Definition of Online Marketing
The definition of online marketing
includes a whole lot more than putting up a catalog on the web.
| Even
shrinking violets can do well in online marketing. Without
fibbing. Or fudging. |
Doesn't Sears have an online
marketing site? And Victoria's Secret? And the used car
dealer down the street? Well, yes, they all do.
Truthfully, though, there are far more
failures in online marketing than there are successes. Having an
online business is one thing. Having a successful online business
is quite another.
Let's take a peek at some of the online
marketing models that seem to do quite well.
CATALOG SALES ON THE
INTERNET
First, about Sears. Yes, that is
almost a pure catalog sales site. You log into the home page and
are instantly shown products that you can buy. And that's fine.
In fact, that is precisely why you go to Sears: to buy.
The catalog sales model builds on the
premise that people are looking for something specific to buy, whether
it is tires for big rigs or dainty things for a sweetie.
INFORMATIONAL WEB
SITES
Most people fail miserably in online
marketing because they restrict their definition of "online marketing"
to "catalog sales". Statistically, the vast majority of people are
not looking to buy a specific product, or even buy anything at all.
They are looking for information.
Information. Information about
something. This is a massively important concept. No matter
how beautiful your catalog on Zippety Do Dah Vitamins really is, people
aren't looking for Zippety Do Dah Vitamins. They are looking for
INFORMATION on vitamins.
So, first, before you whisper about a
sale, provide INFORMATION. Help them out. Why should they
buy from you if you can't even take the time to answer their questions?
So answer their questions before they can even ask them. Give them
lots and lots of INFORMATION.
Then mention that Zippedy Do Dah
Vitamins are really quite good for you, and they might enjoy them too.
AFFILIATE SALES SITES
Odds are that you are an affiliate of
Zippety Do Dah Vitamins. Somebody else makes the vitamins.
You feature them on your website. When your visitor clicks over to
the Zippedy Do Dah site, Zippedy handles the money and ships the
product, and takes care of any complaints or issues along the way.
And you earn a commission on the sale.
Affiliate sales is a strong component
of the definition of online marketing. Lots of sites take
advantage of this sales model.
PRODUCT SALES ON
THE INTERNET
If you want to define "online
marketing", you do need to include a reference to product sales.
It's a lot like Sears, but is more likely to be an artisan who creates
jewelry and sells it on the web.
Product sales sites do well by
including lots of informational material too, like how the jewelry was
made, the background of the artist, and of course lovely photos of
people wearing the jewelry.
"Product" can encompass a lot of
things, including ebooks, courses on CDs, items that you ship or
download.
THE DEFINITION OF
ONLINE MARKETING
So, let's see what we have:
A website focused on selling, whether
via catalog sales or informational style.
There are a lot of websites that don't
sell anything, and weren't intended to, such as those for non-profit
organizations and hobby sites. But if your site is geared to
selling, it is part of online marketing, no matter how successful (or
not) it is.
