Types of Online Marketing
If you’re new to online marketing, it can be hard to find the right platform for your business. One of the primary goals of online marketing is to engage in the method that provides the highest return on investment.
Each form of marketing has advantages and disadvantages, there is no one size fits all approach, so it is important to seek professional help.
Search Engine Marketing
Think of search engine marketing like the modern-day Yellow Pages. Nowadays when people need a product or service, they generally search online using Google. For example, if you were a Construction Company that operates in Newcastle, search engine marketing would aim to get your website found when someone searches ‘Construction Company in Newcastle’.
There are two main types of search engine marketing; search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) like Google AdWords.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO is the practice of improving a website ranking in the organic (non-paid) section of search results.
The benefits of SEO include:
- Higher percentage of people click on organic (none-paid search results).
- It is generally more affordable and provides a higher return on investment.
- Exposes business to “ready to buy” customer that are actively looking for the products or services your business sells.
- Generate high quality leads and online enquires. It attracts less time wasters as it targets people that research online.
- Provides a consistent and reliable source of revenue for your business.
- SEO has a great return on investment.
Disadvantages of SEO include:
- Can take between 3 – 6 months before you start to see results.
- It requires constant monthly work to maintain rankings.
- It is extremely difficult, time consuming and requires expensive software to get the best results.
- Google and other search engines often change their ranking algorithm, so you need to stay up to date with all changes.
We would highly recommended paying a professional handle your businesses SEO. Learn more about our SEO Services.
Pay-Per-Click (Google Ads)
The other way to get your website more exposure in search engines is by using per-per-click advertising. Google AdWords is Googles advertising platform that allows business to pay to get their website to the top of the search results. It works on a pay-per-click basis, meaning advertisers only pay if someone click the advertisement and visits the website.
The benefits of Google Ads are:
- It’s instant, your ads will start running as soon as they are approved by Googles quality assurance team.
- They are highly targeted. Advertisers can choose the keywords (search phrases) that trigger the ads to appear. You can even choose the location and time your ads will display.
- You can set daily spending limits, so you don’t exceed your budget.
- You only pay if someone clicks on the ad. This means if your ad’s display, and no one clicks on them, you don’t pay.
- There are big opportunities for some industries where there is not a lot of people running ads.
Disadvantages of Google Ads:
- It’s a very complicated advertising platform, it generally requires an experience marketer to run the ads.
- It’s very competitive, only four ads can be displayed at a time. You must know how to get Google to favour your ad.
- If you don’t target your ads properly, you can waste a lot of money.
Social Media Marketing
There is a vast array of social media platforms that offer paid advertising. The best starting point for social media advertising would be Facebook and Instagram. Since Facebook has 2.27 billion users and Instagram has 1 billion users, it’s a good place to start marketing your business.
Other social media platforms might be beneficial depending on the product or services you offer. For example, paid LinkedIn advertising might beneficial for professional service businesses such as Lawyers, Accountants, and Financial Planners. However, if you’re new to paid social media marketing, Facebook and Instagram are the way to go.
We like to think of Facebook Advertising as the modern-day newspaper advertising. 15 years ago it was common to see people reading news papers on buses, in cafes or on their lunchbreak. Nowadays, most people jump of Facebook. In 2018 there were approximately 1.49 billion people who would log into Facebook every day, so it’s safe to say, your ads will be seen.
Facebook offers a very powerful advertising platform that allows you to target people based on their age, location, gender and interests. It works really well if you operate in a business to consumer industry. Cafes, Gyms, Real Estate Agency’s, Hair Dressers and Barbers can greatly benefit from Facebook marketing.
The benefits of Facebook Marketing are:
- It is very cheap and can generate a lot of exposure for your business.
- The basic features of the advertising platform are relatively easy to use.
- Options such as age, gender, interest and location targeting ensure your ads are seen by the right people.
- Facebook offers a lot of advanced targeting options for experienced advertisers. These include; retargeting, custom audience, and look alike audiences.
Disadvantages of Facebook Marketing:
- It can generate a lot of low-quality leads; people who have seen an ad and enquire without any strong intention to buy.
- It’s harder to target ads if you operate in a business to business industry.
- The advanced targeting options are difficult to use and required an experience marketer.
Instagram’s popularity has increased substantially over the last few years. With the increase in popularity, we have seen an improvement in Instagram’s targeting capabilities. Instagram advertising works particularly well if photos and videos of your products or service can capture people’s attention and are used by the wider population.
For example, cafes, restaurants, renovation companies, hair dressers, builders, architects, beauty salons are a great candidate for Instagram advertising.
The advantages of Instagram Marketing:
- It is one of the cheapest forms of online marketing.
- You manage ads through Facebook Ad manager which is easy to use.
- It’s not as competitive as Facebook which presents a good opportunity for businesses.
Disadvantages of Instagram Marketing:
- With a younger user based, it may not be the right platform for your business.
- It’s still in its early stage’s development.
