Marketing in the era of the internet

Feb 26, 2019 Web Developer Marketing 0

The internet has changed how businesses market themselves, providing many new opportunities. The era of the internet is fast-paced, with trends continually changing and everyone wanting their news fast. It is increasingly important to keep up to date to ensure that your business is ready to take full advantage of all the opportunities that the internet offers. However, while the internet can open up many new marketing opportunities, it can also leave you vulnerable to factors that could harm your business.

A greater reach

In the past, marketing meant adverts in newspapers or magazines, billboards, and on television and radio channels. While these retain a place in today’s marketing strategies, their reach pales compared to that of the internet. From an ad campaign that might reach thousands, the internet gives the potential of reaching millions. While an ad on a billboard only reaches people as they pass it and a newspaper ad will only reach people when they read it, most people have at least one device that accesses the internet, and since the advent of smartphones, many people can continually access the online world. Effective use of the internet can boost your business to new levels of success.

A major advantage that the internet has over traditional marketing forms is the ability to target ads precisely. Marketing tools can analyse an individual’s search history, lifestyle and interests so that your advertisement can be shown to the people most likely to become your customers.

Using pay-per-click advertising also ensures that your marketing strategy only costs you if it is a successful one. This is in stark contrast with traditional advertising, where running a campaign in a newspaper or television channel would cost the same whether it reached thousands or none at all.

A website

Before the internet, anyone wanting information about a business had to ring them up during opening hours or request that a brochure is posted. If a business has a website, then it can provide information 24/7 every day of the year.

With new websites appearing every day, it is necessary to take the time to create a good site for your business. It needs to look appealing while also being easy to navigate. Any difficulties with the website and your potential customer will simply go elsewhere.

Once created, you need to make sure that customers can find the website among the many others. As well as regularly providing new and relevant content, search engine optimisation (SEO) uses the relevant search terms that will help to bring your website higher in the rankings.

Social media

One of the major developments of the internet is social media, which allows you to connect directly with customers and others relevant to your business. With several different platforms available, it is often best to focus on marketing campaigns just on one or two platforms. To be effective on social media, do not simply bombard your followers with ads – keep posts interesting and informative. You may want to share information about a charitable event that your staff are running on Facebook, or you could use Twitter to tweet an interesting article or video that is relevant to your business or the interests of your customers.

The downside of the internet era

While the internet provides many opportunities for you to present a positive image of your business to a global audience, it also allows negative publicity to be reached just as easily. Review sites allow dissatisfied customers or even malicious third parties to leave negative reviews that may deter customers from your business. With the difficulties in regulating the internet, it is easy for negative information to be presented with little chance for you to counter it.

Cybercrime is a new form of crime that the era of the internet has brought, and it is essential to find ways to protect yourself. A data breach can impact on both you and your customers, causing a massive loss of trust from which it can be hard to recover.

Using a professional service to maintain your online reputation is an effective way to prevent the negative factors of internet marketing from impacting on your business. For both businesses and individuals, Reputation Defender can help your image remain positive. Using leading technology, this company can help ensure that there is positive and up-to-date information on you and that your business ranks highly in the internet searches.

It is important to remember that not every negative review on the internet is malicious, and these reviews can be a way to see how to improve your service for your customers. By engaging with them in a polite and professional manner, even the downsides of the internet era can help boost your image.