Internet Promotion - Advantages And Disadvantages by Carla Lendor
The emergence of globalise trade, increase in foreign investment and
cross-border transactions have put many small businesses under pressure to find
innovative ways to continue to market their products and services. This is
especially difficult given that they often operate on tight marketing budgets.
In the quest for cheap marketing alternatives, these small businesses continue
to use conventional marketing tools such as newspaper, magazine, radio and
television advertisements, unaware of the advantages that Internet Promotion
offers. All too often, these entrepreneurs focus on the disadvantages of
Internet Promotion and fail to adequately take advantage of the opportunities
that it presents. Moreover, their preoccupation with conventional marketing
strategies is driven by a misconception that these are cheaper than Internet
Promotion.
To most small business entrepreneurs, marketing or promoting their products or
services via the Internet can be a daunting task. However, with adequate
information small businesses can benefit significantly from Internet Promotion
while minimising the disadvantages that it presents. In fact, it may prove to
be the marketing strategy that generates the highest return on investment.
The Advantages
Cost Effective and Enduring Marketing Strategies
The Internet has become the information superhighway for the buying public.
Most persons prefer the hassle free transactions that Internet shopping can
offer. As a result, the Internet has become the most powerful selling tool.
Internet Promotion offers cost effective ways for small businesses to enhance
their product or service distribution networks. For example, the use of portals
can help create new marketing channels and logistics, or provide better or
faster product access for customers.
In comparison to other forms of marketing, Internet Promotion presents the
advantage of reduced budget and storage costs, when compared with printing
brochures, producing television or radio advertisements or managing a call
centre. It presents a fast and cost effective option for penetrating new
markets.
Market Penetration
With millions of person using the Internet to search for products and services,
small businesses can penetrate other markets at a fraction of the cost of
traditional marketing methods.
Websites act as virtual storefronts, allowing businesses to stay open 24/7.
Internet Promotion gives a business greater visibility, thereby creating more
opportunities for increasing its customers at relatively low cost. Never before
has it been easier for an upstart business to be able to reach out to literally
millions of potential customers and to position themselves for success, without
the need for costly infrastructure and overwhelming marketing costs. Thanks to
the Internet, new businesses can become popular almost overnight.
Low Cost, Instant Communication
Email makes business communications instant, whether the customer or business
affiliate is across the street or across the globe. It makes it easier for
customers to maintain contact and readily facilitates repeat purchasing. An
effective online strategy can therefore turn a small web business into a
virtual cost saver and income-generating machine. The net result is that the
small business can gain significant competitive advantage in a given market.
Many online businesses have therefore resorted to the use of ezines, blogs,
pop-up ads and other online marketing tools to let customers know about new
products or services as well as provide information relevant to their
respective industry. The benefits of this strategy are two fold. Marketers can
effectively heighten brand awareness for relatively new products on the market
whilst strengthening customer relationships, with shorter time frames.
Content is Timeless
Internet Promotion also provides the advantage of being enduring. Whereas
participation at a trade fair or conference loses sales impact, once it is
over, and an advertisement in a newspaper or business magazine may quickly lose
its sales generating value within a day or two or as soon as the next issue is
released; Internet Promotion is often timeless. Apart from the dates and
sometimes prices, much of your website content remains valid years after.
Real Time Statistics For Measuring Success of Promotion Campaign
One of the most significant advantages of Internet Promotion is that its
success is measurable. Marketers can use tools that provide real time
statistics, on unique visitors, repeat visitors, click through rates (CTR) on
advertisements, thereby allowing them to evaluate the effectiveness of a
promotion campaign. This enables marketers to determine what works for their
particular market and to make timely changes in their marketing strategies.
Time Saving
Another important advantage of Internet Promotion is that it saves time since
it generally does away with counselling on product uses and benefits, service
information and sales administration. Visitors can access "frequently asked
questions" to help themselves, and can buy online, without the involvement of
staff. This saves time and money. So, whether 10 or 10,000 visitors visit the
site, the increased cost is marginal whilst the savings can be immense.
But like any business approach, Internet Promotion is not without its risks and
weaknesses.
Disadvantages
Difficulty in Attracting Customers
Small business may not have the Subscriptions to pay for paid directory inclusion,
pay per click inclusions and often have to rely solely on search engine
optimisation or word of mouth to drive traffic to their sites. With millions of
businesses selling the same product and services, competing with more
established businesses can be frustrating and costly venture for small
business.
On the other hand, larger companies can offer promotions, pay for directory
inclusions, implement pay per click campaigns as well as employ the "who is
who" in internet marketing to develop campaigns that generate traffic and
leads.
Difficulty in Evaluating Legitimacy of Transaction
Another notable disadvantage of doing promoting businesses online is that it
may be difficult for the businesspersons and consumers to thoroughly evaluate
the legitimacy of a transaction. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable
to thieves using stolen credit cards and stolen information to do online
transaction.
With Internet credit card and identity fraud on the rise, small businesses are
forced to finance costly security measures to reduce their vulnerability to
fraudulent transactions.
Salespersons and Customers are Isolated
Another disadvantage of promotion via the Internet is that the customers and
businesspersons are isolated. There is little personal contact between customer
and salesperson prior to and after the sales is closed. Thus, the prospect for
repeat sales may thus be diminished. Entrepreneurs are therefore compelled to
adopt marketing strategies to drive online users back to their site.
From all indications, it appears that the advantages of Internet promotion, far
exceed the disadvantages. With adequate knowledge, entrepreneur can benefit
significantly from Internet promotion, especially small business owners.
More and more, the growth and outreach of the Internet's, its ease and
accessibility for customers is becoming inevitable. Small business would
therefore be well advised to start their web advertising function in order to
improve their competitiveness online.
About the Author
Carla Lendor is an Internet Marketing and co-publisher of eXplosion! Visit
Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME),Caribbean
Vacations,Patant Consultants
International
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