Marketing your small business on the Internet does not need to be expensive, nor does it need to be complicated. However, there is still a lot of confusion (and the associated mis-information) about how to market a bricks and mortar business on the net. Most small businesses continue to ignore the Internet as a promotional medium thinking that it does not apply to them. They continue to do this at their own peril.
Opportunities to market your small business are many and varied, just like in the real world.
For small businesses Internet marketing can be a surprisingly low-cost way of promoting your local small business. This promotion can be targeted locally, regionally or across the globe.
So, these Internet marketing strategies are? How are they applied?
For the average small business there are only THREE approaches to Internet marketing that one needs to consider, being…
1. Paid search marketing (Pay per click marketing, and its numerous variations), and… 2. In-context link marketing (being commercial links within content on a specific topic), and… 3. Natural search marketing (SEO, content marketing, blogs and its numerous variations).
So, with these different approaches, what are the pros and cons?
1. PPC SEARCH MARKETING:
Paid search marketing is paid advertising. You pay for your ad to be placed before people searching on specific keyterms. The effectiveness of your PPC campaign is directly related to the keyterms you chose to use, as well as the sales path you set up on your landing page (where people land when they click on your PPC link).
The benefits to you (the pros). Well, when correctly targeted, you’ll reach prospects, fast.
The CONS: A) Specialist skills required. And, you can lose a lot of money, fast! B) PPC specialists are not cheap. C) You continually need to run your ads. D) Can be very costly (especially for commercial keyterms). You only get to play as long as you continue to pay.
2. CONTEXT within CONTEXT LINK MARKETING:
By utilizing other people’s keyword focused and existing content you’re able to promote your local business (say you’re an accountant) via other people’s focused content. This is a commercial pay per click arrangement between the content creator, yourself (the advertiser) and the in-context web system that matches the two parties in the arrangement.
The PROS: This is a better approach for small businesses marketing on the Internet, because these embedded hyperlinks are not perceived by the reader as an advertisement. This reduces the visitors resistance to clicking through on these in context hyperlinks (ads) as the links are viewed by the reader as links to more information.
The CONS: A) Competition for commercial keyterms is fierce. This continually drives your costs up. And, you only get to play as long as you continue to pay. B) You have limited control over where these hyperlinks are placed, because it’s the In-Context advertising system that places these links in the participating publisher’s content for you. C) To get best results here one needs to utilize specific landing pages for the clickthroughs from your different ads. This is called the search path, and again it’s a specialist skill that’s needed to set up good search path landing pages.
3. MIMICKING NATURAL SEARCH MARKETING:
Think about this. How do YOU use the web? I’ll guarantee you that if you’re looking for a solution to a problem that you do what millions of other people do everyday. You go to your favorite search engine (usually Google) and type in your problem (a.k.a. keyphrase). Then, your search engine presents you will likely answers. When a small business interfaces with the fundamental reality of the way people use the Internet THEY win.
Note: Search marketing is different from SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) relates to the optimization of existing web sites to make them search engine friendly to the search engines.
The PROS: Natural search marketing is about being found FIRST when people search the net for a solution to a problem. This type of web marketing actually benefits the searcher, and it is never viewed by them as an advertisement. Search marketing allows savvy local businesses to compete on a global level, because there is no shortage of niches one can dominate using search marketing strategies and methods.
The CONS: A) Search marketing strategies take longer to mature than the other methods discussed, however the cost-effectiveness and long-term results are better. C) The commitment must be to the continual addition of fresh content to the keyword-focused, theme-related content systems developed. However, for any business owner who knows their business and loves it this is never an onerous task.
And so, to summarize… There is great divide between those business who understand the web and how to market on it and those who don’t. However, your opportunity to market your own small business on the web is now, while this confusion still exists in the marketplace.
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