Introduction to Online Marketing
Online marketing has gained a lot of notoriety in the Covid 19 era. Marketing this way, is safe as you do not have to interact face to face with the customer. All sorts of new businesses have arisen as a result. Many of these business have prospered while a lot more has not.
To understand why, you need to understand what marketing is all about. Many people will tell you marketing is all about buying and sell with the goal of making profit. Is that really what marketing is?
Marketing is about building relationships. To build a successful relationship, there must be some sort of exchange. Both partners in the relationship must gain in some way. So, in a sense, marketing is an exchange. Lets take the example of Walmart. They provide us goods and services in exchange for our money.
To be a successful marketer, you need to figure out what your target population is. More so, you need to figure out what their needs are. If you are able to do these two things, then you can come up with a solution for their needs. When needs meets solution, value is created. Only then can you be a successful marketer.
What does Marketing Online Entails?
To market online, you need to have a good or a service that provides value. I emphasize value because that is what will draw the customer to your business. To provide value, your good or service should solve a problem the customer has. For example, a balm that helps people with cracked feet regain smooth healthy feet.
To market, you need to have a target group. If you sell a product or provide a service that no one needs, then you will fail at marketing. Your product or services needs to be attainable. In other words, your target group should be able to afford it and access to it should be easy (except you are apple, not many people will stand inline for hours just to get your latest product or services). So pricing and availability is very important
You need to be able to reach your target population. There are several methods including but not limited to social media outreach, advertising and owning a website.
How do you become a successful Online marketer?
If you browse online, you will see that almost all big and successful businesses have a website. I believe that building a website for your online product or service is the next step after you have figured out your target group and the solution to their problem.
Online marketing is a big step to take. You need to make sure you have the skills required. It is a learning process and there are many platforms that help train people on how to navigate this process. One of such platforms called Wealthy Affiliate, teaches you how to be an affiliate marketer. This type of marketing is for people who do not own a product or service and want to help promote those of others.
In this type of marketing, you refer people to another’s business and you make money in the form of commission. Commissions usually go anywhere from 8% to 50% or more. Lets say for example that you refer a customer to a company that offers 10% commission for a certain product.
If this product sells for a $100, you will make $10 every time you refer someone (they will need to buy the said product for you to make a commission). Now, imagine that the product you refer is a membership product that is recurrent monthly. Then every month this person pays their membership, you will make $10.
Now, imagine you refer 100 people to this program, then every month you will $1000. If your commission was 20% then you will make $2000 monthly and so one.
What to Expect when Marketing Online
Online Marketing is very competitive because the barrier to entry is low. Many programs like Wealthy Affiliate offer free membership options with the ability to build one free website. This easy access means anyone can become an online marketer.
To set yourself apart from everyone else, you need to put a lot of thought into what kind of business you want to do. Make sure you balance competition and profit. What I mean by this is that, a niche might be very profitable but also very competitive. By niche, I mean a selection of the market that caters for some specific needs of the population. For example, ‘how to cook Mexicans foods’ can be a niche.
Also, you are better off if you can come up with solutions to a need that the customer didn’t even realize they needed. This will mean less competition at the beginning but it might require a lot of work. Either way, try to find a fine balance between profit and competition.
Conclusion
The world is now a global village and thus your horizon as a marketer is bigger and bolder. The web has made it easier to reach people from across the globe. You can sell goods and services to people around the world with a click of a mouse.
However, before you jump into online marketing, you need to determine your market niche. Try to stand out of the crowd by understanding your customer and catering to their specific needs. Marketing is an exchange between you and your customer. You provide goods and services and they reward you with money.
To succeed, you need to learn fast and be quick to adapt as markets change frequently.
