The amazing thing about the web is that it accommodates the whole sales cycle. Today you can:
1. Learn about a product or service
2. Compare prices and reviews
3. Talk to a sales representative (and your friends) about it
4. Make a purchase
.. and do it all over the Internet! In order for a company to compete successfully in this relatively new environment, it must accommodate all of these steps for potential customers exceptionally well.
Your site is a "vending machine"
The key to Internet Marketing is to develop a web site that will work as a "vending machine" for your company. That is, once people visit the site, they will naturally follow the behavioral path that will end up in becoming your customer. There are many ways to drive people to visit your web site, which include both 'traditional' (offline) and Online marketing activities, where some are more cost-effective than others. Once a person visits your web site, the first goal is to identify who they are and add them to your audience database - persuading visitors to enter their contact information is the art and science of Internet Marketing. Only with the visitor's permission, you could contact them later on with email and other promotions.
People are attracted to good Content
A smart social media strategy can make it easy for customers to:
* Consume Content
* Discover Content
* Mark + Share Content
* Create Content
Participation and Conversion Rates - the only true measures of success
At the end of the day, the only true measures of success will be your web site's 'Participation and Conversion Rates', which include:
* What percentage of site visitors actually ordered a product or service? at what value?
* What percentage entered their contact info? referred a friend? registered for a newsletter? posted a comment? and more..
For example, if a 100,000 people visited the site, but only 100 tickets were bought - your conversion rate is 0.001% - in which case you may want to 'recalibrate' your 'vending machine'. Many sites suffer from low practical results- if this sounds familiar, call Giant Step, we can help you get better results.