The Internet offers vast information on emergent products and services in the economy. Internet marketing has been perceived to be an economical way of communicating to potential consumers on the existence of products and services in the economy. Internet marketing was invented in early 1990 as a simple, text-based website that offered product information. It has now evolved into complete automated online businesses with potentially unlimited possibilities. Internet marketing is essentially everything that an organization does, both online and offline, to influence people to buy its products or services from online media such as a website. It includes many different aspects such as pay-back click, search engine optimization, website copywriting, online promotions, blogging and RSS feeds, among others. In order to increase the company’s sales revenue, Montana Mountain Biking (MMB) needs to implement internet marketing. This will be enhanced by developing affiliates’ websites to assist in the marketing of the products.
Internet marketing has been cost-effective and minimizes time spent in marketing the product. Unlike in the past, MMB’s website has enhanced the company to meet the demands of the consumers across the economy. Initially, the company depended on magazines and mails in order to meet the needs of consumers. However, the geographical coverage was a limiting factor, and there was a need for the company to increase its sales revenue through increased market share for the product. In achieving this, the marketing department needs to enact affiliate marketing strategies for the company.
As internet marketing is quite different from person-to-person marketing and advertising marketing, there are various affiliate strategies that MMB can reach customers and enhance them to purchase the product online. The organization needs to increase traffic on its website through search engine optimization (SEO). Ideally, where the website receives more traffic, high sales turnover is likely to be recorded. The website has plenty of metatags and keywords to prevent deflection of traffic. Bringing more traffic to the site will also be achieved through pay-per-click programs. This will be achieved by creating ads, and then linking them to the sites’ keywords.
Google AdSense is an affiliate marketing strategy that the organization can also implement. It enhances revenue generation by placing the image or text of other people on the company’s website. This will make the ad appear on the sites of other related products. The company has an opportunity to filter its competitor’s ad so as to prevent it from appearing on the MMB website. The program places the organization’s ads on the Web and links them to the parent website. This increases the ranking in the search engine. However, they should not be pop-up ads as they are the worst marketing strategies to be undertaken by an organization.
Consequently, Banner Ads on the website provide animation and colorful graphics that are attractive to the website user. These Ads are linked to other affiliate sites so that when the consumer is accessing a given website, he/she can leave the site and infer the contents of the other site. However, in the current economy, individuals or internet users do not entertain distractions. E-commerce newsletters have been the most promising strategy of internet marketing. It enables the organization to have a close rapport with clients and provide them with current information concerning the company’s progress. MMB company can issue email addresses and names inviting potential customers to access the company’s newsletter. They are then requested to forward the newsletter to their friends. The Newsletter should be linked to a form in which the customers will be asked to submit their views concerning the website and the overall company’s operations. Such a strategy will ensure that the company can have a large client base for the product.
Online magazines have been used by many organizations as an affiliate from internet marketing. Depending on its popularity, the client or customers can access the magazine after paying a substantial fee. The magazine is usually issued after a definite period, such as yearly, monthly, or weekly. The MMB’s strategic plan will be to select the magazine that is linked to the product so as to direct the ad to the target market in the economy. In addition, the location of the company’s premises may be challenging to the consumers; therefore, the management needs to incorporate an online guide to the industry’s site. For instance, www.hellometro.com and www.citysearch.com provide a directory for the consumer to search the company’s site—its headquarters and branches—in the region.
The organization can realize its long-term objectives with ease upon following the stipulated internet marketing strategies. In the current economy, entrepreneurs understand the nature of the competitive environment which is essential in realizing a maximum profit. It is vital for the organization to reach potential consumers by using minimal finances. One of the ways in which the management can increase its viability in the economy is to minimize expenditure. Organizations are constantly striving to attract potential customers in the economy. E-mail marketing strategy is an affiliate internet marketing that enhances the organization to use the existing customers to communicate with new customers. However, the organization, through the marketing department, can send e-mails to new customers informing them about the new product in the economy. This strategy involves permission marketing and random marketing. Indeed, the rate of conversion can be low compared to other means of internet marketing—information will be spread to other new and potential consumers. Montana Mountain Biking (MMB) Company has used E-mail marketing to attract new and potential customers to the organization. In the past, the company tried to advertise its operations through sports magazines and outdoor interest without any imminent success. The current plan of purchasing address lists and sending emails to potential customers is vital to the marketing department. The cost of the product will be minimal, and the realization of long-term goals will not be constrained by finances.
In conclusion, for an organization to be successful, it must be able to retain its customers. Retaining customers have been a vital strategy in MMB company. An organization that cannot attract new customers is detrimental to its financial stability and growth. MMB company has devised internet marketing strategies that will ensure customers are satisfied, and they can willingly return to the organization. Some of the affiliate internet marketing strategies include search engine optimization (SEO) that has been quite relevant when undertaking online marketing, Banner Ads, Newsletters, E-mail marketing, online magazines, among others. These affiliate programs will ensure that the cost of marketing is reduced, and the organization is guaranteed a large base of consumers. As such, the management needs to incorporate these strategies to be competitive in the economy.
Reference
Chaddrey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., Johnston, K. & Mayer, R. (2009) Internet marketing: strategy, implementation and practice. 4th edn. Pearson.