| Merely having an online presence is not enough for | | | | Once target customers have arrived at your site, you |
| even strictly bricks and mortar companies. With the | | | | must engage them and ultimately close the sale (or |
| Internet having proliferated into the medium that | | | | make the conversion). Increasing the amount of touch |
| provides the most impressions, a good digital media | | | | points throughout various portions of a site and via links |
| strategy is crucial to online and offline business | | | | and "recommended products" sidebars is an easy and |
| success. A good digital media plan will be | | | | effective way to expose the customer to more of |
| comprehensive, including not only one but several of | | | | what you have to offer. |
| the important components of online marketing | | | | Value-Added Email Strategies |
| mentioned below. Without further ado, we'll move on to | | | | Email campaigns are becoming increasingly difficult to |
| reviewing the top trends in digital media strategy. | | | | maximize due to spam filters, opt-outs and customer |
| Search Engine Optimization | | | | desensitization in general. In spite of these challenges, |
| Can this really be considered a trend? Most | | | | businesses can keep their products and services in |
| businesses that have Web sites already know that | | | | front of potential customers by adding value to their |
| without being optimized for search engines, their sites | | | | message. |
| are unlikely to ever be found by their target customer. | | | | Rich Media Advertising |
| Since target keywords are always changing and SEO | | | | In the past, online marketers have been reluctant to |
| is relatively inexpensive to implement, a constant | | | | engage in rich media advertising due to fears of |
| refinement of SEO is the order of the day. | | | | alienating dial-up or slow bandwidth users. Consumers |
| Social Digital Strategy | | | | themselves, however, are showing more interest in rich |
| Social networking and social commerce features are | | | | media messages such as those contained in animation, |
| components of this important trend. Representing your | | | | audio, video and gaming. |
| products and services and promoting them through | | | | A Multi-pronged Approach |
| social networking sites (and yes, even blogs) is crucial | | | | Now that you're a bit more familiar with some of the |
| to maintaining open communication with your | | | | trends in digital marketing strategy, your head might be |
| customers. Social commerce features that allow | | | | swimming with ideas on how to implement one or |
| customers to rate you are rated as being very | | | | more of the ideas contained herein. Before jumping |
| important to today's Web savvy consumer. | | | | into anything, make sure to check out how others are |
| Smartphone Applications | | | | putting these strategies to use. Note successes and |
| Investing in the creation of a customized application for | | | | mistakes so you can have a good idea of what |
| the Blackberry or iPhone that allows customers | | | | works and what does it. Don't forget that a good |
| access to your products and services is relatively | | | | online marketing program is a comprehensive one that |
| inexpensive and puts you literally at the touch of their | | | | employs not only one but several of the techniques |
| fingers. | | | | mentioned above. Most importantly, remember to |
| Cross-sell, Cross-sell, Cross-sell | | | | measure your results. |