Would you start a business without a business plan? Would you place your yellow pages ad in an irrelevant category just to see if anyone would call? Would you pay thousands of dollars to have a billboard ad created and placed where there is no traffic?
An internet marketing strategy is just as important as a business plan. Find out why it is important and the risks and problems you can face if you proceed without one.
Laura, Yes, I agree that an Internet Marketing strategy is necessary. However, using the internet as a marketing medium can only be done if done as a coordinged part of one’s marketing mix. By itself, it is, in reality, a very poor marketing method. So, as your article suggested, an Internet Marketing Strategy must include the use and costs associated with other media. I don’t know if the strategy has to be different or outside the marketing section of a busineses plan, but one needs to have a strategy of how best to inaugerate a marketing mix into their new business.
In additon to your comment that many people want to believe that web site designersd know all about search engine optimiazation, even if they did, without using other media to drive people to the site, it would not do what people expect. This is because if everyone is using search engine optimization, then a “virtue once done becomes a sin” because each counteracts the other.
You and I both know that to get into the top 50, one either buys position or has lots of links to their site. Even then, if there are lots of sites purchasing position, the position gets watered down to a rotation basis.
A web site is like having a store or office on the 29th floor in an office building in a city the potential customers have never been to. How does one get people to take the time and effort to learn about how to get there? That, I think, is what you meant by having a marketing strategy.
If a business will not be successful without a web site, trying to be a web site business or making a profit on one’s web site activity, is a dream
I enjoy your articles and keep many for use with my consulting and SCORE clients.
Alan J. Zell, Ambassador of Selling,
http://www.sellingselling.com
I agree that an internet strategy is very important. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to repeat what everybody else has been doing for years. Many web sites are not much different than a print advertisement. A lot of reading. In reality, most people get bored real quick and the printed message doesn’t get through. Technology continues to create new and better ways to promote your company, your products, your services, and your web site. Web sites continue to be excellent sources of information yet they are often poor sales tools. Rich media can more effectively capture the attention of a prospect and hold their attention long enough to get the message through. If a prospect hears the message and understands the benefits, then a sale is much more likely to happen.
Consider technology when you develop your internet marketing strategy and the results are more likely to follow.
One example of a website that promotes an easy to implement and very cost effective solution is http://www.businessgrowthsolutions.com.
Check it out.
One of the biggest reasons for this problem is the way the website is designed. Most are just online brochures. I acknowledge on of the other comments lots of print does not take advantage of the emergin internet technologies, but I believe we need to balance this with the truth that sales largely result from GOOD copywriting! (Salesmanship in print!)
Another great internet marketing strategy that many people ignore is the power of writing targeted articels and dubmitting them to good articel directories.
Peter