|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The Internet Has Changed Marketing
There was a time when “Internet marketing” meant having a Web site that your IT guy developed on some long weekend, with directions to your business, brief descriptions of your products and services, and an e-mail link.
These days, Internet marketing means a lot more. Web design, advertising, extranets, public relations, search engine optimization - online marketing requires careful planning and execution.
Here are a few ways online marketing has changed as the Internet has matured:
IN: Hire A Professional
OUT: Do-It-Yourself
Think you can throw together a Web site over the weekend? Thing again. A few years ago, simply having a Web site in and of itself was great branding - it showed that your firm was tech-savvy. Today, potential clients expect a Web site and they may very well pre-judge your firm based on the quality of your Web presence (or the fact that you may not have one). The bottom line: it's not enough to be on the Web anymore; you need a professional presence.
IN: Web Sites for All
OUT: Web Sites for Giants
Gone are the days when your Web site was only viewed by “early adopters.” Today, a large percentage of people considering your services or your products will visit your Web site before deciding to contact you. Your Web site needs to cater to your target audience. Tech-friendly people might want to see a “flashy" presentation, but a more conservative audience might get scared off by anything beyond conveying your unique messsage and connecting to their needs.
IN: Usability
OUT: Cool Graphics
During the early days of Web site building, developers strove to be first to market with the next generation of cool buttons and animation. Cool, that is, from a Web developer’s perspective. From the point of view of someone trying to get information about your business, these devices often slowed down sites to a crawl, or even crashed the entire site. Today, good Web developers keep abreast of new technology, but the key focus is usability, creating a Web site that best serves visitors to and users of that site (and, by definition, best serves the business as well). Which type of Web site do you have?
IN: New Advertising Units
OUT: All Banners, All the Time
Three years ago, if you wanted to market your business online, you had very few choices: directory listings and top banner ads were basically the totality of your options. Today, you’ve got dozens of choices: buttons, banners, email, newsletters, text links, sponsorships, listings - the list goes on and on. More options is good, right? Well, yes and no. If you’ve got the time (and the money), you can experiment with different ad units until you find the ones that bring you the highest return. But be prepared to deal with failure. Remember, you often get what you pay for.
IN: Targeting
OUT: ROS
In the late 90s, companies were begging for search engine advertising inventory. Any inventory. Even Run of Site (ROS) advertising sold for big bucks. Today, marketers are much smarter. Why buy one million ROS impressions on a giant search engine when you can buy targeted ads that are only seen by potential clients? Granted, targeting costs more, but, as more and more advertisers are learning, the cost is well worth it.
IN: Big Directories
OUT: Start-ups
A few years ago, there were plenty of start-ups claiming that they would revolutionize business as we know it. That included dozens upon dozens of online business directories promising to bring your company a multitude of new clients. We all know how that story ended. Today, you’ve got fewer choices, but better predictability. There are only a few business directories worth your time and money.
IN: Overture.
OUT: Overture
When a small company called “GoTo” started in late 1997, a lot of Internet experts scoffed at the concept: advertisers bidding for position on a search engine. Today, GoTo - now known as Overture - is big business, and you need only type in “retirement planning” into the Overture search engine to see how popular this type of advertising has become with some financial and investment professionals. Overture’s popularity, however, is rapidly becoming a double-edged sword. While partnerships with major search engines have increased the number of visitors seeing Overture ads, increased advertiser interest has also driven up prices considerably. And as prices skyrocket, return-on-investment becomes thinner and thinner.
IN: Google
OUT: Google
In the 90s, you knew your firm had “made it” if you were showing up at the top of Yahoo! While Yahoo! is still the mainstay, the search-engine space is more crowded. Today, Google is all the rage. Many businesses may be paying a pretty penny to buy up Google ad inventory. It should be noted, however, that Google follows in a long line of search engines that, for a time, were annoited as the search engine. Remember when you first heard about AltaVista? Lycos? AskJeeves? How about WebCrawler? The bottom line: Google is in today, but don't be surprised if, in a few years, the next big thing dethrones Google.
IN: SEO plus Marketing
OUT: SEO by Itself
Search engine optimization (SEO) use to be a sure thing, in part because so few companies took advantage of it. Today, the secret’s out and it’s a lot harder to move up in the rankings with a few choice meta tags. Moreover, SEO can’t get you the number one, or often the number two or three, spot on major search engines because those spots are now sold to advertisers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
