Marketing is not just about going house to house promoting your products and services or paying thousands of dollars just to have a TV or radio commercial aired to let people know you are launching a product. With the help of the Internet, business owners, manufacturers and home-based job seekers will find that marketing can be done without spending too much money and at the same time being able to earn extra money.
The Three Common Types of Internet Marketing
There are actually three types of Internet marketing and I will address each one in detail. Then you’ll have enough information to help you decide whether this business is for you and if you will benefit more from one, two or maybe all three types.
1. Video Marketing
This advertising strategy is similar to how television ads work to promote a specific type of product or service. The only difference is that video marketing is now making its way to the digital world. It is viewed as a means of reinforcing an existing marketing campaign to help remind Internet surfers of products that are available. You can also earn more money by accepting advertisements which you can include in your video postings.
Advantages of Video Marketing
Social Media Friendly
It doesn’t take a genius to know that videos about product promotions and endorsements can be spread through social media. As a matter of fact, people can even hire social networking fanatics to spread videos by posting them on their walls and tagging their friends as well. Imagine a Facebook wall without tagged posts in forms of movie trailers, music videos, slide shows and product endorsements. It would be super boring and utterly plain.
Budget Friendly
This is considered to be one of the friendliest marketing strategies in terms of working within your budget. So if you are looking for a cheaper way to further promote and support your existing advertising campaigns, these videos can help you in a really big way. Posting on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or Orkut is completely free. Merchants can work with you by paying you a commission just to have their products advertised through your videos on YouTube.
Style Friendly
Forget about using old school flyers and sticky posters to market your business, services or creations. You now have an option to advertise in style through Internet marketing. People who are into staying connected and finding everything they want in a snap would find video marketing a really effective and helpful way to shop and look for services without much effort.
Location and Target Friendly
You can specify your target audience as well as the locations where you would like your videos to be shown. This works regardless of whether you have a local business that you would like to promote or if you’re hired to make videos for nationwide businesses.
Disadvantages of Video Marketing
There are several things that you might call limitations in terms of using video marketing as an Internet business model. Consumers will not be able to physically take a sample of the products that you are promoting. If you are the one in charge of coming up with the video, you need to have the required skills to make the video ad so the final product is flawless. Another fact to consider is that some videos are believed to be scams, so be careful with regard to the ads that you respond to.
How to Start Video Marketing
Make a profitable business venture through video marketing and here’s how you can be the king of Internet businesses:
I) Be a video editing master. If you are into video making and you have the skills to turn simple storylines or concepts into amazing videos, this is the perfect business for you. Be creative and you can become successful.
II) Invest in video editing programs and software which can be pretty easy to find. There are some that are highly sophisticated and expensive but you can also purchase software that’s very affordable, user friendly and is still able to create fantastic video effects as well.
III) Find your target market. Remember that you can choose which kinds of videos you want to make so think about your concepts, ideas and the types of products that you want to work on.
2. Email Marketing
Making extra money can be done through email marketing. If you are constantly online checking your emails or chatting with your friends, email marketing can be your way to earning enough to start a permanent Internet business. You can send emails to promote products, services and events. Email marketing can help retain loyal clients so you need to appreciate the value of the business they bring in.
How will You Earn Money through Emails?
Email marketing requires you to have a target list of recipients – a list of people who are scheduled to receive your email advertisements. If you’re working for an online company that usually sends out newsletters and virtual coupons to their customers, you can get your updated list from them. To get your lists of recipients organized, an autoresponder can be of great help.
You also have to collect new email addresses by getting people to subscribe to your emails. So how can you convince guests to subscribe? You can send free gift cards, coupons, newsletters, articles, eBooks and other useful products that will be of some benefit to them.
Once you have a regular email following, you can earn money from selling good quality products or services to your list of subscribers. Be careful that you don’t overdo the sales-type emails or people will unsubscribe very quickly.
Choose from three types of email marketing: Direct email, retention and advertising for other people.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing
This is a business that you can run without spending too much money. This low-cost business can help you earn money faster than you can take a dollar out of your wallet. You can also reach your target client instantly. Another good thing about email marketing is that you can add a touch of creativity through personalized emails.
Businesses also go for this type of Internet marketing to reach out to a lot of people without spending too much on snail mail or hiring people to distribute flyers or put up posters. At the same time, including complementary gift coupons in your emails is a great way to keep your loyal customers happy.
On the other hand, there are several downsides to email marketing. Sometimes Internet connection glitches can cause email delivery failures so members of your list don’t receive whatever you’re sending them. It can be dangerous to send the same email more than once in case it’s viewed as spam and you get marked as a spammer. If this happens, you will be completely blocked from their virtual mail boxes.
Spamming also started the feud between email marketers and the law. Due to the increase in the number of hackers and spammers in the virtual world, laws have been passed to punish those who are found guilty of spamming.
3. Article Marketing
Write your way to a successful Internet business through article marketing. This viral marketing tactic is all about writing and hiring freelance writers to compose ads and feature articles to promote their businesses, products and services. These articles are usually keyword-centric, which means that when you write for a client, you will be asked to compose your articles around specific keywords or phrases. These words are then linked to the client’s actual website.
Tips to Start Earning Money through Article Marketing
Remember that if you want to earn money through this Internet business model, you have to be specific about what you write because article sites such as About.com, and eHow.com are very particular about the content of each article they receive. If your posts have passed their quality checks, you can be sure that you’ll get paid for your work. All important information should be included in your articles and a resource box needs to be added if you’re quoting lines or phrases from existing posts on the Internet.
You also need to find clients that will pay on a regular basis and agree on what that basis will be. If you are wondering how you are going to get paid, there are several ways to receive money from clients. They include: direct deposits, credit cards, moneygrams and online payment transaction sites such as PayPal.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Article Marketing
If you are seriously thinking about taking on article writing, you need to understand the benefits you can get out of this business. One positive thing about article marketing is the fact that finding clients is not that difficult, although it will depend on how much you’re willing to accept to do the work.
There are tons of legit online job postings for content writing so there would be potential jobs available a lot of the time. Another great thing about this is that payment can be received instantly. Depending on your agreement with your clients, you can get paid straightaway, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Experienced writers should be able to write about a wide range of topics. The more flexibility you have in this area, the more work you will be able to do. Work can include: articles, blog posts, product reviews, news items, product intros, eBooks, reports, resumes and much more. Your working week will be filled with variety and new things to write about.
When it comes to the “cons” of article marketing, there are several points that you also need to consider. Since there are thousands of article writers that are competing for jobs, there will be times when you will be offered low rates. This means there is no guarantee that you will be earning thousands of dollars at a time. The chances of having duplicates or articles having similar content is very high. You may end up revising your material just to meet client requirements.
