We've previously given you all the reasons that we think a small business should have a website.
If you've read that article you may have started thinking that maybe an online presence is exactly what your business needs after all.
Marketing your business is a key activity that will keep new customers arriving at your door.
To help you along in your decision, here's a short comparison between online and offline marketing.
When looking at the different marketing options available to you, remember that there are two key components to a marketing activity.
1.
REACH: the number of qualified customers that see your message.
2.
FREQUENCY: is the number of times the qualified customers sees your message.
The combination of these two factors is critical in any marketing or promotion plan.
Offline Marketing Includes things like community newspaper advertisements,flyers, brochures and TV/radio advertising.
The costs associated with this traditional marketing are highly varied.
Set up and printing costs for brochures and flyers as well as the cost to deliver these if you choose something like a mail box drop in your local area.
You pay a piece rate for each printed item and each item delivered.
REACH: The number of people you deliver your flyer or brochure to.
Limited by your print run.
Does have the potential to hang around; on the fridge, in a file etc.
Newspaper advertising; a variable cost dependent on the newspaper's circulation, what size advertisement you choose and where your ad is positioned in the paper.
REACH: The number of people who read the paper.
Limited by circulation numbers and print run.
TV/Radio advertising; very much a variable cost, dependent on time of day the ad is broadcast.
TV advertising in particular is expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a 30 second slot.
REACH: Very much limited to the range of the radio or TV station and the number of people who tune in at that particular time.
Online Marketing Includes things like websites (hosting, design etc.
), SEO, email marketing and social media.
The costs associated with online marketing are a little more standardised and there are ways to limit your costs.
You can access a lot of free online marketing; your only cost will be your time unless you choose to outsource.
Email marketing is very low cost once you have collected your customer's email addresses.
Depending on the number of subscribers you can even access free services to store these details.
REACH: The number of subscribers to your email list; this should be an extremely targeted list since the addresses were collected by you.
Limited by your great copy; getting people to open an email is a real skill.
Website costs such as domain names and website hosting are fairly basic.
There are extremely low monthly fees to host your website.
REACH: A website can theoretically reach all users of the internet, 24 hours a day.
Limited by your marketing skill; rank in Google, social media and how well known the site is.
Website design is usually a one off charge that continues to service your customers until you do a re-design or remove your website from the internet.
REACH: Again, theoretically all users of the internet, 24 hours a day.
Limited by how well designed it is; the better it loads and the more interesting it is, more people will stay on the site for longer.
PPC marketing means you pay only if customers click on your ad.
You can limit how much you are prepared to spend each day on this type of advertising.
Social media is a free service in almost all cases.
Often the cost of social media is the time commitment required to keep it fresh and interesting.
REACH: Again, all users of these social networks, 24 hours a day.
Limited by how much time you spend interacting on social media and sharing information.
Engaging with others has the potential to increase your reach to crazy levels.
SEO will ensure your website is found in Google's search results.
Various activities that don't cost a lot but take time to implement.
REACH: Allows you to increase how many of the worldwide internet users find you in Google.
Limited by how much of it you can do yourself or outsource.
As you can see there are many things to consider when you plan to organise a business website.
Hopefully the above comparison will show you that a small investment online can reap large benefits to your offline business compared to traditional offline advertising methods.