Using Online Marketing To Your Advantage
Did you know that 93% of the time that someone gets on the internet, they are going to use a search engine? Search engines are one of the most powerful tools for online marketing. Whether you are trying to promote a brick and mortar business or one that is purely online, utilizing your IT project management team to implement the different forms of internet marketing will make it possible to reach a large number of consumers and greatly expand your business.
First, search engines. The top two most popular internet activities worldwide are search engines and email. The vast majority of internet users have an email address (or two, or three) and most people who have even the most basic computer knowledge knows how to use a search engine; in fact, it’s estimated that about 83% of internet users will utilize search engines. Worldwide, there are over 100 billion search engine conducted every single month. That is an incredible amount! About a third of these are location specific, benefiting local businesses and industries. Also, a recent study found that 39% of retail customers are a direct result of search engine inquiries. While all search engines are valuable, Google owns about 60-75% of the entire search engine market around the world. Therefore, having your company show up as a result when a user is on Google is highly recommended. Be sure that your website is formatted to be clear and easy to use on both a laptop computer and cell phone; the most recent date from 2012 showed that about 25% of all search inquiries were made from personal mobile devices. That percentage has likely increased greatly in the last few years.
Another of the potential marketing techniques for a company’s IT project management team to consider is a blog on the company website. Companies that have a blog have an average of an incredibly 434% more indexed pages than those who do not have a blog. Among a survey of marketing agencies, 70% of content marketers report that blogging has increased their brand awareness. Almost all (95%) of small businesses see blogging as a highly valuable business tool.
Additionally, IT project management staff can consider search engine optimization (SEO) as a company marketing strategy. SEO has been proven to be more effective and more affordable than other means, such as paid advertising. It is 61% less expensive than outbound leads, and it has a much higher close rate. The close rate for outbound leads (paid advertising) is 1.7%, and SEO (inbound leads) have a 14.6% close rate. Considering that about 75% of search engine users won’t bother to look past the first page of search results, doing whatever it takes to get your company listed right away in the search results is vital to the success of your product and your company.
Lastly, you can’t forget about social media. The vast majority of people have some sort of social media presence, whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, or the many other options that are available now. Social media is an easy way to reach consumers and seek potential customers. It is estimated that 93% of marketers will use a social media platform for business purposes, and it’s easy to see why.
Having a social media account that online users can choose to follow is essentially the user agreeing to receive marketing for your product whenever you post a picture or video from your account. Facebook is currently the greatest of the social media platforms for marketing. In a recent survey, about 47% of Americans reported that Facebook has had more of an influence on their purchases than any of the other social media networks. Additionally, it’s estimated that 23% of individuals with Facebook check their account at least five times per day. For online marketing, Facebook and other social media platforms provide wonderful opportunities for companies and their IT project management teams to engage in to attract consumers.
AS we’ve seen, utilizing tools such as search engines, a company blog, search engine optimization, and social media will almost certainly lead to an increased interest in your business among consumers and greater sales for the company. These are great strategies that you can’t afford to miss out on!