For sales and marketing people looking to get more leads for their business, the Internet offers great opportunity wrapped up in some interesting challenges.
Online marketing explained with cows
Disclosure: Just so you know, we may sometimes earn a small commission from affiliate links on this site.
It can be a challenge, especially if you're new to the game, understanding what marketing jargon means. Inevitably you end up having to go and find some definitions to help keep track of what everyone is going on about.
So if online marketing is a scary and unfamiliar world, with danger everywhere, like this:
Then it's time to see how our bovine friends can help clarify what the marketing world is on about.
Social marketing
You have a cow.
You share a clip of it chasing a friend on FaceBook.
Everyone wants to meet your cow.
Social influence
You have a cow.
A reporter interviews you about it.
People start asking you about cows.
Affiliate marketing
Your neighbour has a cow.
You tell your friends about it.
He shares some of its milk with you.
Traffic
You have a cow.
You put it on the side of the road.
People stop to look at it.
Spam
You have a cow.
You put it in the middle of the road, stopping traffic.
A few people buy some viagra from you; so you put more cows in the road.
SEO
You have a cow.
You put up a road sign with "Cow" in the title.
Passers by stop to look at the sign; you sell them milk.
Content
You have a cow.
You write about it.
Your cow gets covered in the news.
Advertising
You and your neighbour each have a cow.
You both put signs up to advertise them.
You pay a premium to move your sign directly in front of the neighbour's.
ROI (Return On Investment)
You have a cow.
You pay $50 to dye it pink.
People buy tickets to see your cow; you earn $1000.
Conversions
You have a cow.
You spread the word that it is amazing.
People pay to look at it.
Fake it 'til you make it
You tell everyone you have a cow.
You don't.
Enough people buy tickets to see your cow that you are able to buy one.
Reality
You have a cow.
No-one cares.
Hopefully with those common marketing terms nicely explained, the world of marketing is much more friendly, like this:
But, if you still don't understand online marketing, take a look at our DIY marketing page that is full of useful tips and information to get you up and running like a pro in no time.
Coming up with marketing ideas for small business can be a challenge.
PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising on a platform like Google AdWords can be challenging to ge
Starting an affiliate program to market your business online is a great way to get real growth - but it comes with dangers that you must manage pro-actively from the start.
By definition, affiliate marketing hands a degree of control over to the publishers who market on your behalf.
Because these publishers are incentivized with sales commissions, they may end up using advertising and promotional strategies that your own company might not be comfortable with.
If you're in the business of making and selling unique stuff then the marketing strategies you use should reflect the creativity of your products in order to reach out to the right people.
Fortunately the Internet is full of the "right people" just waiting to place an order. But your message has to find them in the right place in the right way.
That's why it pays to think creatively about marketing instead of following the pack and doing the same old "tried and tested" things.
Check out this list of ten great hyperlocal marketing strategies, by Carlo Pandian, that can help to drive local consumers to your site.
When I started my first company some years ago I placed all my focus on creating a great offering, but almost no effort went into sales and networking. Needless to say that it took an incredibly long time to get off the ground - 6 years in fact.
During that time I learned a lot about how business works, and my focus has shifted almost completely onto sales, marketing and networking.
Nowadays, a good idea with a quality product backed by excellent service is the bare minimum required to succeed. Because there is so much competition (especially online), what sets companies apart these days is how effectively they can network and promote themselves.
Here's the thing about moving traditional customers online; you have to find innovative marketing strategies and ideas to get them to migrate.
Everyone knows that in order to make more money online you either have to increase the volumes of website traffic, or increase conversion rates (or both
Learning how to be an effective affiliate marketer on one of the top affiliate programs is a great skill to have for entrepreneurs and anyone looking to star
Imagine you could hire a Jedi to sell your products and reach out to new people using their famous mindtricks. Seems almost unfair, right?
