Posts Tagged ‘branding’
One Internet Marketing Approach
Whether you are new to Internet marketing or frustrated by the experience, the concept is undisputedly a challenge. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
One Internet Marketing Approach
Before we get into a one particular internet marketing approach, we need to define what we mean by approach. Internet marketing is entirely different than brick and mortar marketing. The structure is composed of a number of factors including long and short term strategies, indirect branding marketization and traffic analysis. If you can master these subjects, you will have the right approach and be successful.
To achieve a better marketing approach, you must conform to the basic outline of every successful site. You need to realize there are distinct short and long term strategies, and that they mesh. Short term strategies are all about pay-per-click search engines while long term strategies are all about search engine optimization.
Pay-per-click search engines [ppc] have serious benefits and limitations. The primary benefit is they create immediate traffic to your site. They allow you to get prospects on to the site and determine how they convert. The downside of going ppc is they add significantly to your overhead and the traffic may be of middling to poor quality.
To properly pursue PPC advertising, you should stick to Google Adwords and Overture. They have the highest quality of traffic. When using these platforms, you should start with as wide a scope of keywords as possible. Track the results through your server stats to determine the specific phrases that produce paying customers. Turn off the ads for keywords phrases that don’t produce revenues. This will improve your return on investment.
Long term Internet marketing is all about search engine optimization, a misunderstood subject if ever there was one. The advantage of seo is you generate free traffic. This is accomplished by moving your site into top ranking positions on MSN, Yahoo and Google. No other search engines matter. As your rankings improve, you can begin turning off corresponding ppc advertisements. Eventually you will able to entirely eliminate your ppc cost, effectively converting the site to a free marketing position.
To nail search engine optimization, you must focus on the needs of your prospects. Your view or opinion on your product or service is irrelevant. You must identify the exact things your prospects are searching for and create or modify pages on your site to provide a solution to that need. To conduct this research, you need to do keyword research.
Wordtracker is the secret weapon of profitable sites. The site provides a list of the exact keyword phrases being used by your prospects, the number of searches a day and the number of sites competing for top rankings on the keyword. You can enter your primary keyword phrases and quickly see which phrases you should use to produce the most traffic as quickly as possible. You might be thinking you can use Overture for this as well, but Overture should only be used to determine if there is general traffic for a subject. It
Branding is a phrase used for Internet marketing by those who do not really understand the Internet. The Internet is huge, making your branding efforts a waste of time if it is your primary goal. The only time branding should be used, in my humble opinion, is in the form of indirect branding. This occurs when you dominate every keyword phrase for your particular area of interest. To do this, you should create pages for every need identified for your prospects. When they see your listings over and over, your brand is established. Put another way, branding is a secondary benefit of your marketing, not the primary goal.
If you pursue this internet marketing approach, you should reach a point where you are earning significant revenues and little for marketing. Put another way, you are maximizing your profit margin, which should be the goal of every site owner.
Corporate Internet Branding
The Internet is a ubiquitous Corporate communications and sales channel, however many companies are still not utilizing much of its power. That could be because of loyalties to comfortable old channels or that there aren’t enough Internet marketing experts to take their brands into the digital realm.
Regardless of the hold-ups in leveraging internal or external Internet communications options, consumer and B2B channels are growing their share of the market. Resistance is futile and with this change in how consumers and B2B buyers are reached, is a change in the symbolism, voice, and style of promoting brands. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Internet can’t play a supporting role for your offline or TV advertising. For many campaigns, the Internet is just another conduit for sales videos and corporate brochures. Some are satisfied with this, however the Internet’s own power to communicate and generate business shouldn’t be underestimated.
The Internet, whether through public Web sites, search engines, Internet radio broadcasts, and e-mail are very targeted. It is shown to reach the right target at the right time with the right message. It doesn’t matter whether you use a Web friendly, or search engine friendly approach to your online advertising and promotion. You need to be there anyway you can. It’s too important to let it slide.
Internet branding is a term in increasing usage because branding can be adapted to be effective on the Internet. That’s different from broadcasting your TV video ad or showing your marketing brochure on your Web site. With Internet branding, you’re taking into consideration that viewers have searched around and seen many other products similar to yours. They may have reviewed many more product or service features than they would think about while watching television or casually reading a magazine.
Your customer’s context then is different. The splashy video display generally isn’t there and surprisingly, few people are interested in seeing it. They’re pressured for time and want to find what they’re looking for. If you understand their quest for knowledge, you can better shape your value proposition and even your sales pitch.
Active Internet Positioning
The Internet appears to be a passive marketing environment, but it’s actually very active. To stay one step ahead of the elusive customer, you have to continually position your products and Web site to meet their needs ahead of time. An Internet marketing expert helps to tell you where people are going ahead of time. You may even position your brand better with this knowledge. You have returning customers whose loyalty you want to build and you have new prospects coming in searching and enquiring about different things. It’s not easy to position a brand to meet all those needs. There are experts in the field who can help you understand Web visitors and help you build powerful Corporate Internet Branding strategies.
It’s easy to say you’ll advertise to reach all the same prospects you did with your TV campaigns, but Internet audiences are different. And, advertising, such as search engine advertising can be expensive. You may not be able to afford to reach those same people. That means you may have to plan a way to reach particular segments of that audience with more specific features and benefits. Only after you bring them to your Web site and established credibility with respect to the product they’re inquiring about, will you be able to present your corporate brand. Corporate branding is powerful today and Corporate Internet Branding even more so. You can introduce products more quickly and even reposition them more effectively. People see corporate brands all the time though and are not necessarily impressed that your corporate brand will make this particular product relevant to them. For instance, just because Nike makes golf equipment doesn’t mean their “big mammoth driver” is the right one. The corporate logo won’t be enough and forcing the brand on them isn’t going to make them buy it.
Search Marketing
Instead, Internet branding strategies, particularly those that deliver targeted visitors to your Web site, ensure your establish credibility and relevance. Remember that Web visitors are in an intense state of consciousness. They’re very often looking for something specific. If you want to get anywhere on the Web as a user, you have to have an idea of what you want, or you’ll sit frustrated in front of your computer. Television and magazines are very different. The channels and pages in these mediums are limited and the prospect is captured. Not on the Internet. There are billions of web pages and hundreds of millions of Web sites.
With search engines, consumers can get help finding what they’re looking for. High ranking sites get first crack at these motivated/directed consumers. Your corporate Internet marketing strategy should be heavily involved in search engine visibility. It is an opportunity to present your site many different ways to many different types of consumers. The potential reach is further enhanced because you have International reach and the cost of entry is so minimal.
Searchers are looking for quick solutions too. They’re not looking for fancy graphics and complicated menus that fly out all over the place. They’re looking for specific things about your products and services. Here, you have a low cost of adapting your brand imagery and communications to suit each group of visitors. Generally, it just takes another Web page designed and written for that group of consumers. You can fashion your homepage to let current customers get to what they’re looking for as well.
After these searchers have found your products and services relevant to their search, your corporate brand will then have the power to make the sale and establish brand loyalty.
Intelligent corporate Internet Branding adapts to the consumer. It de-massifies to serve each person as they arrive; yet it still delivers the corporate brand communication at the right time after the visitor is satisfied. Rather than a boastful in your face confrontation with the consumer, your corporate image becomes a helpful one and is relevant and timely. You get credit for being there when they needed you.