How is Online Marketing Different Than Marketing Offline?
With over 200 million searches being performed each day on Google and Facebook users exceeding 500 million, marketing your small business online can be a tremendous boost to your business. But if you find online marketing options confusing, don't worry. Here is a comparison to help you better understand your choices.
Online Marketing vs. Offline Marketing
In offline marketing, you can advertise in print using newspapers and magazines. Online, you can use blogs, online articles, press releases, and emailings.
In offline marketing, you can advertise on radio or telemarketing/phone. Online, you could use teleseminars, podcasts, blog radio. You can even set your online podcasts to be downloadable for ipod users.
If television is your choice for offline marketing, you would look into YouTube and webinars for your online choices. And there are many more online video submission sites where you could post your videos to give you more exposure on the web.
If networking events, chamber meetings, and business groups work for you offline, then look to social media as an online alternative - LinkedIn for b2b, Facebook for b2c, and Twitter for water cooler chats.
Start with What You Know
Just as you would with any other new idea for your business, don't bite off more than you can chew - take it one step at a time and try something that you are already comfortable with.
If you would typically advertise in your local newspapers, then try setting up a blog or submitting online articles. If you consistently attend networking meetings and business groups, then try your hand at social media. Chat with potential clients on Twitter, reach other businesses on LinkedIn, or start a group on Facebook.
Look for forums and directories online that cater to your target market. This is a great way to interact with your potential prospects and find out what they are looking for or what problem they have that you may be able to solve for them.
If the possibility of reaching thousands of new potential customers is not enough incentive to get you try marketing online, then consider the return on your investment. Online marketing can be done at a fraction of the cost of offline media. But, expanding your marketing reach to the internet does come with a cost - primarily the cost of time. But it can be time well spent. Or you can find a reliable online consultant to help you.
With so many internet users available to you each and every day, if you don't soon take advantage of reaching these potential customers, you can be sure that your competitors will.
