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There are many preconceived notions of what online marketing means. Some users think it means just having a Web site, or buying advertising, or getting your web site found higher in the search engines. Our belief is that online marketing ties together all of the creative and strategic aspects of the web. This can include design, development, awareness building, communication, connection, customer service and sales. 

Awareness: You might have the best products or services, but if nobody knows, what's the point. A big piece of the online marketing puzzle is finding out ways to build awareness.

Communication: Think of communication as the distribution of information or simply education (a bit like what we are doing here); communicating who you are, what you do, whom you serve, why you're worth working with.

Connection: We believe this is at the heart of marketing. This is where you get people to know you, to like you and to trust you.

Service: This is one of the most overlooked pieces of the online marketing puzzle. We define service as answering questions, or helping someone navigate easily through the pages of your Web site, or even simply being found in the search engines. All of these can be considered good service. 

Sales: All conventional businesses have to make money.

All of these pieces: awareness, communication, connection, service, all come together to help boost sales.

Online marketing includes things like the placement of online advertising or working on search engine optimisation (SEO). It also includes e-mail marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, using Web analytics, online public relations, mobile marketing and user experience optimisation; often a combination of many of these options. There is no "right way" to approach online marketing. The power to think critically about online marketing and identify areas to improve, as well as leverage new opportunities, is where success lies.

Online marketing works, not only to help you get new customers, but also works extremely well to support repeat sales. It takes an average of seven touch points to make a sale. Touch points can mean anything from a referral, a Web search, a social media mention, seeing a press release, getting an e-mail, or seeing an online ad. The more online marketing puzzle pieces you have working for you, the higher the likelihood that you will get prospective customers to know, like, and trust you.

This post is part 1 of an 11 part series.  

View other posts in this online marketing series:  

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Tags: online marketing, What is online marketing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Chartered Marketing, How To Do.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.