Marketing Online

The basics of marketing remain unchanged, creating strategies to identify and satisfy customer requirements profitably, but as the internet and related web technologies become ever more pervasive, business can take advantage of better and more flexible ways to market their goods and services.

Multinationals with vast marketing budgets are the envy of many an SME, however by embracing internet marketing, new routes to market can be explored, marketing efficiency can be improved and new opportunities for business growth uncovered.

The term Internet Marketing can be interpreted in different ways, but in simple terms it is defined as the use of the internet and related technologies to achieve marketing goals. In practice, Internet Marketing revolves around a company website and combines other online marketing tools and techniques (such as direct email, search engines, Affiliate Marketing and online advertising) to acquire new customers and retain existing ones through the provision of on-line services.

Internet Marketing does not stand alone and to be truly effective, it should be integrated with traditional marketing strategy. Internet Marketing does however bring a clear set of benefits, many of which are highly attractive to smaller organisations. In particular the costs of Internet Marketing can be considerably lower than those associated with traditional marketing activity, a wider audience can be reached as geographic boundaries are removed and campaigns can be highly targeted & interactive, improving response rates & lead times.

Many SMEs find it difficult to justify traditional marketing spend, but Internet Marketing activity is trackable and measurable, so success can be easily monitored and the return on investment readily calculated. When measures such as this are in place, demonstrating the value off effective internet marketing becomes a straight forward process.