Why Has Online Marketing Become So Powerful?

Why Has Online Marketing Become So Powerful?

Back in the old days, marketing was simple. You put out a few ads, held a few events, and called it a day. (We’re joking, we know none of that was simple.)

But then the Internet stepped in, and with it, a powerful marketing tool that has forever changed the way we promote our businesses. Just a handful of years ago, having a social media profile or a blog for your business seemed kind of silly.

And now? If your business doesn’t have an online presence, your business doesn’t exist. That is how powerful online marketing has become. Consumers research their purchases online before buying, and if they can’t find a website or social media page, or customer reviews for your business, you’ve lost a potential customer.  And if you can’t be found online, you are missing opportunities for lead generation and business sales growth.

Let’s dive into a few other reasons why online marketing has become such a powerful tool in the world of marketing and advertising.

1. Your customers are online.

78% of Americans have a social media profile and over 1 billion people use Google search every month. Those are some insane statistics that you absolutely cannot ignore.

Needless to say, your people are online. And you should be there to welcome them with open arms with a website, social media presence, and (at the very least) a phone number or contact form for them to get in touch with you.

2. Your competitors are online.

Now the first point in this article is important. But this one might be even more important. Your competitors are online, and if you aren’t, they are stealing business away from you.

In this day and age, if your business can’t be found online, people are going to assume it doesn’t exist, it has closed down, or even worse, that it’s a scam. Consumers will spend time, researching purchases, especially large ones, and if they can’t find you quickly and easily, they’re going to look elsewhere.

3. You get better results at a lower cost.

Online marketing is cheap, and sometimes even free. You don’t have to pay anything, except your time, to create a social media profile and start creating content.

Your website design may be one of the only large purchases you make in your online marketing (and believe us, you should make an investment in your website design), but other than that, you’ll pay for web hosting, social media advertising, and perhaps some graphic design here and there. And even social media advertising can cost you pennies per click-through to your landing page.  Your ROI will be well worth the minimal effort and cost needed to get started.

4. You have so many options.

Just like traditional marketing and advertising, you have a few different options for where you position yourself. However, there are also a variety of options with online marketing, and the best ones are chosen based on your strategy.

There’s social media marketing, where you’ll choose a few of the most popular platforms that will put your business in front of your target audience. There’s content marketing, which helps to position you as a thought leader, give your website a better search engine ranking, and increase traffic to your website. There’s search engine marketing, which promotes your website and puts you on one of the first pages of search results on a search engine like Google or Bing. There’s email marketing, where you collect emails and send marketing materials directly to their inboxes.

And there are even more types of marketing that you might want to dive into as you get more and more experienced. There are so many ways to find new customers online and direct them immediately to a sales page that you simply can’t ignore the power of online marketing.