specializes in creating and managing sophisticated online marketing programs that small businesses can afford to implement and to maintain.
Why market online? That's where the customers are:
- Seventy-four percent of adults are online today, as compared to just 9% in 1995.
- There are now 242 million Internet users in North America - a 17 percent increase from the 176 million in 2002.
- More than half (54 percent) use a broadband Internet connection, as compared to 18 percent who still use a 56k modem.
- Online sales in the US are expected to hit $172 billion in 2005.
*Sources: The Harris Poll via The Wall Street Journal, May 12. 2005; Morgan Stanley Research via The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2005; "The State of Retailing Online 8.0," Forrester Research, May 24, 2005
An effective online advertising, marketing and public relations program includes various components working synergistically, including E-mail advertising, E-mail newsletters, blogs, podcasts, Webinars and a Web site:
- E-mail advertising can augment other electronic and print programs, and helps hold down the cost of hard-copy mailings or print advertising.
- E-Mail newsletters are a key component of a customer-retention program, and can drive traffic to your Web site by linking back to specific pages - such as the Home page, the About Us page or the Contact Us page - to drive traffic to the site.
- Blogs generate buzz, enhance customer loyalty, facilitate crisis communications and are an alternative means of getting key messages to a targeted audience, such as business journalists or automobile buffs.
- Podcasts - which some think of as "audio blogs" - allow you to reach a targeted audience on-the-go via an iPod or other MP3 player. Podcasts can also propel a viral marketing campaign as people share the audio file with others.
- Webinars are interactive Web based seminars that allow you to communicate information to a target audience that is geographically dispersed, and are more cost-effective than traveling throughout the country to generate leads by making presentations to trade and business groups.
- Web sites provide far more information about your company, the products and services you offer and your key personnel than a brochure or print advertisement ever could. A Web site is also the foundation upon which comprehensive online advertising, marketing and public relations programs are built.
Add online blogger to the list of media ventures on the resume of real-estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump. Trump's eponymous blog, which is subtitled "ideas and opinions from Donald Trump and his circle of experts," is connected to Trump University, an online education Web site begun in late May. "It's another channel to get his message out, it gives him another forum to reach his audience," said Michael Sexton, president of Trump University. "It'll be reflective of
what's topical in the news, business, and education, [though] he won't tackle popular culture or entertainment." ... "If Donald Trump is blogging, then blogging is about as mainstream as it gets," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupitermedia...
This shows that technology trends are compressing," Gartenberg added. "... he's recognizing that here's a medium he can embrace to extend his message. That's a pretty strong statement from a guy who already reaches millions with his TV show. He's not
someone who needs more of an audience, so there's probably a message in this for other CEOs."
Source: "Donald Trump Launches Blog As Latest Media Venture," TechWeb, August 10, 2005
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