Saturday, February 28, 2009

Online Marketing for your Business

By Rick Jenkinns

Any business can be marketed online. Even your average mom and pop store on the corner can be marketed on the internet. There are several advantages to marketing a business online. These advantages include, but are not limited to, the affordability of having an online presence, almost any budget can include online marketing; the worldwide reach of the internet allows you to reach your target audience anywhere; and the ability to tailor your marketing message to appeal to many different sectors of your target audience.

The affordability of marketing online is one of a few reasons why many business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising. When you take into consideration how far your marketing message can reach and how little you have to pay for it, you will see that it is incredibly affordable. Most methods of online advertising are low cost or absolutely free. One of the best free ways to market your business online is through industry forums. Here you can join in on the conversations pertaining to your business and be able to post links to your biz website when opportunity strikes. In this instance the cost of creating and maintaining the website is insignificant in comparison to the number of potential clients you are reaching to your very specific industry audience. Additionally, the costs associated with posting links to your website in various areas are small if anything. The cost for internet service will seem minimal once you experience the benefits it provides to marketing your business online.

The ability to reach prospective customers anywhere is another great advantage of marketing your business online. Traditional target market research is not only time consuming but also can be costly and then your marketing methods are only reaching a limited audience through print media, radio and local TV campaigns. Now with the internet, you can drastically increase that reach across the globe, targeting your market niche in other countries that might not otherwise ever hear about you and your business.

The realization that you can reach customers around the world is mind boggling and you must see the major advantage to marketing your business online now. Regardless of where you live and operate, your business has the ability to reach those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter what their proximity to you is. This makes it possible for you to do business with customers anywhere in the world.

The Internet never sleeps it is up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including all holidays. Does your brick and mortar business do that? Think for a moment if you only advertise locally and you have standard business hours of say 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ? heck let?s make that 9:00 p.m. So your local audience is narrowed down to those who are interested in your product or service, then it is narrowed down more to only those who can make it to your business or reach you during the normal business hours. Just those alone brings the percentage of viable customers down. Now think for a moment about the business that never sleeps, that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. Do you see where I?m going with this? It is non-stop shopping. In this busy world, people are looking more and more for convenience and being able to get online when it is convenient for them, makes them more likely to buy the product or service they are looking for.

If your business is not on the internet already, it should be. You can bet that if your competitors are not already online, they soon will be and they?ll be marketing to your audience too. Don?t get left behind, bring your business up to speed and get your products and services in front of your target audience. Consumers are looking to the internet to meet their shopping needs more and more every day. They are also looking for the convenience of purchasing online, so make sure they are seeing what you offer while they are shopping online. - 16039

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