Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Targeted Marketing with Internet

Companies are increasingly using internet to promote products online. Social media has become a primary tool and internet marketing is increasingly being harnessed to curtail expenses besides saving precious time and energy. If you own a SME then you must discover the secret of saving your money through targeted marketing. Market research is its twin strategy that is again indispensable for a firm that wants to be successful.

Specifying Customers and Analysing Behaviour Pattern

The first step before creating a searchable site is to know who you are targeting. You must bring to your customers what they really want. Critically examine your customers’ behaviour and then plan your marketing campaign accordingly. Targeted internet marketing allows the web-master to design a marketing program to draw the attention of the predetermined group of people. Your target market is your ideal customer in the specific segment of the population you attempt to reach. This might mean pin-pointing their gender, income, education level, geographic location, interests, dreams and desires, problems they want to overcome and so on, as these affect the decision to purchase. The more specific you get, the easier it is to find and market to your target visitor. You can develop stronger customer relationships by targeting the needs of a specialized group. You need to define your target market so that you can immediately capture the attention of customers.

You must let your customers know that you understand their lifestyle – this gives a unique dimension to your site. Through this, you can give a personalised touch to your website and excel in the market. So if you are selling a product then you must smartly target your customers keeping in mind the purchasing power as well as the kind of mindset people have. Targeted marketing is all about how people think because it helps to know the market. Therefore, it is important to analyze this phenomenon to become a successful entrepreneur.

Strategies for Targeting Customers
There are many innovative internet marketing strategies to track potential customers. You can opt for the banner advertising option on the internet to target customers. The advancing technology makes it possible for advertisers to make your ads appear on specific sites which contain content that is similar or related to that of your site. For instance, if you have a clothes firm then your advertisement would appear on the sites dealing with the clothes industry.

The next big revolution in this stream is geo-targeting where, by tracking the IP addresses of the user, you can have ads appear before them. Another powerful force in internet marketing is the Pay-Per-Click option. It allows you to create a small text ad and then it appears on the screen when the user is searching on keywords relating to your product or services. It provides you with an edge as your ad appears in the Sponsored Links section of the search result page. You can also dwell upon organic search where the listing is generated based on the HTML tags and the relevant content found in a website.

Behavioural targeting is another popular medium as it delivers ads to consumers based on their past search behaviour. This reveals their interest and it is easy to convert them into customers. You can also target users with paid search ads on landing pages after they leave a search site.

Not taking things for granted, it is better to research the probable behaviour of the customer and choose the keywords accordingly. You must analyse the behaviour pattern of the customers which manifests in a better response in the market. You can create a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program to attract the targeted traffic. You can link with the sites which provide information that deals with your product. Keywords should be popular and relevant; you should not assume them but research them. You can also make use of the keyword research tool, to be more precise.

Local Market
You can also target the local market customers through internet marketing as you can publish the latest events; for example, winter sales or festive season discounts can appear in the local newspaper website. You can also send emails to potential customers.

Undeniably, the internet promises to replace blanket marketing with targeted marketing. It is popularly stated that 'time is money' and target marketing is a less time consuming and a less expensive method.

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