What Is Internet Marketing?
Definition & Examples of Internet Marketing
Internet marketing is an all-inclusive term for marketing products and services online. This includes a variety of methods and platforms for communicating with customers, such as website, email, social media, and online advertising.
Learn more about internet marketing, its role and importance in business, and how to use it to your benefit.
What Is Internet Marketing?
Internet marketing refers to the strategies used to market products and services online and through other digital means. These can include a variety of online platforms, tools, and content delivery systems, such as:
- Website content and design
- Email marketing
- Social media
- Blogging
- Video/podcasting
- Online ads
- Sponsorships and paid promotions
While internet marketing's apparent purpose is to sell goods and services, or advertising over the internet, it's not the only reason a business will do it.
A company may be marketing online to communicate a message about itself (building its brand) or to conduct research. Online marketing can also be an effective way to identify a target market, discover a marketing segment's wants and needs, build long-term relationships with customers, or establish authority and expertise within an industry.
How Internet Marketing Works
Internet marketing uses customers' online activity to connect them with a business by reaching them in a variety of places on the internet. The types of internet marketing a business uses will depend on the business model, types of products, target customers, budget, and more.
Website Content and Design
A business website allows customers to:
- Find your business online
- Learn your business's location or contact information
- Discover your products or services
- Sign up for your email list
- Request more information
- Make purchases
Websites often use search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that their content will rank high on search engines and be easy for customers to find.
Email Marketing
You can use email for sending direct mail electronically, rather than through the post office. Collect customer emails either through purchases or website sign-ups, then use emails to share important information, encourage purchases, and build relationships.
Email allows you to reach customers individually and personally. A 2019 retail study looking at more than one billion shopping sessions found that email marketing had a conversion rate of 2.5%, compared to only 1.1% for social media. (The highest conversation rate was direct referral, at 3.0%).
Social Media
Most consumers use some kind of social media, though the type you will focus on will depend on the behavior of your target market.
More than 90% of 18 to 29-year-olds use social media of some kind, and while use decreases with age, it can still be used to reach consumers in all age brackets. More than 60% of those over age 65 use some kind of social media, and those numbers are likely to keep growing.
Blogging
Blogging allows you to increase your website's SEO by adding articles and posts around certain targeted keywords. This increases the likelihood that customers will find and visit your website as a result of online search.
You can also write for other people's blogs, magazines, or websites. This can increase your audience and put your business in front of more potential customers.
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