Web 2.3? Web 1.9? No, silly, it's Web 2.0!
Where is marketing going these days? People band around the term web 2.0 but what does it mean? How do we know that it is web 2.0 and not actually web 2.3 or web 1.9? Not even I know that - someone must have muttered this phrase and it has spread in popularity.
Going back to the turn of the 20th Century the best form of marketing was magazine, particularly in the states. This is because of the way the population was distributed - I believe that 50% of people lived in very remote areas where the only way to reach them marketing wise was through the post, and therefore catelogue/mail order was the best.
But now, so much is geared at online marketing. TV, Radio, Newspaper, outdoor billboards etc etc have all taken the hit of the last 6 years at the expanse of marketing online. In 1993 there were only 130 websites online. In 1996 there were just 600,000. Today, we are looking at an exponential number, hence why Google is named after the number googel (one followed by 100 zeros). Getting to grips with the online world is what is needed to take any business forward.
I have just had a meeting with a brand new client, a huge retail brand who own thousands of high street stores up and down the UK. But it transpires that they have only recently moved into online marketing - the reason being the former CEO never believed in it. Why? Good question. Here are a few reasons that I gave them:
1. Online Marketing is the most transparent of all marketing forms. You can easily track your expenditure right through to sale and sale value, thus making ROI and CPA very achievable.
2. The most direct - around 90% of people across all product areas and services will start with an online search before buying a product. 59% of people who buy in the high street stores will have started with an online search.
3. Reach - the global reach of the internet is vast. As more and more people get online each monthly, marketing online is a no brainer.
4. Targeting - as well as the reach you can target your advertising to your target market. If I want to target just people above the age of 50 then I can do so through PPCs demographic targeting.
5. If you do online marketing and you have a strong "bricks and mortar" presence (offline) then aswell as increasing your revenues online through your online marketing your sales will increase by up to 50% offline aswell.
Get online if you want to keep up with the Jones'. In my personal and professional opinion it is a must and those who don't know will miss out on the forthcoming boom in mobile phone advertising.
