Internet marketing is not the same old hard sell marketing of the past. Today’s customers are more sophisticated and are not fooled by deceptive advertising practices. There are, however, many strategies that you can use to communicate with your customers and keep them coming back. Here are some basic suggestions to help you make your Internet marketing more effective.
Email can be a powerful marketing tool that can keep your customers informed about product details and updates. Online shoppers are accustomed to providing an email address when they purchase something online and this gives you the opportunity to contact them after the purchase to make sure that they are satisfied.
Next, you can send emails offering special deals or promotions to these customers. Encourage repeat purchases by offering coupons or discounts. Make your emails personal to establish a long term relationship, and don’t take advantage of that relationship by emailing too frequently. Daily emails can become quite annoying, and your customers may just delete them instead of reading them. Make sure it is easy for your customers to opt out of the emails if they no longer wish to receive them.
Another effective Internet marketing strategy that should be an important part of your online marketing plan is providing value to your customers with quality content on your website. Short articles that highlight your knowledge of information about your product or service will encourage your customers to return to your website even if they do not need to purchase something. Quality content will increase your credibility with your customers.
Everyone loves to get a bonus, and offering your customers something free with their purchase can be another effective marketing method. Try giving a mall sample of other products or a key chain with your company logo.
People also love to enter contests. Run a contest on your website that requires email registration and you can add to your customer data base.
Consider starting an informational blog to offer more value to your customers. Blog posts on topics related to your product or service can be a powerful way to market to customers who appreciate additional information. You can write reviews, lists of useful related products or articles about recent trends in your industry. Adding a video to your blog is a great way to get personal with your customers. They are quite easy to do and there are many tutorials online that can offer advice on how to make your video a powerful marketing tool. Blogs also offer an easy way for your visitors to interact with you by leaving posts on your blog.
Take advantage of the explosion of social media websites by establish a presence on the sites that are frequented by your target audience. Include links to your blog and your product website. Add information about contests and freebies in your posts.
If you understand that hard sell marketing is not longer effective with customers who are more savvy, then it is time to adjust your marketing strategies to meet the needs of the new Internet customer. Using the tips in the article above will help you create a marketing campaign that takes advantage of the power of Internet marketing.