Sunday, March 1, 2009

International Marketing for Your Business Via the Internet

By Rick Jenkinns

Any business can be marketed online. Even your average mom and pop store on the corner can be marketed on the internet. There are several advantages to marketing a business online. These advantages include, but are not limited to, the affordability of having an online presence, almost any budget can include online marketing; the worldwide reach of the internet allows you to reach your target audience anywhere; and the ability to tailor your marketing message to appeal to many different sectors of your target audience.

One of the main reasons businesses are looking to the internet for their marketing needs is the affordability factor. The internet is constantly evolving in a direction that makes it more feasible to reach larger numbers of people for less. While there are costs incurred through website hosting and internet access, these fees are minor when you consider how many people can be reached. Websites can be marketed for low costs, or even for free in many cases, via participating in forums related to your type of business, posting links to your website on other websites, or exchanging links with other businesses and organizations.

The ability to reach prospective customers anywhere is another great advantage of marketing your business online. Traditional target market research is not only time consuming but also can be costly and then your marketing methods are only reaching a limited audience through print media, radio and local TV campaigns. Now with the internet, you can drastically increase that reach across the globe, targeting your market niche in other countries that might not otherwise ever hear about you and your business.

The realization that you can reach customers around the world is mind boggling and you must see the major advantage to marketing your business online now. Regardless of where you live and operate, your business has the ability to reach those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter what their proximity to you is. This makes it possible for you to do business with customers anywhere in the world.

The Internet never sleeps it is up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including all holidays. Does your brick and mortar business do that? Think for a moment if you only advertise locally and you have standard business hours of say 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ? heck let?s make that 9:00 p.m. So your local audience is narrowed down to those who are interested in your product or service, then it is narrowed down more to only those who can make it to your business or reach you during the normal business hours. Just those alone brings the percentage of viable customers down. Now think for a moment about the business that never sleeps, that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. Do you see where I?m going with this? It is non-stop shopping. In this busy world, people are looking more and more for convenience and being able to get online when it is convenient for them, makes them more likely to buy the product or service they are looking for.

If your business is not yet being represented online, what are you waiting for? You need to be learning more about the world of Internet marketing. Your business needs you to be learning how to market it online. This is so important because if your competitors are marketing on the internet, you may find they are gaining a steady advantage over you and are becoming more appealing to the online customer. Don't let your competition get a lead on you, get out there and get online today. - 16651

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