A decade ago it would have been impossible to predict the ways
businesses use advertising today. Things changed rapidly and we now rely
heavily on technology to promote our businesses. This is both a
blessing and a curse. Internet is as ubiquitous as electricity and many
business tasks are now performed on the Internet. Online advertising is
used by nearly every company, from local farms to high-tech startups as a
convenient and efficient way to reach more customers. New approaches
are being invented and experimented on a daily basis. Social marketing
and mobile marketing that were new and unheard of only several years ago
is now becoming more popular and more important. Therefore, managing
all online advertising channels requires a lot of effort that is often
more suitable for a team of experts. You either learn the latest
advertising techniques, or hire someone to do the work for you. Luckily,
there are many online advertising and marketing companies that want
your business. Below are a few areas that online advertising can help
your business:
Reach out to more customers
Online advertising has done an astounding job of making our world much
smaller than it used to be. Instead of picking up a paper and reading
about local businesses, people can now log onto their tablets or their
smartphones and read about products made in far-away countries. Thanks
to video chat and instant messaging, people can now get product support
and customer service no matter where they happen to be. In addition to
that, you even get online discounts for your specific city or
neighborhood with geo-targeting capability from the ad server. There are
so many websites to place your ads and get your product information to
potential customers.
React quickly to a changing market
Unlike classifieds or ads on a newspaper or magazine, you can adjust
your online advertising strategies quickly with the provided ad
management tools. For example, you can replace a non-performing ad with a
new version. You can perform A/B split testing before running a large
ad campaign. This flexibility allows you to experiment and only use the
best ads by measuring their performance metrics.
Support business operations
Advertising is not just an isolated business area. It is often
coordinated closely with your daily business operations. With online
advertising, you can increase advertising exposure with just a click of a
button and results can be seen within minutes. You can boost direct
advertising to bring more online traffic to your website or foot traffic
to your store to balance the burden of fixed costs like rent or
payroll. For example, if you run a restaurant, you can send out tweets
or offer a Facebook discount at convenient times of the day like lunch
and dinner time to drive locals to your establishment.
Build relationship with your customers
Direct and personalized communication between businesses and customers
is becoming more popular and more important. The right message at the
right time can bring in new clients. The right response to an online
comment or inquiry can also improve the image of your business.
Customers can become fans and help you promote your business for free.
On the other hand, when communication breaks down, negative
word-of-mouth is going to damage your reputation more than just losing
one client. In these instances, damage control and crisis management is
critical to limit the risk. Therefore, the need for social media
advertising has never been greater. Currently, the major platforms for
social marketing include Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linkedin and
Pinterest. Each platform has its unique demographic characteristics and
thus each requires a different strategy and method to connect to its
members.
Stay in contact with your customers
Direct business communication also comes from email marketing. It is
critical for your business to maintain a contact list of existing
clients and potential clients. With this opt-in and permission-based
list, you can send updates, announcements, new product offers, or
promotions to remain relevant in a competitive market and keep your
company name fresh in the client's mind.