Web Marketing: Strengths and Weaknesses
I work for an online marketing firm, so I tend to spend a lot of my time evangelizing web marketing in all its many forms. And, although web marketing is a awesome tool that can radically alter the way a corporation operates, it does have its weaknesses as well. Therefore, before you decide to dish out some money on a web marketing campaign you should get acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses this medium has.
One of the major strengths of web marketing is how targeted it can be. In a way that’s even more targeted than magazine advertising ever was, with web marketing you can be certain that you’re reaching your target demographic in that it lets you personalize advertisements in a way so they show up when potential clientele are looking for the exact keywords that relate to your product. You are able to obtain niches that are difficult to target properly through traditional media. You can advertise on a website devoted entirely to bulldog breeders, but you would be hard-pressed to find a channel where you can be positive you are reaching folk who enjoy breeding bulldogs.
The second strength goes with the first: cost. Through wise use of online marketing, you attain a broad audience for a fraction of the price that you would have spent on old media. Television commercials, as you already know cost thousands of dollars to produce and then thousands more to broadcast on television stations in a local market, even more if you want the entire US. And, best of all, with web marketing you can be positive that the people you reach are into your product.
However, one to the bad stuff: the one major weakness of web marketing is that there is no easy manner that a consumer can interact with your product. If a potential client were to see a commercial and then travel to a store then they would be to touch the product, feel it in his or her hand, and even try it on. This opportunity is not available to clientele who are being marketed to online. If they are buying a product online they don’t have the chance to interact with that product and decide if it is right for them.
Therefore, web marketing is best when the product is something abstract, like a trip, or something that isn’t overly personalized, like a book. If you really do expect that the customer will only purchase the product if they can feel it or try it out (makeup, shoes, women’s clothing), then maybe web marketing is not the way to go. However, there are huge companies that operate in all three areas I mentioned, so it really is up to you.
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