Internet Marketing. What does this term really mean? I don't think it makes sense to answer the question at this level yet. So let's look at the broader term "marketing" first.
Marketing has many definitions and not all are the same. I like to think of marketing as "communicating with customers". So which customers? To be more specific, I like to think of marketing as communicating with current and prospective customers in your chosen markets. This introduces the term market and this is critical because it begins to draw out differences that relate to a defined group of the population that we will call our "chosen segment".
Webwings Internet Marketing goes to some lengths to understand the chosen market because it is not possible to apply effective marketing without understanding that this segment really is. With that understanding, communications can be tailored. Let me illustrate the point.
Imagine that you wish to communicate with teenagers in lower socio economic groups. These people have certain beliefs and attitudes and of course they have their own style of communicating. Imagine that you are communicating with retired people from affluent society. The language you would use to communicate with them would be quite different; wouldn't it?
I think I have summarized what I think marketing is about and the importance of clearly defining and understanding your target market segment. Now to the internet...
Internet marketing is obviously about communicating with our chosen customer segment online. This brings in the vagaries of communicating in a medium that is quite different to face-to-face, print or television. The internet is a highly interactive medium where customers can achieve their goals very quickly. Website visitors read web pages very differently to the way they read a newspaper or magazine. So the style of communications needs to be tailored to the medium.
I know that this is probably a lot to take in and to think about. At Webwings, we take our clients through rigorous strategy and design processes to reach agreement on the right way to approach the clients market. Then we can get on with what is typically regarded as internet marketing. That is, search engine optimization, online advertising, and search engine advertising.
Most businesses on the web have a website presence. Most do not deliver on the desired business goals. We often find that this is partly to do with lack of context for subsequent web site design. Typically, websites have been developed by technical people - not marketers.