Whatever kind of business you run you need to market and advertise what you offer in order to garner new clients or customers. Every kind of business needs to keep on top of marketing, even if it is only to maintain a level of operations rather than being engaged in an effort for expansion.
Showing potential clients and customers what kind of services or products you offer and what sets you apart from your competition is an essential part of any business or commercial concern. In the past magazines, newspapers and radio or TV campaigns have been the major ways of attracting new customer bases.
Today things are very different, with the internet being the major source of activity for many.
Size doesn’t matter
Whether you are a large and successful multinational corporation like Toshiba or a small niche business, essentially the internet offers a kind of level playing field that allows competition on more or less equal terms.
Although large budgets can buy impressive cutting edge website designs and pay for online marketing campaigns, imagination, social networking and viral techniques can bring substantial returns for a small outlay.
Basically, any individual or company in business should have their own unique online marketing strategy that plays to their own strengths. An effective web presence is at the hub of any campaign and with a little effort most people can find their way around HTML and CSS and change a basic template into their own individual website.
Social media
There is a lot of talk about the impact social media has had on business but all it boils down to is making sure that you communicate with your potential and existing clients and customers in the way that they want you too.
Twitter and Facebook can be powerful tools that allow direct contact both ways and the explosion in the use of mobile devices that give internet access means more people than ever are online wherever they are.
Mobile internet
Understanding the different ways in which people use the internet will allow you to design you own presence with your target market in mind. For instance, if you have a product or service aimed at a younger age group you may want to ensure your website is optimised for small screens and mobile connections. For business to business use this might not be so important.
