The Most Important Reason Why Your Business Needs Online Marketing

During my years of work in the marketing industry I came across some wrong concepts that seem pretty much prevalent in the marketing field. One of the most famous marketing myths is that; online marketing isn't for small businesses.

In fact, the truth is quite the opposite; online marketing is here to boost small business development, generate more leads and increase conversion rates. Success in the internet marketing field having been going on for years and seemingly has no end in sight.

Despite all the facts, too many small business owners neglect how important online marketing is for their business success. Among the reasons this seems to be is time, money. And yet another is that they don't care. The reality is, however, your customers actually do care and in order to be relevant in today's crowded marketplace, being online is a must.

Ten years ago it may have been a choice to jump on the online bandwagon, but now it's an absolute necessity to survive and thrive as a small business especially when you know that over 85% of searches for products and services happening online. Being online means having a responsive, search optimized website as well as an engaging and growing following on social media plus using email as part of your marketing arsenal.

Having a website that's search optimized, being on social media that you actually engage with and incorporating email into your marketing strategy may seem like a hefty load to carry, but the reality is it is almost too easy for small businesses to do nowadays.

Automated marketing solutions will you’re your business to maintain consistent, frequent and above all relevant updates to all these channels nearly turn-key, and the data that's tracked from social media, email marketing and other online strategies offers more than enough of a reason to make it a priority. The key word here is data, something small businesses can really gain from when reviewing it and reacting to it consistently. Also these automated marketing programs are of reasonable price compared to all the benefits you will get.

• Online marketing vs. offline marketing.

Many businesses often complain that there's not enough time in the day to "do it all" and as a result, online marketing gets shoved to the side. Unfortunately, this isn't how customers make decisions. The reality is consumers turn to the internet to search for the information they need. They are reading reviews, comparing prices, searching for stuff and looking who to make business with. Keeping that in mind, shopping online isn't the only reason people go online. Instead, being online leverages multiple avenues for small businesses to gain visibility among consumers. For most of internet users if your business doesn't have an online presence then you simply don't exist. They don't see you.

Some examples on how to integrate online and offline marketing include but not limited to the following:

1) Promote your social media presence on print collaterals in your physical business location.

2) R​emind your customers to "Like us on Facebook" with signage displayed within your business location.

3) Use hashtags in your offline ads, helping your customers connect with you online via an offline channel.

4) Connect an in-store event with an online tweet, post or blog post thus helping to connect your online and offline worlds.

With an estimated one in four Americans making at least one online purchase a week, 70% of Facebook users interacting with Facebook daily and the average Smartphone user picking up their phone about 1,500 times a week, there are countless opportunities that you are missing if you neglect marketing your business online.

When considering marketing online it is important for small businesses to look for partners that offer best-of-breed products, solutions and services that provide the most convenience to the businesses and their customers; partners who align with all the marketing and sales channels that they aim to achieve online.

It worth mentioning that for small businesses; what used to take weeks to set up now takes only minutes. That's what it takes to get things up and running for much of the online marketing solutions available for small businesses to implement into their businesses. Additionally, it's highly advisable to consider investing some of your hard earned dollars into online marketing so that you can gain easy to use, automated online marketing solutions. This will help you to dedicate more time doing what you hopefully do best running your business and making money.

• The single most important reason you need to be online. 

Consumers have too many choices these days and they have to be constantly reminded that you exist. The best way to reach them is where they spend much of their time. And that, my dear friends, leads us to the single most important reason you need to be consistently and efficiently using online marketing as part of your sales strategy; customers. Customers are online, which mean you need to be, too.