Saturday, October 1, 2011

What is an Internet Marketing Consultant?

By Floyd J. Woods


The demand for internet marketing specialists has multiplied over the years with the rise in number of web based businesses. Not all business people are fully content with the outcomes of their marketing efforts. As you know, a campaign is reasonably crucial in boosting your company's online presence, generating leads, and increasing website traffic as well as conversion. If you deem your last drive is not as profitable as you would like it to be, then you might want to look at hiring a marketing professional. Whatever the character of your business is an effective and dependable expert can truly help you in achieving or even surpassing your goals.


What then is an internet marketing consultant and what are his/its responsibilities? A consultant can either be an individual or a company that aids a business entity in planning, implementing, and managing marketing campaigns. As mentioned, the ultimate aim is to generate more profit. He assesses your site, competitor landscape, and niche market; determines your website's strengths and weaknesses with regards to lay out and content; and comes up with strategies to address aspects of your business that need tweaking. A good consultant must be able to present these in a comprehensible manner and explain the desired results to you. And most of all, changes will not be implemented without you approval. It is thus crucial for you to articulate and communicate your vision as well as where you want to take your company.

Nowadays internet marketing consultants do not only hold expertise in marketing strategies alone. They are also experienced in branding, public relations, advertising, website development, and market research.

Branding, as defined by the American Marketing Association (AMA), is a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers." In a nutshell, branding allows your target market to relate with you and associate the products and services you provide to its needs. It is the cornerstone of your marketing communication, is instrumental in motivating prospective consumers, and is crucial in building customer loyalty. Public relations, directly related to building and maintaining reputation, is greatly complementary to marketing. A good public relation makes the job of a marketer a whole lot easier. Some people confuse marketing with advertising. Advertising is just one of the facets of the former. Advertising involves paid announcements of persuasive messages or the presentation of a products and services to consumers, existing and potential alike. Website development covers a wide range of disciplines from graphic design, web programming, to web based database. You should strive for your website to be search engine friendly and customer friendly too. Internet marketing consultants should above all be adept in market research. Many online ventures fail due to the fact that web owners fail to identify their ideal target market. Behavior of consumers and the situation of the niche market ought to be researched well to be able to formulate the best marketing plan.

Before you go about and hire an internet marketing consultant, request references and recommendations first. Don't take a risk on someone who over promises and does not deliver.




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