How to put on-line strategies to work for you
No other medium has matured as quickly as the web. Even in the midst of continual upgrades, innovations and new avenues of communication, the web continues to offer advertisers unique marketing opportunities.
How can you apply the strategies that made the Internet grow so fast? First, a little history lesson on the web and its most popular destinations:
(1): Google. What began as a college project in the late 90’s has evolved into the worlds largest search engine generating over 26 billion dollars each year. Not too bad for only being 15 years old.
(2): YouTube. The first video was uploaded in February 2005. A few years ago, Google bought YouTube for a reported 1.6 billion dollars. YouTube is one of the top 4 most visited web sites in the world and is the 2nd largest search engine providing video based “how to” information. Age of YouTube – eight.
(3) Facebook. In August 2005, founder Mark Zuckerburg purchased the domain name facebook. What began as a site for college students soon became the world’s most popular social networking destination. In less than eight years, facebook has captured the attention of the world.
So what makes the web so intriguing that consumers can’t go a day without it? Here are some advantages of internet marketing that you might be able to incorporate into your business giving you a competitive advantage:
• Speed. Nothing beats instant gratification. Go online, plug in what you want and in less than a few seconds, thousands of choices appear. How fast are you at getting your customers what they want?
• Entertainment. People look for fun and enjoyable experiences. The web delivers, do you? Most businesses would see dramatic increases in revenue and customer loyalty if they simply provided what people wanted in a pleasing manner.
• Communication. Every sales and customer service trainer will tell you to speak less, and listen more. The web is the leader for listening to customers. Your business could see dramatic growth if you stopped talking, and started listening.
• Innovation. Business development experts have always touted innovation as the path to success and profitability. No one is better at this than the web. New applications and better ways to communicate seem to appear daily. For your company to remain viable, you must constantly change and provide new ways to solve your customers problems.
• Free. The most pleasant word to any customer has allowed the web to capture the attention of more consumers faster than any other medium. Email, video, audio, news, information, entertainment, social networking, the list of free applications is virtually endless. Think about what you can offer for free and start providing it.
The web could be the poster child for the most basic economic principle of better, faster and cheaper. If you want your business to thrive and prosper, think how you can apply these advantages of internet marketing in your own enterprise.
