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.
