Online marketing- A necessary evil!

There are no magic wands or hidden tricks that can bring you immediate success but with time, energy and determination you can get there. It is just as important, if not more, to choose and pursue the right path to success. As relevant as this is to pretty much everything that one does, it is particularly applicable to the world of Online Marketing.
Fortunately for business owners and the likes, there are many sites that offer an insight as to what will be good for your line of business in general. So how is this article any different and how can it help you? Read on!

We at IntegratedMarketing not only guide you through this painful process with our years of industry experience, we go through it with you. This article intends to brief you just how.

Because online marketing is of different forms and formats, knowing which does what is something that one should be aware of before plunging into it because of which covering the basics is a necessity. Broadly, there are three types of marketing techniques currently in use:

• Content Marketing – People acquainted with online marketing will be familiar with this channel of marketing. But most limit it to Blog creation and updation whereas it is more than just that. It ranges from photos to infographics to case studies and much more. To fully exhaust this option, you’ll need the knack and right kind of guidance.
• Social Media Marketing – In plain terms, it means creating and improving the presence of the business on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus etc. For the effective use of this mode of marketing, you will need to update the said page with new content as frequently as you can because of which people following you will know what’s new with you such as an upcoming sale, discount coupons etc. Socialmedia marketing helps enhance the other aspects of marketing as well.
• Search Engine Marketing – By far the most used tool for the online promotion of business, Search Engine Marketing comprises of the following – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). While SEO is a tedious process involving lots of time and effort, investing in it is the sensible thing to do considering all of its advantages. If your website is optimized from SEO perspective, it will rank well organically. PPC, on the other hand, can be thought of as a shortcut to be visible on the first page of Google. But just as good things aren’t free, Google charges you for every click that your ad receives at a cost called a bid. The amount depends on the bid setter and needs to be monitored all day long for it to be profitable.

When it comes to actually promoting your site, a good mix of all the marketing techniques is the smart thing to do. But it is a tough decision to make when you don’t know what impact each of those have and what are the targeted audiences in each case. So when do you know if your business requires SEO or PPC?
To help you with this, we have presented a few cases which shed some light as to when you should follow a single or a combination of techniques-

• If you have a certain budget and want to achieve quick, short-lived results, PPC is for you. Say you have an on-going sale at your book shop and want the world to know, PPC displays your ad at a time that you think is the best.
• If however you are looking for a slow but a long-lasting return on investment, consider pursuing SEO with a combination of any or all of the above marketing techniques. Suppose you are a painter. You display your paintings on your website and want to be known for your work. Ordinarily, people don’t actively search for paintings which is why it will be logical for him to promote his business via SEO.

While all of the above depends on how much you’re willing to invest, there’s no hard and fast rule that if one is being used, the second shouldn’t be. If anything, it only accelerates the process. So choose wisely!