Internet Marketing for Investors & Entrepreneurs

The majority of business owners and investors have acknowledged the value of internet marketing in their growth and investment strategy. The unprecedented acceptance of internet marketing tools and technologies as a catalyst in business values is a testament to the above fact. Business owners and entrepreneurs who have adopted a phased implementation of their internet marketing plans, while supplementing it with expert analysis and assistance, have experienced exponential growth in their market value.

But, on the other hand, a lot of investors are frustrated with their prior online experience. This failure and frustration within the business community can be attributed to the following factors:

• An insufficient level of understanding about internet marketing tools and technologies
• A misinterpretation and a rush to implement the internet marketing process as a result of the industry hype
•  Ignoring the time-tested principle of phased implementation - particularly when embracing a new technology
• Partnering with service providers with questionable credentials

The good news is that internet marketing actually works to publicize your brand and helps grow your business and investment goals. Let’s walk through the following steps to understand the fundamentals and phases of an internet marketing strategy...

STEP 1:  Make your online presence felt!

To start with, your business needs an address on the web - so, that calls for a customer and search engine friendly website. The real game starts right after the launch of your dream website. Most of the web savvy business owners understand the peripheral web entities that combine to broadcast your business and brand in a better way - blogs, micro-blogs, landing pages, squeeze pages, and your own online channels on YouTube. But, every business should evaluate the right channels of promotion based on the nature of its product or service. The key is to bring together your products, services, investments, and audiences toghether in one place - that is your online shop.

Unfortunately, there are many business aspirants and first time entrepreneurs who have a very captivating (and flashy) web site but fail to get any returns from their online presence! In fact, the vast majority of web site owners have no clue as to how to monetize their online presence. Think of your flashy online site as a resort that you own. And imagine that your resort is the most beautiful resort in the world but is inaccessible to visitors from any side - there are no roads, ports, or airports around it. Well, this heavenly resort is worth pennies if your potential visitors have no way of finding you. So, what you need, as a resort owner, is to resolve the accessibility issues immediately and broadcast the different features and transportation options of your potential customers. This will set the inquiry counter ticking.

STEP 2:  Guide the right traffic!

Congratulations! Now you have a business worthy site of your own and you seem to be getting a lot of looks from your potential customers. So, is it time for the champagne? Not yet. Every business worth their salt knows the value of quality volume. ‘High traffic’ may not be the ‘good traffic’. So, what is good traffic? In the internet marketing corridors, experts would vouch for one fact - quantity sweeps and quality sticks. Getting quality traffic on a consistent basis is a nightmare for the majority of business owners - that’s where business owners find the biggest hurdles in their online marketing strategy.

Lets drive the above argument home by using a layman’s example...What if you wanted to start a business selling a high-end, luxury business-class aircraft to a corporation?. 

As your marketing strategist and partner, I am offering you two prospect lists. Now, let’s evaluate the business value in the 2 prospect lists.

[A] Decision makers list: This list will give you the contact details of the top 500 people in various corporations who are in charge of buying or leasing aircrafts. Everyone on this list has purchased a business-class aircraft for their corporation at some point of time.

[B] General customer list: The second list has the names of 1,000,000 people who have bought basic business supplies (e.g., printers) for their firms.

Decision time:  Now to initiate your business marketing for selling or leasing business-class jet services, you need to choose between the two lists. Will you be going with the ‘decision makers' list or the ‘general customer' list?

The right decision: You want the targeted list of 500 people who, in fact, have been in charge of puyrchasing or leasing aircrafts for their firms. The quality advantage of the ‘decision makers' list far outweighs the quantity advantage of the ‘general customer' list.

 And yet, most business owners with web sites continue to focus on bringing massive traffic to their sites rather than emphasize garnering smaller, but highly targeted, traffic. So, the key to online marketing is to be able to focus on your target audience, and then guide them to your site.

STEP 3:  Conversion is the Key!

Well, you have gotten the target customers and they are asking the right questions. Is it time to send the ‘mission accomplished’ email? Not yet. Here again, you will find a lot of websites that have a compelling online presence and an impressive flow of targeted traffic, but still are not raking in profit. As a business owner who has invested so much time and resources in an online marketing campaign, some serious questions need to be answered.

• What is preventing your customers from clicking the ‘buy now’ button?
• Is there something on the landing page that is off-putting?
• Is the buying process too complex?
• Is the product or service represented correctly?
• Is the content compelling enough for the customer to explore further?

This brings us to a few action items which should be followed religiously by all business owners...

Action Items: Essentially, your online shop should have bait for your potential customers that works in any situation.

• You must have something special on your site that could convert your visitors from browers to prospects - e.g., a concerted effort to get their names and emails
• Once your prospects are lined up, a successful business strategy entails that prospects are converted to buyers - a “star” product with superior price, quality, and customer service that will turn a committed prospect into a buyer
• The next step in the cycle is focused on converting your buyers to repeat buyers - multiple layers of products and services that will allow you to turn buyers into repeat buyers through cross-selling and up-selling
• And finally convert your repeat buyers into your fans so that they will tell everyone they know about your site, products, and services - offer a compelling incentive to your repeat buyers to let everyone they know about your site, products, services, and opportunities
• The ultimate objective for you online marketing strategy is to create brand ambassadors for your business.

Now, you can sit back and pat yourself for a job done with marketing sense and business logic.

As you can see, being successful online does not end with owning a website and waiting for traffic to show up miraculously! You need an effective online presence and an effective array of online methods to bring targeted traffic to your site. Finally, you need to provide valuable offers and incentives to convert your site visitors into buyers, repeat buyers, and eventually, brand ambassadors.