Internet Versus Offline Marketing

When it comes to marketing your business there are a handful of different things that you need to try in order to see what works and what doesn't work for your organization. Online marketing is an avenue that some small business owners are worried about and have yet to take the leap to try it out. However using online marketing could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars on marketing expenses and it can open your company up to a brand new audience that you may never have found on your own.

Creating your own website is easy to do and one of the great benefits to your own website is that you have complete control over the content. You get to determine the type of information that will go on your website and it is up to you to determine how you want the website to look. If you build up a strong website you may even start selling advertising space on it and this can easily pay for the cost to maintain your website along with online marketing programs that help to bring in more traffic and visibility for your site.

Internet marketing is one of the easiest ways to spread your message out to your customers in a timely manner. You can reach a larger audience and gain sales within minutes of sending out an online marketing message. With so many different types of marketing that you can utilize online, you may not know where you should get started. Here are just a few of the many online marketing ventures that you need to add to your marketing mix:
- Video advertising
- Pay Per Click Ads
- Social media advertising
- Email marketing
- Blogging
- Discussion boards
- Article marketing
- Newsletters
- Banner advertising

The list can go on and on but these are some of the best online advertising programs and methods to use to increase your companies visibility and really start marketing your business effectively. Creating a video and posting it on YouTube and eHow doesn't cost you a thing. All you need is a webcam and a few minutes to talk to your customers. How-to videos are one of the best ways to build up a reputation for your organization and it really does help your customers to figure out what type of company you are and why they need to start working with you.

Emails are great because they are free as long as you know how to design the templates and you can gather up the right type of addresses and content to send out. Email newsletters are easy to create and they can be valuable to the customers as you educate them and send out quality information that they really have a desire to read.

Blogging and article marketing are other ways to build up your reputation and to help customers that are looking for information rather than trying to be sold all the time. Pay per click can bring in traffic but your ultimate goal is to find the customers that are looking for you versus the other way around. Doing this will boost sales and will strengthen your reputation tremendously.

Offline marketing efforts still need to be part of your marketing strategy only now you don't have to spend as much money on printing costs and other things. Instead you can direct people to your website where they will have access to more information than what you can give them in a short brochure or flyer. Depending upon the type of business you have, you may even be able to drop your radio advertisements, especially if you notice they really aren't producing revenue for your company.