Internet Marketing, Social Media, eMarketing… It’s Still Marketing

Internet marketing, online marketing, eMarketing, social media marketing – whatever you call it, it’s still marketing. It’s still the art and science of crafting and delivering a message that influences the recipient’s behavior. (Ok… that may be oversimplified, but there is truth in that statement).  After all,  the end goal of marketing is to be an equal contributor to sales in driving revenue for our company or clients.  The Internet and social media don’t change this goal. What has changed are the rules and strategies for achieving it.

Many marketers are attracted to online marketing and social media because of the reduced costs. Your decision to leverage the Internet and social media in your marketing mix should not be based just on cost. It also shouldn’t be about being cool. Sure blogging, podcasts, twitter etc. are cool, but if what you’re really trying to do is drive more revenue, you have to take the coolness factor out of it.

So take a step back and consider the following:

Internet +  Social Media Tools = Increased Customer Interaction -  Think about how you can leverage every single interaction to increase the value of your product, brand, or company in the eyes of your customers and prospects.

Where are Your Customers? –  Do your research. Find out where your customers are online and what social media they are using. The traditional marketer in you may want to find the demographics on each social media tool, but you can do it another way: Look at a random sample of your customer base and find them, via email address, on the different sites. Determine which have a significant presence of your target customers, and invest your time and energy on those platforms.

Content Trumps Awareness –  Content is the raw material that makes it possible for your target customers to use the Internet and social media tools to objectively research, evaluate and compare your product, company, and services. The quality, range, and availability of your content is now the most important deciding factor in putting what you are selling in front of prospects interested in buying. This now becomes the most important consideration for marketing.

Augment; Don’t Replace – Social media and the Internet are not a panacea. Don’t forego more traditional marketing channels. Think about how you can leverage what you are currently doing in an online manner – even if it’s just promoting an event in a Twitter stream or creating customer testimonial videos and posting to YouTube. Evaluate your library of content and extend its reach by posting in online forums. Take small steps.

Which Tools are Right for Your Business? - Chris Brogan has a great post up today on evaluating what social media tools can do and how to better integrate them into your marketing strategy. He offers the formula Possibilities + Function as a way to evaluate these tools. His insight is great.. seriously.. go read it.

Posted by Ruth White-Cabbell at 01:19PM PST