Marketing and Reputation Management
The evolution of internet has completely transformed the way business is done. Gone are the days of brick and mortar stores and archaic means of advertising. Marketing has invaded the digital space and competition is getting serious with each passing day. In fact, India ranks third when it comes to the growth of small and medium enterprises, across the globe, after the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
With this explosion in the digital world, marketing has undergone a silent transformation as well. Internet marketing is the buzzword among the small and medium enterprises today. As we spend more hours online, we have little control over what’s being written on the internet. As a brand, it is necessary to project a credible brand image online, or else, negative word of mouth may hamper the company's interests. Internet Marketing is considered a more streamlined form of marketing as the target market can be easily defined. Few essential elements of Internet Marketing include:
SEO:
Search Engine Optimization is a prerequisite to building an online presence and educating customers about your offerings. An effective SEO strategy helps in gaining a top position in search engine results and gain website traffic, which consequently enhances the revenue.
PPC:
Pay Per Click (PPC) is an ideal way to advertise your brand, where one tailor the campaign to a particular target audience, depending on the nature of business. A PPC campaign puts you in control as you can limit the scope of the campaign geographically, or even schedule the time of your ads. A well-executed PPC campaign can convert a random website visitor into a customer. Targeting the right keywords and the correct demography holds the key to an effective PPC campaign.
EMAIL MARKETING:
Email marketing may have ceded some ground to the likes of social media in recent times, but it still remains a useful and highly effective tool of direct internet marketing. Email marketing can help keeping in touch with the customers through a timely scheduled newsletter, elucidating about the company's latest offerings, events or policies. It’s a great way to ensure client retention.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Social Media is the newest and perhaps the most innovative online marketing technique to come up in recent times. With almost 70 per cent of customers on various social media sites, it still remains an untapped goldmine for enterprises. While social media may not directly impact the sales or drive leads, but it remains a powerful medium to build credible brand equity.
CONTENT MARKETING:
By sharing pertinent and relevant content through various channels helps build your authority online. In addition, it aids in brand building and adding credibility to the brand. The more relevant and sharable your content is, the more visible your brand will be online.
Most enterprises have tried either one or few of the above internet marketing strategies, but an integrated marketing approach is necessary to get the optimum results. All the functions working together ensure an all-encompassing strategy which goes a long way in enhancing the brand equity. In addition to the entire gamut of internet marketing strategies, it is desirable to follow it up with Online Reputation Management Services.
Online Reputation Management Services
Online reputation management shields you from negative endorsements and reviews online and oversees your reputation on the internet. It effectively deals with dis-satisfied customers or sneaky competitors. Generating a positive word of mouth buzz around the brand is the foremost aim of online marketing and Online Reputation Management hopes to achieve that.
About Author: The author works for Internet Marketing Services and stresses on the need for Online marketing and Reputation Management in today's changing business paradigm.
