As technology expands, new ways to reach your target audience have developed. Is your company utilising all of the marketing tactics available to it? Would it help to know what successful activities other businesses are deploying? Here are some of the most

1. Blogging

A blog, short for ‘web log’, is a journal that is available on the web, with all the contributed content being organised and archived so it’s always available. Blogs are used by large organisations all the way down to tiny, one-person enterprises.

Blogging has become wildly popular among online businesses because it's a fantastic, low-cost way to reach out to customers and engage them in your company while simultaneously increasing the success of other marketing tactics.

For example, blogging can help you bring more readers to your email marketing list while giving search engines plenty of frequently-updated content to help you rank well in the search results.

A blog brings readers back repeatedly to your site, increasing brand recognition and loyalty – all for nearly no cost other than the time it takes to write the blog posts.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing is another low-cost way to reach out to potential customers. It has the additional benefit that the customers don't have to take the initiative to visit your site. Instead, your mails are delivered right to their virtual door.

Email marketing gives you an opportunity to highlight sales and special offers, draw focus to a specific aspect of your company, and bring readers back to your site.

3. Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation is the key to tapping into a huge source of highly motivated potential customers. You'll be reaching the people who are actively looking for the information you provide. This means that search engine traffic is among the easiest to convert into paying customers.

Being ranked in the search engines is totally free, which can provide a high return on the investment of optimising your site.

4. Pay per click

Pay per click marketing has similar advantages to search engine optimisation. You target the same group of motivated and engaged people with a high likelihood of conversion. Pay per click has the additional advantage of being both faster and easier than SEO. You don't have to wait for search engines to index your pages; your ads can be online in minutes.

The disadvantage to pay per click advertising is that it's not free. However, it is possible to carefully hone your PPC campaigns to produce the highest possible return on your investment.

5. Social Networks

Social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn let people connect to each other on a personal or professional level. They can share everything from their favourite websites to a broadcast of their blogs. This gives businesses a way to reach consumers where they like to hang out.

Social networks are becoming wildly popular, so the pool of potential customers is large. Furthermore, marketing to social networks has the potential for becoming viral, as one person spreads the word about your company to his or her friends, who tell their friends, and so on.

Call us on 08452 579606 to review your online marketing strategy for 2008.