Internet marketing, as is the Internet, is still in its infancy as it wasn’t so long ago that all marketing was offline. Just a few short years ago, entrepreneurs had to have face to face relationships with the people they did business with. They networked with others in their field, ran ads, put out flyers, handed out business cards, and had to pay for almost every form of advertising. Today, however, Internet marketers can capitalize on all kinds of free online advertising to market their products or services. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should ignore the power of offline marketing. On the contrary, you should take full advantage of all the marketing opportunities available to you.
Just as you want to establish yourself as an expert in your niche on the World Wide Web, you should strive to do the same in your own brick and mortar neighborhood. Suppose your expertise is in graphic design. If you’re affiliated with a church or a community group, these would be great places to volunteer your services. Then not only do you get to feel good about volunteering, but you benefit from the free exposure as well. You can also make free speeches at community meetings and then offer your paid services to anyone who might be interested. You might also consider giving lessons to others who would like to learn graphic design.
Business Cards, Flyers, and Ads
Every entrepreneur, whether online, offline, or both should have a business card ready to hand out to prospective customers. Your business card helps to brand you as the professional you are and it is much easier for prospective customers to keep up with than a piece of paper with your number scribbled on it. In addition, you should have your url printed on your business card so prospective customers can easily see samples of your work.
Flyers can be handed out and posted on community bulletin boards. You can also check out the possibility of having your local newspaper include your flyer among its Sunday inserts. In addition, most communities have papers like the Thrifty Nickel or the Pennysaver with far reaching audiences and relatively inexpensive ad prices. When you combine online and offline marketing techniques and networking opportunities, you will have no trouble establishing yourself as an expert in your niche and building up a loyal following of customers.
Become a Teacher
If you are already making a living as an Internet marketer, why not teach others in your community to do the same? Even if they don’t share the same talents as you do, your knowledge of basic Internet marketing skills could offer a wealth of information. In addition, people who are not particularly Internet savvy are leery of Internet scams and would appreciate learning from someone in their own community who has already found success. Besides, some people need to learn from someone in person rather than through an Internet course so you would be offering a valuable service.
The Internet offers a wealth of free promotional resources that marketers can take advantage of. While you may consider paying for advertising at some point in your Internet marketing career, if you are still getting your feet wet, it is best to stick with the free or almost free (if you buy your own domain name and pay for hosting) methods of promotion. In the following paragraphs we’ll look at three of the top promotional strategies Internet marketers can take advantage of.
Article Marketing
When you write useful and informative articles around they keywords or keyword phrases upon which your niche is based, people performing searches based on those keywords will run across your articles when they are looking for information. If those articles are well written and compelling, they will lead people straight to your website. This free promotional tactic is a powerful marketing tool that you just can’t afford to pass up. Not only can you submit your promotional articles to multiple article directories, but there are some, such as Associated Content, Helium, and ehow that will pay you ad revenue as well!
Blogging
Blogs have been all the rage for some time and the trend continues to be popular. Most blog posts are shorter than the typical article and you can write dozens of blog posts in a short amount of time and then schedule them to post on a consistent basis. Now this particular technique will only work if you are blogging about a subject where the information doesn’t constantly change. If you’re blogging about celebrities, for instance, this approach wouldn’t work. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t blog but you probably won’t be able to compose your blog posts ahead of time. In this example, you’ll have to keep up with the very latest and constantly update your blog.
Even if you just maintain an informational blog where you earn ad revenue, it can be a profitable promotional tool. You can link back to your main website where you feature your products for sale. Alternatively, you can promote affiliate products on your blog as many affiliate marketers do. The bottom line is that if you are an Internet marketer, you need a blog.
Forum Posting
Forum posting can get old real quick if you’re in it just because you can post links in your signature line. But if you genuinely become part of the community you can actually get a lot out of this promotional tactic. In addition, you can learn a lot from others who are marketing in your niche and possibly in others. Most people on Internet forums are more than willing to help others out and many ideas are born and tested in these communities. So don’t look at forum posting as just a way to get another link posted but rather look at it as the valuable networking opportunity that it is.