As of April 2022, there were more than five billion people around the world who were connected to the internet. Although figures vary from quarter to quarter, the average person will spend approximately 400 minutes each day online.
Marketing requires being able to reach customers and potential customers where they are – and with these statistics, it is clear that a lot of them are online. Online marketing is therefore an essential component of any marketing strategy, if not the most essential.
Volker Hartzsch has worked in the direct marketing sector since 1998 and understands the importance of online marketing. This brief guide will help business owners to get started with developing an online marketing strategy. You can also find some top tips for a social media marketing strategy in the PDF attachment to this post.
Attracting New Customers
One of the key goals of online marketing is to attract new customers. There are several ways in which this can be achieved. According to statistics shared by HubSpot, around 81% of shoppers will go online to research a new product before making a purchase, even if they plan to make that purchase in a physical store.
This means SEO, or search engine optimisation, will be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolbox. You need your website to rank on page one of a Google search for relevant keywords if you want to be seen. You can also use other online strategies such as paid social media, where you pay a social media influencer to showcase your products and services to others.
There are eight different channels of online marketing, which are listed in the embedded infographic.
Understanding SEO
Google’s algorithms have more than 200 ranking factors that determine how high up the rankings your page will appear when people search for relevant keywords. At the core of SEO is the creation of high-quality content that is relevant and useful to the reader. However, other areas that are often overlooked include page loading speed and metadata. You could also opt for paid search (SEM), whereby your ads will appear towards the top of the relevant page for a fee.
The short video attachment explains the difference between SEO and SEM.