Perks of Online Marketing

We often receive the question: “Do I need online marketing?”

To many, this concept seems intimidating, much more so than the world of TV commercials, flyers, and in-person signage — but it doesn’t have to be that way!

According to Internet World Stats, nearly 87% of the population in North America has access to the Internet. With that in mind, creating a website for your business or organization should be the first, rather than the last, step to launching your online presence.

Outlined below are five benefits of online marketing.

#1 – Demographic Targeting

Your ads can speak to exactly who they’re meant for.

Compared to offline marketing, determining your target group online is much more precise.

Traditional marketing channels may allow you to directly advertise, but with limits. For example, you can choose to air your commercials on a specific TV channel, or place print ads in an industry-related magazine. However, it can be difficult to speak to a more specific segment of your demographic.

In contrast, social networking sites like Facebook can directly focus your ads on a specific audience set and report the number of people successfully reached.

#2 – Cost-Effectiveness

You spend only where and when it’s effective.

Online marketing is a goldmine when it comes to flexibility and smarter management of one’s budget. In contrast, newspapers or TV advertising often demands enormous costs, with opaque results.

Online marketing methods, such as Pay-Per-Click, where expenses are based on actual click-through rate of ads, is a great way to spend only when effectively reaching an audience — budget expenses are much more proportionate to results.

#3 – Measurability

You can see the numbers measuring the effectiveness of a campaign.

A combination of analytics tools can easily measure the effectiveness of your online marketing. They vary from Google Analytics, which delivers important details on your website traffic and user activity; to built-in tools on social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Unlike print, TV, or radio ads, where measurable impact on your business sales is often a guessing game, online analytics tools can deliver valuable numbers for marketing purposes, including views, visits, and successful conversion activities, such as sales.

#4 – Real-Time Results

You can adjust strategy as needed, right away.

Online marketing itself can be straightforward or complex, depending on your strategy and choice of tools. However, even in the most basic of campaigns, it’s possible to see results right after implementation.

For example, with Google AdWords, one can directly measure the clicks as they occur, and afterwards, analyze the impact on website traffic and visitor behavior using Google Analytics.

The benefit of this transparency? Within a day of the campaign launch, you can effectively readjust your strategy, implement changes, measure again, and repeat as necessary, until you’re satisfied with the results.

#5 – Long-Term Exposure

Slow and steady wins the race!

The average life span of a traditional marketing campaign is typically 1 to 4 weeks, with an official end date. In contrast, online marketing is with the long game in mind.

For example, if you are lucky enough to have reached the position of the first page on search engine results for a specific set of keywords, you can confidently stay visible to potential clients for a long period.

Regular, consistent updates, of course, are necessary to hold any position, and to maintain the cost-effectiveness of any online marketing strategy.

Online marketing is an important and crucial part of any business venture. Without writing off traditional ways completely, incorporating and favoring online marketing is a smart move — one that’s easier on the wallet, sustainable, and more likely to lead to the results you want.

PS – If you need a little direction to start your marketing campaign, check out our blog on 2020 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch.

Interested in creating your own online marketing plan, or revamping your current strategy? Contact us for a free consultation, and we’d be happy to walk through any ideas with you!