Anyone who has ever started a market street catch campaign can tell you that marketing is a very tricky business. However, the days when marketing was simply about throwing up a few fliers and sending out some snail mail are long gone. Today, most marketing campaigns are done on the Internet, and that is a whole other ballgame. With that being said, read on below for a few of the top things you need to know about your marketing campaign.
If you want to make sure that you are giving your IM business the best chance at success, then you are going to have to invest some time and a little bit of money into online marketing. This is vital if you want to make sure that you are keeping up with your competition. If all of your competitors are making use of proper marketing techniques and you are not, it is only a matter of time before things for your business start to dwindle and you want to prevent that from ever happening.
However, First Things First… You want to get it out of your head that you have to have a lot of money in order to properly market your company. In fact, some of the best online marketing tools and techniques do not require a ton of money. They might need a little bit of money, but mostly, they require time and effort. If you have that – then you can make it work with no problem.
To help you with this, you will want to make sure that you are taking the time to make use of the following tips.
This is a MUST for anyone who hopes to have even a remote chance of succeeding with an online business as an Internet Marketer (IMer). There are plenty of programs available that will provide you with the ability to build your own “free” site. However, you want to be very careful as to what exactly “free” allows for and doesn’t.
Your initial attempts at internet marketing, until you acquire the necessary skills and know-how, should always be with programs that are “free” (or at minimum offer free trials of at least 30 days). This will allow you some time to become more knowledgeable prior to engaging in any paid internet marketing system or promotional campaigns.
Nonetheless, whether free or paid, you want to have some specific requirements that must be met if you are to have any chance of success in your journey as an IMer. They are simple and should include (but not be limited to):
While launching a marketing campaign certainly isn’t easy or completely free, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Remember, there is nothing more revealing than a well-placed YouTube video or taking a chance on social media. Get your feet wet free of charge, sign up for a social media page for your business (if you haven’t, yet). With this in mind, you want to make sure that you start planning to set aside a budget (even a modest one) for your marketing campaign if it is to be effective.
You need to start understanding the online marketing tools that are offered to you free of charge. After all, your IM business will financially benefit if you make sure you are using them correctly. Then, with the extra money that you have earned from those techniques, you will be able to move on to bigger and better online marketing strategies.
Social media – that’s what! Sure, you might have thought that social media pages are for people to keep in contact with their family and to show off vacation pictures to all of their friends. However, while it is that, it is also so much more. You can create a nice business page on a social media website, update it as needed with valuable information, and interact with people who you hope to turn into customers one day.
As much as you might hate to, marketing on social media is where it’s at. By getting yourself out there and showing the world what your business has to offer, you will find that you will be much better off! Social Media are used 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and nothing gets the word out there like social media can.
In the marketing world, your product isn’t the only thing that matters. When you start a marketing campaign, you automatically become a piece of media. No one wants to watch an advertisement for a product that is boring, no matter how sensational that product may be. These days, you have to sell your brand, not just your product. The best way to do this is by making the customer feel what the product can do for them. Telling a story matters, if you want your product to sell and your brand to succeed.
Do not make the mistake of falling into the trap where you assume that you have to have a ton of internet marketing experience in order to make it work for you. This is nonsense because someone who has absolutely zero experience with internet marketing can become very successful with it. And the best part? It might not take as long as you think! This is because there are a lot of easy ways to get started. Since there are multiple ways to make use of internet marketing, you will find that there is always something you can do to make this an easier thing for you to accomplish.
Remember, one of the first things you can do, and with little experience if any, is to assure that you are setting up some social media accounts for your business. You will then want to make sure that you are spending enough time throughout the week interacting with the people that like your page. Utilize your time wisely, not for simple SM chit-chat. This is a time consuming but much-needed process, particularly if your budget is low – Let’s call this Time-Equity.
