Studies show total e-commerce sales are expected to double by 2020. At the writing of this article, 42 percent of internet users say they regularly search for and buy products and services online. Internet marketing has become crucial to success regardless if you are an e-commerce or brick-and-mortar business. In this article, we’ll cover 7 reasons why internet marketing is so important.
1 – Today’s Consumer Spends More Time Online
According to data from a USC Annenberg study on digital habits, the average American today spends 24 hours a week on the Internet. It was 9 hours a week back in 2000, and it has risen steadily since then. The Internet is now a crucial part of most people’s lives. The same study showed 40 percent of people think the Internet has a significant influence on politics, and 62 percent of people say the Internet is important for maintaining their social connections. Anlayzing why internet marketing is so important starts wi
The amount of time today’s American spends online has changed their shopping habits. They usually don’t travel to a brick-and-mortar store unless they already know what they want. The discovery and comparison stages of the buying journey now happen online. This is one of the biggest reasons why internet marketing is so important. A good internet marketing strategy puts you in a position to be found during the discovery stage, and an e-marketing agency from Orange County can help with that strategy. This is done through search engine optimization.
Learning to use SEO effectively is time-consuming. One benefit of using an internet marketing agency is they are experts in the hundreds of ranking factors search engines like Google use to determine how links are ranked on the results pages of any given query.
2 – Internet Marketing is More Cost-Efficient
Another reason why internet marketing is so important comes down to cost. Prices for traditional advertising space were negotiated by subscription and viewer numbers. While companies had access to basic demographic information, all marketers could do was hope their campaign reached their desired audience. The only way to track which purchases were the direct result of marketing content was to include a coupon.
The rise of online marketing channels has made advertising targeting much more efficient. This means less of your marketing budget is wasted on channels that aren’t bringing in money. With internet marketing, the most popular form of paid advertising is pay-per-click (PPC). Google and Facebook are the two biggest players in the PPC space, mostly because their targeting systems are so effective.
Other forms of internet marketing, such as email marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing, can technically be done with no budget. With that being said, you can bet the business that holds the lion’s share of your industry has invested in a full-service internet marketing agency to create and execute a multichannel marketing strategy.
3 – You Can Have a Two-Way Conversation With Your Target Audience
Today’s customer can communicate with brands directly in a way that wasn’t possible before the internet. A big reason why internet marketing is so important is channels like email marketing and social media marketing make campaigns a two-way conversation. It is possible for brands to increase their profits exponentially once they master the art of conversational marketing.
These channels also allow your audience to give direct feedback on your marketing materials. For example, you can upload your commercial to YouTube and promote it on your social media channels, gauging audience response as you go.
4 – Access to a Larger Audience
Before e-commerce became commonplace, a business’s available market was based solely on physical location. Companies established in bigger cities naturally generated more revenue. The internet has removed these restrictions. A business in any town can ship their product nationally, and even internationally.
Accessing a larger audience doesn’t have to be on such a grand scale, though. Local search marketing can help you target surrounding cities and towns in your county and draw them to your brick-and-mortar business.
5 – More Personalization Options
Today’s consumer doesn’t respond well to generic push marketing campaigns. Another reason internet marketing is so important is it offers a wide array of personalization options.
Digital data collection tools make personalization possible. Smart marketing teams use this data to create marketing materials tailored to each individual customer. This is especially important in email marketing.
6 – Keeps Your Business Relevant
The sixth reason why internet marketing is so important is you need a digital presence to keep your business relevant to today’s consumer. Perception has never been more important than it is in the digital age.
If your business doesn’t have a website or Facebook page, it throws up a red flag to today’s consumer. You seem behind on the times. Unless your business has a legacy reputation that goes back generations, you can’t stay afloat without internet marketing.
7 – Allows You to Compete With Bigger Brands
The final reason internet marketing is so important is it’s the only way for an upstart company to compete quickly and effectively with the bigger players in their niche. This is extra important when it comes to social media marketing. If you have the time to invest and the social media savvy it takes to build a strong community on Facebook or Twitter, you can parlay it into a steady flow of word-of-mouth customers.
Most busy business owners like yourself are too busy taking care of other areas necessary for the business to thrive to put the time in needed to truly take advantage of internet marketing. Get in contact with us to see how an orange county internet marketing agency can create you an effective internet marketing strategy.