Online Marketing

 

Brief Explanation

Online marketing is marketing through the Internet rather than through traditional advertising. Online marketing includes search engine marketing, banner advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing, content marketing and social media marketing.

Detailed Explanation

Online marketing has become a permanent fixture in the marketing mix of most companies. And online spend for companies is increasing. According to Gartner’s U.S. Digital Marketing Spending Report 2017, digital marketing spend averages 22 percent of the marketing budget in 2017 and 77 percent of marketers surveyed plan to increase their digital advertising budget in 2018. In past surveys they also stated that their corporate website, social networking and digital advertising are key to their marketing success.

Objectives of Online Marketing

Common objectives of online marketing include:

• Increasing product and brand awareness
• Increasing customer acquisition and retention
• Driving traffic to the website
• Improving customer loyalty
• Achieving a higher ranking in search engines like Google

The bottom line is that all companies want to increase sales. They do that by making their brand recognizable, findable online and easy to buy. Online marketing supports all of these initiatives and, ultimately, can drive revenue. Companies need a focused strategy for online campaigns. To do that, they include several tactics in their plan.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is divided into two areas – search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine advertising (SEA). While SEO aims to achieve a better ranking in organic search results, SEA refers to advertisements in search results lists. The goal of both is to have better visibility through search engines.

Attaining a high ranking is complex because the exact evaluation algorithm of search engines like Google is unknown. However, it is widely known that high-quality content plays a major role. High-quality content is a key tactic of SEO because it rates positively in search algorithms.

With SEA, advertisements are purchased using keywords, also known as keyword advertising.

Due to the increasing complexity of search engine marketing, many companies rely on the support of a specialized SEO and SEA or Google Adwords Agency to be most effective.

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising, or display advertising, is online advertising through the use of graphics. The graphic leads to a landing page or website that attempts to convert people into customers. They can be static or dynamic and animated. They can vary in size and format and include full banners, super banners, skyscraper and rectangle.

Banner ads aim to provide interesting graphics so potential consumers click on the ad and buy products, take action in social media or perceive the brand in a positive way. Companies pay each time someone clicks on the ad (PPC).

Advertising filters are used in many cases because people are inundated with ads and choose not to see them. In addition, experts are now discussing a tem called “banner blindness,” where users ignore the ads or view them as false because they are exposed to too many ads on the Internet. For this reason, more companies are looking at alternative means of online advertising.

Email Marketing

Email marketing refers to the practice of sending commercial messages via email. It can be an efficient tool for marketing because emails can reach many potential customers at once. However, email marketing is common, and consumers often ignore corporate email communications. To stand out, companies are beginning to integrate interesting, sharable content like infographics and videos.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing refers to practice of rewarding a partner for selling on behalf of a company. The partners, or affiliates, use their own marketing methods to generate visitors or customers for the dealer. There are different models, according to which the partners in affiliate marketing can generate income, including:

• Pay-per-click (pay per successful click on the ad)
• Pay-per-lead (payment per contact of potential customers)
• Pay-per-sale (pay per sale)

There are many affiliate networks that provide a platform to connect partners and resellers with dealers.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the practice of marketing products or services through social networks like Facebook, Google+, Linkedin and Twitter. This includes paid advertising and hosting company pages on each of these networks.

Marketing via social media is a relatively new discipline in online marketing. However, with the growing use of social media and the importance of social networks, more companies are including social media marketing as a key component of their marketing strategy.

Conclusion

The importance of marketing on the Internet is increasingly important for company. In fact, online marketing has become an important focus for most companies as they look to reach customers online and grow sales.