Online Marketing Strategies Comparison

Recession Friendly Marketing

Worried about a recession and the economy? If you are looking to continue marketing strategies during a recession there is nothing better than online marketing. The main reason is that online marketing nearly always provides a much better ROI when compared to traditional offline marketing initiatives such as billboards, phone books, tv, or radio. The other great advantage to online marketing compared to offline media is that it is 100% trackable. You will know if the campaign is successful or not, how much of an investment is the ideal amount, how it affects sales and profits, and much more.

Different Online Marketing Options

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the process of getting your website to come up for specific related keyword phrases naturally or organically in the search engines. When starting a SEO campaign you will have a waiting period of 3-4 months before you start seeing results however the ROI is excellent in the long-term. SEO is usually a very good option for most businesses with a few exceptions. SEO is generally not suited for a brand new industry, product or service that no one is searching for. It is also not advisable to start an SEO campaign if you are in an extremely competitive industry, for example web hosting. Contact a professional and get their opinion on whether an SEO campaign is good for you or not.

Search Engine Marketing or Pay-Per-Click

SEM/PPC is very similar to SEO as strategies utilize search engines and keywords to gain website traffic. Organic SEO results in Google are in the middle white section of the screen. PPC ads appear in the top, bottom, and right sidebar of the search results pages. Although PPC is generally has a lower ROI compared to SEO it does have some benefits.  You have total control of your budget, it can be turned off or on in a second, the results are very easy to track, and you only pay for actual website traffic.  PPC is a good pre-SEO campaign strategy and as long as you have a positive ROI it never hurts to keep it going even after your SEO rankings are established.

Blog Marketing

Successful blogs can be personal or professional.  Having a successful blog will require a lot of copywriting time; if you do not have the resources to have regular posts then it is not advisable to start one.  One good strategy to try before starting a blog is to find blogs relating to your industry and post insightful comments to keep conversations going and encourage people to visit your link. It will take some time to build up your blog readership, but once you are popular the results can be very impressive.

Social Media Marketing

What has long been described as viral or buzz marketing is really the practice of getting customers to take action on a particular message by consuming it and passing it on to others they know. Because of the extensive reach of the web a successful campaign can achieve tremendous success for your brand. But how does that relate to ROI? How much is a referral or a video view worth? The answer is, it depends. It depends on what you do with the relationship. Did you capture an email address from a sign up form? Did you overlay a link in your video that directed people to shopping cart for a particular product? Did it inspire enough motivation for someone to come down and test drive the latest model of car? Social media marketing campaigns are sometimes a high risk marketing strategy but have the potential of creating a tremendous impact to your business..

Email Marketing

We do not encourage spam email marketing as the results are usually dismal and it is very unethical. However, done properly, an email marketing campaign can provide one of the best ROI of all online marketing initiatives. Some keys to success are generating your email list yourself through opt-in methods. You should also build a relationship with your readers by sharing your knowledge and expertise with them. Over time they will become your most valuable customers who come to you again and again for different services and products.

Persuasion Architecture

Persuasion architecture combines usability, conversion improvement, and information architecture into one comprehensive online marketing strategy. The core focus of persuasion architecture revolves around getting users on the website to take an action; sometimes this may be to purchase something online, come back again later, stay on the page for a certain amount of time, fill out an online form, pick up the phone and call you, visit your retail store, or others. Having proper information, easy to use navigation, graphics that reflect a professional image and brand, and placing key reinforcement triggers in proper places are all examples of persuasion architecture.