The expansion of the internet has resulted in a whole new world of commerce opening up to small businesses. Increasing numbers of these businesses are now beginning to ignore traditional marketing methods in order to concentrate their attention on attracting new customers online. This is due to the fact that there are so many practical benefits to online marketing.
The most important advantage of online marketing is the fact that a massive audience of potential new customers can be reached. Traditional marketing methods for a small business would rely on fliers distributed locally, or perhaps a newspaper advertisement. If the budget allowed there may be an opportunity to advertize on local radio or television in order to reach more people, however this would be rare with a small business. Using effective search engine marketing techniques, however, a business can target literally millions of new customers.
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This targeting is ongoing and everlasting. Traditional marketing campaigns would occur only occasionally, and would be limited in their duration. Search engine marketing, on the other hand, can be carried out every day. There are various steps which small businesses can take to increase their ranking in search engine results pages, such as submitting articles to directories. They can also invest in pay per click marketing, which again is an ever present form of advertising.
In online marketing much of what can be achieved can be done without cost
This highlights another benefit of online marketing, which is that it is relatively inexpensive compared to traditional methods. Previously small businesses would incur printing costs for fliers, and labor costs for having them delivered. They would also be charged for advertising space in newspapers and on billboards. In online marketing much of what can be achieved can be done without cost, such as article marketing, email marketing, and search engine optimization. Pay per click marketing does take a little investment, but most businesses find that it is a very cost effective way of marketing to a huge number of people.
Small businesses therefore have much greater control over their efforts with online marketing. They can constantly monitor how effective their campaigns have been, and can make alterations very quickly if needed. A small business owner could decide to run a new promotion and advertise it using email to everybody on their mailing list within minutes. It is a very fast, efficient, and effective method of marketing. It is also most convenient for the customer, as they can be made aware of a business or promotion and make a purchase immediately.
When it is considered that online marketing is efficient, cost effective, controllable, and deliverable easily and quickly, it is not surprising to learn that it is now considered to be the most effective way for small businesses to advertise their services. Perhaps most importantly of all, it allows businesses to target a massive amount of potential new customers, which presents a fantastic opportunity to generate revenue.
