Online marketing is all about creating efficiency and effectiveness. Whether you are a small business or a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, online marketing (if wisely executed) can bring big business to your organization. Some of the basic things that can bring instant success to your online marketing efforts are: 

Current Customers are Kings: The foundation of your online marketing strategy should be based on the analysis of your current/paying customers. People who regularly buy your products and services are more likely to buy from you in the future. Therefore it is essential that you either have a mailing list or a Facebook/ Twitter subscription of your current paying customers. Besides, these customers are easier to market as you know what they want and demand.

Keep Track of your ROI: A close eye on your ROI can save you from spending too much money & time on things that aren’t working. Of course a negative value doesn’t always mean that your online presence is under-performing. For example initially you have to invest in order to build your image, especially when you are completing globally online. Nevertheless its good practice to gauge your website’s ROI on a weekly/monthly/quarterly basis.

Conversion is the Key: The goal of your online presence should be to maintain a healthy conversion rate. Conversion rate is defined as the ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions.  Indeed traffic only means so much without vital conversions. A 10% conversion rate is generally considered acceptable. However you shouldn’t ignore other forms of intangible conversions like customer newsletter, RSS or Twitter subscribers.  All conversions mean that you have a “chance” to make sales in the future. 

Niche Building: Tactics like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Social Media Optimization (SMO) along with some Web 2.0 marketing can bring more prospects to your website, but they CANNOT make people buy your products/services.  It is therefore essential for you to offer something unique and singular; in other words good market intelligence coupled with concentrated or niche marketing is indispensable for online success.

Learn and be Innovative: Internet treads change very rapidly. So always keep testing and checking your offers & standards.  Small and inexpensive changes in your online marketing campaigns often bring significant improvement. Try to be new and innovative, and remember what worked for one company may not work for you, “so do not cut the feet to fit the shoes”; instead try to be innovative and adaptive.

In a nutshell, play at your strengths and know what works for you, and you will do fine online.

Nina Chohan, Sales & Accounts Director, Traffic Online JLT