You have probably done your research and have noticed that there are several companies competing for a single product that you intend selling or offering. For instance, in sports shoes alone, you will be able to count a huge amount of competitors. In the airline industry, there exist loads of competitors in providing air travel services for travellers both inside and outside the UK.
How will you distinguish one competitor from another competitor? That is where branding comes into action. In fact, this is one of the important yet unappreciated aspects of Internet Marketing.
Before you will be able to understand the goal of branding on Internet Marketing, let us first discuss the branding in traditional businesses. It is an advertising method that is used to identify the products or services of a seller or a group of sellers and differentiates them from those of other sellers offering the same products or services. Establishing a brand for your own products or services will help you achieve the following:
• Deliver the message clearly to the public about your intention of marketing your products or services
• Confirm your credibility as an independent and reputable seller
• Motivates your buyer to buy your products or services
• Build a concrete and loyal clientele base
The goal of branding is to give your products or services its own identity which raises it above other sellers offering the same products or services. You will only succeed with your investment for your company, if you have established yourself as an independent and reputable seller through branding.
What are the results of branding in your investment?
• The brand of your products or services will reach out to your clients and potential customers. This will influence the way they view your products or services that may even result in the expansion of your clientele base.
• It is what the people will remember about you. For instance, you have branded your pet products as “Pet Lovers”. Once the brand is consistently recognised by the people that you are targeting, you will be able to achieve success and your products will certainly have an edge over unbranded products.
As previously mentioned, branding is one of the most important yet the most unappreciated aspects of Internet Marketing, particularly in terms of website advertising. Since most advertising programs are focused on click-through rates (since it is the basis of earning through online-based affiliate programs), Internet Marketers often neglect the important of branding in terms of Internet Marketing. This is relatively unfortunate since the success of Internet marketing is also dependent on branding awareness. In other words, branding is essential in promoting the brand of the product or services of the affiliate. Without branding, there is no sense that the product or services you are endorsing will be popular to your clients or customers.
Think of companies like Nike, Coca Cola, McDonalds, no one has to see the company name to know who they are, the logo is instantly recognisable.
What is your Goal?
Keep in mind that your goal here is to earn more revenue and not to lose any money. Therefore, it would be better if you invested on branding-based Internet Marketing. It is easy to promote products and services that are already well-known to the public rather than unbranded ones.
However, you can also help building brand awareness of not well-known products or services that will help a lot in making your online advertising successful. Here are some of the strategies that you can use:
- You may think of a brand name that will suit to the products or services of your clients. The brand name should not be too formal yet too complicated to the eyes and ears of your clients. You may include interesting words that will produce the needed “twist” to the name of the product or service.
- The first thing to do would be to check whether the domain name is available for the brand name that you would like to use. It is no good deciding on a name, and then finding out that it is unavailable. If it isn’t available, sites like Go Daddy or domain name providers will suggest names that are like the name that you have searched for, which are available.
Branding must not be taken for granted. It is one of the factors that will help you achieve success in Internet marketing. Keep it as your goal and follow through with your investment.
Plan, Action, Response—Basic yet the Best Internet Marketing Strategies
Which is better, a traditional pet shop or an online pet shop? By comparing these two specific examples, you will be able to figure out why Internet Marketing is very popular among entrepreneurs and aspiring Internet marketers. Take a look below and see what the difference is.
A Traditional Business
When you choose a traditional pet shop as your business investment, there are certain things that you need to consider. You need to get business permits from the local Council through its business licensing division. Since you are operating a pet shop, you need to secure necessary clearances from the Council that all of your pet products came from a reputable source. You also need to have physical premises that will serve as your shop. You will either rent or buy the premises.
For your shop to be popular to the people, you need to advertise it through local newspapers, place some large advertising signs in front of your pet shop and find ways of advertising it locally. All of these things require a large financial investment before you can operate your traditional pet shop.
An Online Business
Establishing an online pet shop requires you to have a website registered in your own domain name, which will cost you far less compared to buying or renting commercial spaces. Your website will now serve as the pet shop itself—you will provide catalogues containing brief descriptions of your pet products along with its corresponding price tags. Your customers can use the online shopping cart to place the pet items they want to purchase. All payments can be made through credit cards or PayPal, thus no cash to be handled and taken to the bank. Once you have a products uploaded to your Ecommerce store, it is there and only has to be adjusted if you offer special prices or sell out of the product.
You can advertise your site through several ways—you can either submit your site for online ad serving programs or you may promote it through blogging on your website or writing and submitting articles to article directories. You can also pay for advertising through places like Facebook ads, Google ads or other platforms, which are relatively cheap compared to traditional advertising.
Which do You Think is The Best Option?
By just merely looking on these two examples, you will say that Internet Marketing has the edge over traditional running of a business. Your products and services will be available 24/7 unlike a traditional business. You will not only save time and effort in marketing your products over the Internet, but you can also run an online Ecommerce Store or website alongside your shop on the high street.
Internet Marketing is a pure home-based business that does not require an office and several employees. You do not have to commute for several hours and face hordes of traffic and the associated costs of travelling to an office. All you need to have is some spare room or space in a room that you currently have that will serve as your “office” and a computer connected to the Internet. You will have the potential to earn hundreds or even thousands of pounds by just working in front of your computer.
It is All in the Business Strategy
However, before you will be able to earn a substantial amount and build an Internet Marketing empire, you must also have the best Internet Marketing strategies that will help you achieve your financial objectives. Without these strategies, the chance of earning more will be slim.
There are many “best Internet marketing strategies” that you can use, yet they are summarized in three simple yet effective strategies.
- You need to plan for your Internet marketing activities. There are certain questions to help you arrive on a concrete and effective Internet Marketing plan.
- What do you want to do?
- What are you offering for sale?
- How you will market your products or services?
Once you have figured out the answers to these questions, you will be able to create a plan for your Internet-based business.
2. You need to take action. Do not just let the plans that you formulated remain as plans forever. You need to convert the words of your plan into actions so that you will see if the plans are working or not.
3. Lastly, listen to the feedback and concerns expressed by your clients and customers. Learn to respond immediately to their feedback so that you will determine if you are getting negative or positive results. In case that you are getting negative results, there is a need to change your approach.
The secrets of success on Internet Marketing lie beneath the best strategies that you employ. If you feel that this is not your strength or that you do not have the experience to formulate an Internet Marketing Strategy for your business, employ someone who does have the necessary skills and experience and spend your time doing what you are good at.
