Online Marketing: Business Case Or Business Waste?
This article will explain some of the advantages of online marketing via search engine results page (SERP) and then provide several business case examples of using SERP and potential opportunities.
Since the mid-1990s businesses have sought answers to how to improve sales by taking advantage of the many facets of online (internet) marketing.
You name it, it has been tried; email, banner advertisement, pop-up, pop-unders and search engine marketing (pay per click) has crowded the information highway. Some have proved successful and some have been proven foolhardy, regardless of the outcome, they have all been repeatedly tried and are still in use.
Companies, like Amazon.com, have become online marketing legends. Others, like Netflix.com are so successful that they are pushing their brick and mortar competition to the brink. However, the biggest success story by far has been Search Engines; especially its star company of the industry, Google. Google commands an amazing 76% global market share of the two and a half billion daily online searches. They have become so dominant that their name is synonymous with the Internet itself, on a daily basis everyone hears the words "Google it" and knows exactly what it means.
As a business person, you should embrace the powerful steamrolling opportunity that Google's search engine results page presents and use its success as a competitive advantage.
Before I discuss the advantages and give examples of online marketing via SERP, I want to briefly talk about the alternatives.
Your business has several other marketing mediums (print, broadcast and mailings) that you currently use or have used in the past. All of them have several things in common, higher cost, low ROI (because of cost) and the most important thing, getting your audience attention is difficult.
Your message must be repeatedly heard before you get customer awareness. Studies have proven a newspaper advertisement requires a daily eight week cycle before a customer recognizes your product or service. Radio and television advertisement require a lower number of repetition but the costs are much higher.
The "six-hundred pound gorilla in the room" that all of the above have in common is that the customer MUST be ready (or close) to a buy decision in order for your marketing to prove effective.
That final point is the most important point because if your prospective customer does not remember your name when it is TIME to buy, your marketing dollars have been wasted.
The advantages of online marketing, and I must again point out I am referring to organic search engine marketing (not pay per click) is that it is FREE, global, 24/7/365, and your customer is READY TO BUY.
A recent Pew Internet report found that the primary use of the Internet is email (60%) with search engines in second at 49%.
When people use search engines (remember 250 billion daily searches), an amazing 52% are shopping, and already primed to make a purchase.
Since the mid-1990s businesses have sought answers to how to improve sales by taking advantage of the many facets of online (internet) marketing.
You name it, it has been tried; email, banner advertisement, pop-up, pop-unders and search engine marketing (pay per click) has crowded the information highway. Some have proved successful and some have been proven foolhardy, regardless of the outcome, they have all been repeatedly tried and are still in use.
Companies, like Amazon.com, have become online marketing legends. Others, like Netflix.com are so successful that they are pushing their brick and mortar competition to the brink. However, the biggest success story by far has been Search Engines; especially its star company of the industry, Google. Google commands an amazing 76% global market share of the two and a half billion daily online searches. They have become so dominant that their name is synonymous with the Internet itself, on a daily basis everyone hears the words "Google it" and knows exactly what it means.
As a business person, you should embrace the powerful steamrolling opportunity that Google's search engine results page presents and use its success as a competitive advantage.
Before I discuss the advantages and give examples of online marketing via SERP, I want to briefly talk about the alternatives.
Your business has several other marketing mediums (print, broadcast and mailings) that you currently use or have used in the past. All of them have several things in common, higher cost, low ROI (because of cost) and the most important thing, getting your audience attention is difficult.
Your message must be repeatedly heard before you get customer awareness. Studies have proven a newspaper advertisement requires a daily eight week cycle before a customer recognizes your product or service. Radio and television advertisement require a lower number of repetition but the costs are much higher.
The "six-hundred pound gorilla in the room" that all of the above have in common is that the customer MUST be ready (or close) to a buy decision in order for your marketing to prove effective.
That final point is the most important point because if your prospective customer does not remember your name when it is TIME to buy, your marketing dollars have been wasted.
The advantages of online marketing, and I must again point out I am referring to organic search engine marketing (not pay per click) is that it is FREE, global, 24/7/365, and your customer is READY TO BUY.
A recent Pew Internet report found that the primary use of the Internet is email (60%) with search engines in second at 49%.
When people use search engines (remember 250 billion daily searches), an amazing 52% are shopping, and already primed to make a purchase.
Comments
Post a Comment