If you don’t exist on the internet, then you don’t exist.
Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s not completely off-base. These days, if someone wants to get in touch with you or your business they’re not going to look for you in the phone book.
They’re going to do a Google search (or a Bing search, or a Yahoo search, etc.). While you may not want someone to find you personally, you definitely want them to find your business. Having a website is obviously step one, but without internet marketing, the chances of someone finding your website are slim to none. While that alone should be enough to convince you that you need internet marketing, I’m all about being thorough. So, let’s explore some other reasons why your business needs internet marketing.
1. Everybody’s doing it.
Growing up, my parents instilled in me that just because everyone else was doing something, that didn’t mean I should do it too. It’s great advice that everyone should follow, but not in the context of internet marketing. If your competition has a blog, you need a blog. If your competition is on Facebook, you need to be on Facebook. If your competition is using Google AdWords, you should be too. And if your competition isn’t doing any of these things, it’s a great opportunity for you to get ahead in the game.
2. It’s extremely easy to measure results.
When you put out a print ad in a newspaper, you can measure how many people saw that ad by looking at the circulation of that publication. You can also see if there’s an increase in customers after the ad runs. However, you still don’t really know how many people really saw your ad, or how many of those new customers are a direct result of that ad. With internet marketing, everything is measurable. You know how many people clicked on your ads, the search terms people used to find your ads, how long someone stayed on your site, and which pages they went to. You can easily see which tactics are working and which ones need tweaking. It’s also much easier (and cheaper) to change things that aren’t effective than with traditional marketing.
3. You can target specific audiences.
Some forms of internet marketing are more targeted than others. For example, with Facebook ads, you can target people based on their age, location, interests, even their job title. With content marketing, on the other hand, you’re mostly targeting people who are interested in your goods or services. By creating a buyer persona, you can make sure that the content you’re creating is enticing to your ideal customers, but anyone can find that content if they’re using your keywords. One thing’s for sure, internet marketing is significantly more targeted than other forms of marketing.
4. It keeps you in the front of potential customer’s minds.
Let’s say you have an interior painting business. Someone wants to repaint their living room. They do a Google search to get ideas for a color and find an article on your site about how to choose a paint color that compliments the décor of your room. They read it and find it helpful. Then, they go to Home Depot’s website to look at color options, and—because of your remarketing campaign—see a banner ad for your business. Later, they decide that their living room is actually too big for them to paint it themselves, so they search for painting companies in their area. They see your AdWords ad and your website in the organic search results. They remember the helpful article you provided and they remember your banner ad. They recognize your name and remember that you have helped them out before, so they decide to go with your business. A varied internet marketing plan makes sure that you are in the fore-front of people’s minds at every step of the buyer’s journey.
5. It increases your visibility.
I touched on this at the very beginning, but it’s too important to not mention again. You could have the most beautiful, optimized, responsive website to ever exist on the internet, but without internet marketing it’s going to get pushed down the search results page into oblivion. Even if your site is great and your competition’s site is just okay, if they are utilizing internet marketing effectively, they’re going to outrank you.