Member Article

Virtually boost your business

With Jill Lee of Business Link

Marketing your business online is a cost effective way of communicating with potential new customers on a global scale. Developing an effective online brand involves so much more than launching a quirky website with flashing images. An effective e-marketing strategy should represent your business objectives and ultimately boost sales by complementing your existing communications.

E-marketing goes hand in hand with traditional promotional tools like advertising, PR or direct mail and is especially valuable to smaller enterprises, by providing access to the mass market at an affordable price. A simple web link on advertisements or corporate literature can drive more visitors to your website, providing potential customers with additional information about your company and potentially leading to an online sale. E-mail campaigns make it easier to obtain detailed information about customers’ responses to advertising, allowing you to measure results and establish how effective a campaign has been.

Online marketing gives you the opportunity to take your existing promotions to the next level by targeting customers through creative interactive campaigns, using music, graphics, videos or a game. Linking a customer database to the website can even personalise customer relations by greeting visitors to the site with targeted offers. By working for your business 24 hours a day, a website can even help customers find out about products when the office is closed.

Business Link has made it easy for companies to benefit from e-marketing through its guide to using digital technologies at www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast which describes how to develop, implement and monitor an e-marketing plan and discusses hot topics such as developing customer trust in the face of security and privacy concerns. It provides advice on whether e-marketing is the correct approach for your business and outlines the steps necessary to get started, such as ensuring fast internet access and setting up a server. The guide also covers staff training and storing customer information in line with the Data Protection Act.

Business Link is also inviting businesses across the region to optimise their online presence through a series of four workshops hosted in partnership with web marketing specialists MBL Solutions this month. The sessions will offer advice on how search engines work, how to attract visitors to your website and how to use the internet to create a prospective customer database. The sessions will take place at:

• Durham County Cricket Club on September 22
• Central Square North in Newcastle on September 23
• Alnwick Gardens, Northumberland, on September 24
• Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art on September 25

All workshops will begin at 1.30pm and end at 4.30pm, costing £25 plus VAT per delegate. To find out more about these sessions, call 0191 250 4530, email marc.shepherd@mybiz.co.uk or visit www.mblsolutions.co.uk/webmarketing.Business Link’s substantial team of expert brokers operate across the region in local access points and on a mobile basis. For further information about Business Link visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast or call 0845 600 9 006.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by BENE .