Internet Marketing Convergence

You can reach more members of your target by using Internet marketing convergence methods.

Internet marketing convergence and general convergence marketing information.  This article is about Internet marketing convergence.

If you’re looking for neat ways to integrate offline and online marketing together, then I think you’ll find this article helpful.  Internet marketing convergence is primarily about converging (bringing together) offline and online marketing systems.   By integrating both online and offline marketing channels into your overall business marketing strategy, you’ll be able to have greater reach, more consistent name recognition, and build trust among your prospects.

Now, one thing to keep in mind is that this article is written for both online and offline businesses.  There are convergence marketing ideas here for both these types of businesses.  If you’re in charge of a predominantly offline, brick-and-mortar business, you’ll find some useful information here.  If you’re involved with an Internet-based business, you’ll also find some ideas here.  Also, ideas that work for an offline business can also work for an online business.

Why do Internet Marketing Convergence?

Well, depending on your business and your market, I think that by the end of this article, you’ll see the potential of convergence marketing and what it can do for your business or project.

Here’s a quick example:

Let’s say that you own a brick-and-mortar business—you operate an optometrist’s clinic in New York.

You want more clients.  So you make sure you have your business listed on Google Maps, so that when local residents search for an optometrist’s clinic in New York (actually, let’s be more specific and say Manhattan), there’s a chance your business will be listed in the results.

That’s a simple example of convergence marketing: taking an offline business and giving it an online presence.  This results in more clients.  This is why convergence marketing can be a very profitable investment for businesses.

Internet marketing convergence, for traditional offline businesses, can be as simple as having an online presence.  For Internet-based businesses, convergence can be as simple as using direct mail marketing.

Internet Marketing Convergence for Offline Businesses

If you own an offline business and want expand your reach, one of the first things you should do is have a search engine optimized site that appeals to your prospects.  There are a number of articles on this site that deal with search engine optimization, so we won’t cover that here.  But I will say that presence (having a site) is a good starting point.

Video marketing is another thing you can do.  If you run a local business, why not film your location and the route someone would take to get there?   Keep in mind that marketing videos should be short and sweet—no longer than 3 minutes.  If you shoot a long video, you can break it into a lot of smaller ones.

Although the next section of this article is about convergence marketing for Internet-based businesses, a lot of the ideas I give there can also apply to offline businesses…

Internet Convergence Marketing for Online Businesses

If you’ve ever seen the boxes that Amazon uses to ship their orders in, you probably saw that the box said Amazon.com on it.

I bring this up because it’s a good example of how an Internet-based company does offline marketing.  Having their url (Amazon.com) on the box is one way that Amazon.com re-inforces it’s brand: everyone who sees the box knows that someone ordered from Amazon.com.  This adds an element of social proof and trust, as it illustrates that people buy from Amazon.com and that when they do so, they get their shipments.

MindControlMarketing.com

This is a book by Mark Joyner.  I mention it because the title itself is a Web address.  Can you see the integration at work here?  If someone you knew were reading this book, and it looked interesting to you, all you’d have to do is look at the title and go to the web page.

This is an example of a site being marketed or advertised on a physical product (offline marketing).

Advertising In Magazines and Papers That Have An Online Presence

This can be a great way to expand your reach.  Although magazines and newspapers might be declining, the readers of these magazines can be great prospects for your business.  After all, they’re already investing in information about your market, so that shows that they’re eager to learn.

Direct Mail Marketing

Phil Mansour of Insiders HQ recently mentioned that online affiliate marketers can see some good success from direct mail marketing.  There’s a certain technique and approach that online businesses should take with direct mail, which is beyond the scope of this article.  However, the main point here is that, for online businesses that want to do offline marketing, direct mail is potentially a viable option to look into.

Mobile Marketing: The Future of Convergence Marketing

Mobile marketing is something to get into now, whether you have an online or offline business.  Imagine being able to reach your market on their cell phones?  That’s the potential of mobile marketing, which is really in it’s infancy right now.

Internet Convergence: Social Media Marketing

First of all, let’s eliminate a misnomer: social media marketing.  The term marketing should never really go with social media, because marketing, by it’s nature, runs counter to what social media is all about.

Social media marketing is a term made up by marketers who want to increase the reach of their messages via social media channels.  That, in and of itself, is not the problem when social media is properly utilized.  But, what has happened is that marketers have forgotten that people go to social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to engage in a conversation, not to be blatantly marketed to.

Keep that in mind.  It may seem like a small distinction, but it really isn’t.  Understanding this can really make the difference between a social media campaign that is met with open arms, or a social marketing campaign that’s rejected or ignored by your market.

Though the subject of how to conduct a social media campaign is beyond the scope of this article, just keep in mind that if you want to have a social media presence for your company, be present and there to engage in the pressing subjects that your prospects are talking about.  Be there primarily to help, educate, and entertain them, not to sell to them.  (At least, don’t try to sell to them right away, or on the social media networks themselves.)

I hope that this article has given you a lot of things to consider when planning your marketing campaigns.  One thing I mentioned earlier was how this article was written for both offline and online businesses.

However, there’s another way of looking at this: Don’t restrict yourself into thinking that you’re an online business or an offline business.  You’re a business, plain and simple.  As such, you should try to reach your market in as many ways as you can.  You can see a lot of business, marketing, and advertising success through the utilization of what you’ve just learned about Internet marketing convergence.

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Tagged as: convergence marketing, integration marketing, Internet Marketing Convergence, offline business, online business