by Kathleen Gage The Street Smarts Speaker and Author

In years past, marketing simply meant running a few ads, doing a bit of direct mail and maybe putting up a flyer, poster or billboard. Today, things have changed. Not only has marketing become much more sophisticated, consumers tend to gather more information than ever before when making a buying decision. This is a direct result of the Internet.

Another result of the Internet is eMarketing which is anything you do online to promote your business. Some people are under the mistaken belief that traditional marketing strategies can be replaced completely by eMarketing. On the other hand, some people won’t do any eMarketing. Ideally, you should use both online and offline marketing strategies.

Although you might not be ready to embrace all that technology can do for you, your customers probably are. The Computer Industry Almanac projects that we will have 1.35 billion Internet users by 2007.

Every day more people are utilizing the power of the Internet to research companies, determine level of credibility of a company based on their web presence and making purchases via the Net. If you do not have a good system in place to take advantage of this, you will soon be left behind.

Some time ago my business associate and I were contracted by a mortgage company in San Jose, California, to develop a sales and marketing program for real estate agents. The mortgage lender wanted to offer valuable marketing information to his customers who happened to be real estate agents. His goal was to offer a fresh perspective from information experts who were also customers of real estate agents. Since we have both bought and sold homes through agents we were a good fit.

Our market research revealed about 50% of consumers use the Internet in the real estate buying and selling process. (In that the event was a few years ago, that percentage is likely much higher today).

Whether it is to gather comparative market information, check out schools and stores in the area, find a new church, check the crime rate, or any number of things, more and more people are using the Internet in some phase of the process.

We also discovered many agents are not using the Internet in their sales process; and if they are it is likely they could substantially improve their use, thus improving their market position.

It is likely many agents are losing key sales as a result. Obviously, they have outdated thinking in their understanding of marketing to today’s consumer. If an agent has a potential buyer/seller who is accustomed to the Internet and what it can do for them, to not use the Internet in their marketing is foolish.

A great example of the power of eMarketing is with the proprietor of a specialty gift shop which has a strong focus on teddy bear lovers and collectors. Patricia Twitchell, owner of Just Bears and Stuff in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, attests to the fact that if it wasn’t for the Internet she would not be making anywhere near the revenues she is currently generating. In a conversation in mid 2004, she told me 42% of her revenues were from her Internet presence. In January 2005, her Internet sales revenues jumped to 73%. Each year since then, she is generating a higher and higher percentage of her overall sales from the Internet.

Patricia has customers from all over the world including England, Africa, Australia, Canada, Japan and throughout Europe. This would not be possible if she were not using the power of the Internet in her marketing and sales process.

As a small retail business owner, she must find ways to attract her market for minimal costs. One tool that is an integral aspect of her business is a monthly Ezine, Beary Special Moments.

The Ezine, a downloadable, online newsletter, serves the intended purpose of providing information that is relative to her market while keeping her name and her business fresh in her customers’ minds. Two incredible benefits of her Ezine are the minimal cost to produce and distribute and the cost for sending it to 100, 1,000 or 10,000 is exactly the same. 

Regardless of what you may or may not believe about marketing, things have changed. Have you?

Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer™, is an Internet marketing advisor who works with speakers, authors, coaches and consultants who are ready to turn the knowledge into money-making products and services. Learn more at http://www.kathleengage.com

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