The advantages and disadvantage of Online Marketing

Online Marketing refers to marketing of your product or service over the internet. Online Marketing allows you to promote your products and services online at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

Online Marketing involves creation of a strategy suitable to your websiste to promote your business online. It binds together creative and technical aspects of the internet including design, development, advertisement and sale.

Online Marketing involves different business models. One is direct selling to buyer, another by generating leads to websites and even a model called affiliate marketing in which product is developed by one person and sold by another with an arrangement for profit sharing.

Some of the methods of Online Marketing are:

• Banner placement
• Internet search engine placement
• Search engine optimization
• E-mail newsletters
• Link building
• Article submission
• Affiliate  Marketing
• Online direct selling
• Pay per click advertising
• Online Public Relations

Online Marketing is the buzz word today. It has many advantages.

• One to one approach-The targeted consumer is browsing alone so the promotional message reaches him personally. This is used in search engine  Marketing where  advertisements are based on search engine results.
• Cater to specific interests-Online Marketing and geo-marketing  is a  form of  Marketing that appeals to specific interests and  tastes rather than a broad demographic. Online marketers can cater to markets segmented according to age, gender, geography and other general factors by advertising in specific websites.
• Geo- marketing: One can deliver different content according to geographical location, IP address, ISP of the customer.
• Different content by choice- The consumer can exercise his or her choice of information
• Relatively inexpensive- Online Marketing  costs minimum compared to other media like print and TV. There is no need to spend on physical premises. It involves  a fraction of the traditional advertising budget.
• Global business- At the click of a mouse, reach out to a global audience
• Measuring statistics is easy-Nearly all aspects of online Marketing program can be traced, measured and tested. Advertisers can use  a variety of means like Pay per impression, Pay per click, pay per play or pay per action.
• Accountability- Online Marketing vests advertisers with a greater degree of accountability.

In spite of these advantages not all businesses are  online oriented because of the following disadvantages:

You could get involved in illegal or unethical practices like spamming. Another disadvantage is that sometime business is such that it requires a physical demonstration and needs to be tangible to the consumer. Or you might be targeting a consumer who is not computer savvy. Also, many customers will not be comfortable doing online transactions with their credit card.

But Online Marketing is a hot and happening idea. Most customers  browse the Internet to find what they need before they  visit a store. Out of all local business searches, 86% of users  follow up their search with a phone call or a visit to the store. Of those, 61% end up making a purchase. Hence the importance of Online Marketing.