SEO is a buzzword among the online business community, but it’s important not to overlook the advantages of a combined strategy when it comes to promotion. This article looks at the pros and cons of search engine marketing, and illustrates how a combination of online and offline marketing strategies can round out a successful campaign.
E-commerce has made incredible strides in the last ten years, overtaking brick and mortar business sales in many areas. You can find almost every product that used to be bought exclusively in stores or markets available online, from clothes to music to books. There are specific online stores for everyone’s needs, from book sites like Amazon to flea market, anything-goes style sites such as e-Bay.
Because of the huge potential of online marketing, many businesses are promoting their brands solely through online techniques. This has proven to be an effective tool, and we will look at the many positives of search engine optimization marketing below. We will also take a look at some of the positives of marketing using more traditional means as well, and then explain why a combination of online and off-line advertising is the best way to promote a brand.
The advantages of search engine optimization marketing
For businesses that do most of their sales over the Internet and for web designers too, marketing through search engines is the logical move in brand promotion. As a site owner, you’re already computer savvy and well aware of the advantages of a good ranking on the many different search engines. Here are some additional advantages that come with advertising online.
It’s pretty easy. The basic concepts of online marketing are easy to grasp. You just have to use the right words and the right combination in order to place highly on a search engine’s ranking page, and watch the hits pile up.
It’s cheap. The basic ease of search engine optimization means that it is inexpensive to do. The individual web designer/business owner often has the ability to create an optimized site by him or herself, whereas off-line advertising requires up front fees.
HUGE potential market. There are billions of people living on the Earth today and many of them have an internet connection. People in areas you might not even know about often have Internet access (recently, internet accessibility came to the Digo people of Africa, much to the amazement of everyone). Never before in the history of capitalism has brand promotion had the chance at such a huge market.
For these reasons, there’s no doubt that search engine marketing presents some huge advantages to the web business owner. Still, electing to use SEM as your sole advertising endeavor may prove detrimental to your business. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of advertising using traditional methods in order to understand how a perfect campaign can be created through the marriage of online and off-line advertising.
Brand promotion through off-line advertising
There is such a thing as having TOO broad a market, and one of the advantages of off-line advertising is that it is easier to whittle your visitors down to a target market. Discerning business owners don’t just place ads willy nilly in every conceivable venue. Instead, they focus on the demographics of the medium to narrow their traffic to a specific group.
Think of it this way: the reason you don’t see a lot of SUV commercials in an hour of cartons on television is because kids can’t drive, and therefore don’t buy SUVs. Putting ads in this time slot would be a waste of the company’s money. The same idea applies to trade magazines and other forms of media advertising: businesses fit their product to their audience in order to maximize their return. A well placed ad promoting your brand in a trade magazine (which of course includes your URL) could end up seeing many more sales conversions than your copy brings in through the search engines.
In summary, combining online and offline advertising techniques will lead to a targeted audience likely both to keep your site busy and convert that traffic to sales. The internet offers a huge audience, but it is by narrowing this audience down to likely buyers through off line placement that your brand promotion will prove most effective.
E-commerce has made incredible strides in the last ten years, overtaking brick and mortar business sales in many areas. You can find almost every product that used to be bought exclusively in stores or markets available online, from clothes to music to books. There are specific online stores for everyone’s needs, from book sites like Amazon to flea market, anything-goes style sites such as e-Bay.
Because of the huge potential of online marketing, many businesses are promoting their brands solely through online techniques. This has proven to be an effective tool, and we will look at the many positives of search engine optimization marketing below. We will also take a look at some of the positives of marketing using more traditional means as well, and then explain why a combination of online and off-line advertising is the best way to promote a brand.
The advantages of search engine optimization marketing
For businesses that do most of their sales over the Internet and for web designers too, marketing through search engines is the logical move in brand promotion. As a site owner, you’re already computer savvy and well aware of the advantages of a good ranking on the many different search engines. Here are some additional advantages that come with advertising online.
It’s pretty easy. The basic concepts of online marketing are easy to grasp. You just have to use the right words and the right combination in order to place highly on a search engine’s ranking page, and watch the hits pile up.
It’s cheap. The basic ease of search engine optimization means that it is inexpensive to do. The individual web designer/business owner often has the ability to create an optimized site by him or herself, whereas off-line advertising requires up front fees.
HUGE potential market. There are billions of people living on the Earth today and many of them have an internet connection. People in areas you might not even know about often have Internet access (recently, internet accessibility came to the Digo people of Africa, much to the amazement of everyone). Never before in the history of capitalism has brand promotion had the chance at such a huge market.
For these reasons, there’s no doubt that search engine marketing presents some huge advantages to the web business owner. Still, electing to use SEM as your sole advertising endeavor may prove detrimental to your business. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of advertising using traditional methods in order to understand how a perfect campaign can be created through the marriage of online and off-line advertising.
Brand promotion through off-line advertising
There is such a thing as having TOO broad a market, and one of the advantages of off-line advertising is that it is easier to whittle your visitors down to a target market. Discerning business owners don’t just place ads willy nilly in every conceivable venue. Instead, they focus on the demographics of the medium to narrow their traffic to a specific group.
Think of it this way: the reason you don’t see a lot of SUV commercials in an hour of cartons on television is because kids can’t drive, and therefore don’t buy SUVs. Putting ads in this time slot would be a waste of the company’s money. The same idea applies to trade magazines and other forms of media advertising: businesses fit their product to their audience in order to maximize their return. A well placed ad promoting your brand in a trade magazine (which of course includes your URL) could end up seeing many more sales conversions than your copy brings in through the search engines.
In summary, combining online and offline advertising techniques will lead to a targeted audience likely both to keep your site busy and convert that traffic to sales. The internet offers a huge audience, but it is by narrowing this audience down to likely buyers through off line placement that your brand promotion will prove most effective.
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