The technological innovations of the modern world brought about the possibility of setting up and running businesses anywhere. Apart from a seamless form of communication and collaboration, online businesses have already emerged in several industrial sectors such as retail and finance. It still holds true that even online businesses need to advertise. However, the manner of advertising may slightly be different between and online business and a traditional business model.
Gone are the days when advertisements are made through print media such as newspapers or flyers. While these types of advertising may still exist, nowadays, more and more businesses are revolutionizing the way they advertise, especially for online businesses. For a brick and mortar shop, an ad is created with the goal of attracting more visitors into the shop, thereby increasing foot traffic. In the same manner, an ad is created for an online business with the aim of creating more people to view the site, thereby aggregating digital traffic. Here is how advertising works for online businesses.
Experiential Marketing
There is a new trend in advertising nowadays, wherein brands advertise by engaging their target market using branded experiences. This is known as experiential marketing, wherein the end goal is to create a significant impact on the consumer that is worth sharing to their friends and family both online and offline. It is also sometimes referred to as live or event marketing, wherein the impact of the campaign can be measured by the number of shared posts with the event hashtags. This type of marketing campaign has often left consumers with a lasting and positive brand impression, which is echoed and amplified through various digital channels such as social media platforms.
Experiential marketing has different trends that can cause consumers to act or to take action. Some of these are using the elements of surprise and play, making a relevant connection, as well as engaging users in captivating videos. These are all in an aim to deliver meaningful content to consumers, one that is sufficient enough for them to share through various channels.
PPC Advertising
PPC is pay-per-click, which is an advertising model that allows a business to place an ad in a search engine page that displays results related to the business. The ad is usually in the form of a link that is associated back to the online site of the business. Each time a user clicks on this link, he or she is redirected to the web site of the business who posted the ad. The business only pays for the advertisement each time it is clicked by a user.
PPC is considered one of the most effective marketing strategy because the results are almost immediately apparent once the campaign is launched. Statistics show that 50% of the people who click an ad displayed in conjunction with their search results purchase the products or services offered by the business. This translates to an instant revenue for the business who placed the ad.
SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is another marketing strategy that aims to increase the traffic into a business site by leveraging on search engines. That is, once a site is among the top search results, then there is a greater possibility for the users to visit the business web site, and potentially be converted into clients and customers. There are already several SEO techniques that you can do-it-yourself or allow the experts to implement for you. The important thing about SEO is making the content of your web site original, relevant and up to date. You also need to incorporate keywords in your content, such that when users search for these particular keywords, your web page will land on the top of the results.
Investing in a SEO strategy is a great way for an online business to boost sales and revenue because the site gains more exposure and traffic. Perhaps the only downside of a SEO technique is that it takes time before the results are realized. Nevertheless, the results can really be worth it for your business in the long run.
While there may be several technological processes that paved the way for different business models, it still holds true that marketing is still the key for a continuous brand awareness and business patronage. It may be that the manner of advertising is already different for online businesses, but the end goal is still the same, and this is to attract new clients from the target market of the business, as well as to gain the loyalty of the present customers.