What is internet marketing? Why everyone is talking
about this and what is this secret language? Is it marketing?
I want to help you understand what internet marketing is
in easy words. I believe after reading this article you will know what internet
marketing is and how you can implement it for your own benefit.
Before we go ahead and learn internet marketing, let’s see what
“Marketing” is.
Marketing is the combination of all the actions we take in order
to sell the product or service to the end customer. It’s as simple as that.
These actions include:
·
Manufacturing
·
Branding
·
Packaging
·
Advertisement
·
Funding
·
Selling
·
So in a nutshell everything that a marketer does in order to
sell their product is called marketing.
Now you will get a small hint about internet marketing. Internet
marketing is the same marketing but done in the internet, for the internet and
of the internet.
Internet is nothing much more than a medium, like newspaper,
radio or television. But what makes internet so versatile and powerful because
internet is worldwide.
Using the internet, some guy from Nigeria can reach a business
lead in the USA. A website can be setup and take orders online from around the
world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So in simple terms, internet marketing is all about promoting
and selling something.
But internet marketing
is not just limited to promoting and selling. It’s also about,
·
Building a community
·
Doing market research
·
Building authority
·
Self promotion
Internet marketing has
so many sub branches of marketing. These are,
Website Marketing: Setting up a website itself is a
marketing vehicle. Internet sites are built for information, communication and
product promotion. E-Commerce sites takes order from customers on auto pilot.
Digital products like eBooks and online courses are delivered automatically to
the customer
.
Social Media Marketing: Social media websites such as Facebook,
twitter, google plus, linkedin are the networks where people spend the most of
their time online. There is a community for nearly every topic or interest in
these websites. Social media marketing is done for scoring new customers and
spreading your marketing message.
Search Engine Marketing: Now day’s people use search engines (google,
yahoo, bing, facebook) to find information they want. Optimizing your own
website, so that it will appear on top when people search is beneficial for
your business. This type for marketing is called search engine optimization.
Email Marketing: On the internet everyone has the access to
emails/web mails. Email account is required to open a new account in almost
every membership websites. Email is the #1 communication tool since the
beginning of the internet. Email addresses are collected or bought by marketers
through various sources. Then they auto email their product related
information, newsletters, offers to sell their product. This is called email
marketing.
Banner Marketing: Banner marketing is also called media buys.
There are popular websites & web portals where lots of qualified buyers
visit every day. An internet marketer will pay the site for a banner
advertisement. This type of marketing is the internet counterpart of
traditional banners & billboards. Using the internet, a marketer can pay
for a lead, pay for action or just pay per view which is not available in
traditional banner ads we see in the streets.
Mobile Marketing: More and more people have access to the
internet and smartphones. Mobile users are now accessing web content using
their phones. Mobile marketing includes building websites for mobile devices,
creating application for mobile users & using mobile commerce. Traditional
SMS marketing and email marketing has also taken place in the mobile user base.
Blog Marketing: Blogging is the new way of journalism. Now
people can express their opinions using blogs or online news sites. Opinions
matters and it influences other people to make a decision. An internet marketer
will write their own blog and create their own community of loyal fans. The
marketer can also write on other blogs as a guest author or can buy reviews in
exchange for money.
Press Release Marketing: Press release websites or news wire sites
are online news agencies. Internet marketers will write news worthy articles
about their product and submits to various online PR sites. Then if the article
is news worthy enough, then it gets picked up by a major news outlet. This
brings in extra publicity and promotion for the offer they are promoting.
Forum & Discussion Board Marketing: There are forums and online communities on
the internet for every given topic or interest. An internet marketer can take
advantage of these communities to spread their message. Each forum has
different type of members and rules, so the marketer will have to fully
understand that specific community prior taking advantage of it.
So there you
go, internet marketing defined for you in easy words.
