What is a content Integrated Online Marketing Strategy?

by David Callan

There are still a lot of uncertainties about many aspects of online marketing. However one clear factor that is emerging is the increasingly thin line between content and effective advertising online. If anything the line diving the two is rapidly disappearing.

One of the things that has greatly speeded up this process is the rapid rise of content integrated online marketing. What is content integrated marketing? As the name suggests, this is where useful content doubles up as one big advertisement for a product or service. The real power of content integrated marketing is in having some genuinely useful and valuable information that points readers to a particular product or service without making it look or sound like an advertisement.

Why Content Integrated Marketing Is So Effective
The World Wide Web is many things to many people, but it is essentially an information tool. People seek information that will improve their knowledge and sharpen their skills.
This is one of the reasons why most people will go to great lengths to avoid ads online. In the same way that they will be eager to find useful appropriate information. In other words useful, valuable information online will always find a huge, eager and captive audience. You can now begin to imagine the impact of such information when it points to a particular relevant useful product or service.

The real power of content integrated marketing has hardly been exploited online. There is little doubt that in future it will be a key element in any online marketing or promotional effort.

Lots of Creativity Required In Content Integrated Marketing
Do not for a single moment confuse content integrated marketing with an article that tries to make a weak desperate link to a product or service. Most readers will be able to see through such an article from miles away. Neither is it the usual article with an appropriate resource box at the bottom begging you to visit a website.
A proper content integration marketing effort will be the sort of article that will be eagerly read and the association to a certain product or service will not take away the value of the article.

For instance a valuable, well-written SEO (Search Engine Optimization) article that describes how a website moved from zero visitors to 5,000 hits a day within two weeks would be of great interest to a vast majority of us. In this case, mentioning the link-generating software or tool that was used to accomplish this amazing leap in traffic is such a key part of the article that leaving it out would greatly weaken the article.

Good content integrated marketing requires a lot of creativity to execute properly. Still it is well worth the effort because when properly executed any article will generate thousands of valuable leads for the client business for many years to come.

Getting The Advertiser/Content Mix Right Calls For Plenty Of Research
When executed effectively it is all made to look very simple. However there is a lot of work that goes into any content integrated marketing effort. To be successful, the focus must start with typical problems faced by the target market that you have in mind. The more serious the problem, the better. All this is with the assumption that the product or service you are promoting is effective. This is very important. If it is not effective then your promotional effort will just not work. It will end up falling flat on its’ face.
Identifying these pressing problems will call for lots of research. Fortunately, research is fairly easy to accomplish online. One can actually do plenty of useful research online for free. This is a huge advantage when you consider what some simple offline research usually costs a company. Only the very large and prosperous enterprises can afford it.

Online there is a lot of free research that can be done which will yield lots of useful information. By simply visit discussion forums or even going further and asking a question or two, lots of data and information can be instantly generated. Not to mention the fact that blogs, which allow for comments and reactions from readers, can yield a lot of valuable information that can help any online marketer create an effective content integrated promotional effort.

In Conclusion
Using these few tips, you can go ahead and attempt to create some content that merges your content directly with your key product or service and see the impact that it has on your online business.

The Effect of Online Marketing on Your Life

By Meenakshi Wali

The face of buying and selling has undergone a sea change ever since the invasion of internet. Internet marketing or online marketing has brought your near by market place as close to you as your laptop or pc. Online marketing services are the tools that are used to enhance the buying and selling transaction that take place in the virtual world.

Online marketing is a growing fundamental and is expected to grow massively in the coming years. A few years back the concept of online marketing or online marketing services were only restricted websites that dealt in goods that were shipped to your desired destination. But online marketing today is easier to reach. It does not only help you buy anything from clothes, electronics, accessories and jewelry to gifts and flowers too. Rather it has now made life much easier for you. Paying your monthly bills or accessing your bank account right from your house was something which was impossible a few years back, but internet and online marketing has made it possible.

A report by JupiterResearch on Online Population Forecast, states that by the year 2011, there shall be as many as 1.5 billion people with internet connection throughout the world. The highest growth rate shall be accounted in countries like India, China and Brazil. If the report is to be believed then the growth is undoubtedly incredible and shall bring about a revolution in online marketing.

This growth in online marketing has also brought about a drastic increase in the Online Marketing Services
that are provided to these websites. The technique of online marketing services has evolved over the years. Today there are several online marketing services like email marketing, affiliate marketing, search engine management or SEM and internet advertising. These are just the broader classifications of the services that online marketing can provide.

Other upcoming internet services like viral marketing, blog marketing, social communities etc, are also helping in spreading online marketing services in the internet world. The day to day rise in online marketing shall have its effect on the total ad spends also. If the trend continues, online marketing services shall be the most profitable business in the years to come.

7 Things You Can Do to Improve
Your Online Marketing Presence

by Bobette Kyle

Increasingly, online marketing is a crucial part of any marketing plan. Executing the programs in your plan, however, is just as critical. For many, finding the time is difficult. To make progress, you must set time aside each day (or other regular time period) for marketing online. To that end, take a moment right now to block out time for online marketing over the next six months, beginning today.

Use that time today and over the next six months to execute Internet- based programs in your plan. No plan yet? No problem. You will, of course, want to finish your marketing plan so you can refine your activities, but you can begin improving your online presence today by doing one or more of the following ideas:

Volunteer for Online Interviews
Podcasts, Webcasts, blogs, RSS feeds and newsletters (ezines) are all venues for online interviews or discussions. You'll want to approach publishers who regularly conduct interviews with guests of your caliber, so finding opportunities will take some research. Do this by searching general search engines (such as google.com) or directories. Some directories to get you started: podcast.net (podcasts), ezinehub.com (ezines), sydic8.com (RSS feeds/blogs)

Identify 10 Bloggers in Your Category
Then send them your product as a gift. The idea is to expose your product to influencers in your category by giving them an opportunity to try it free. If they like it, they may give it a mention in their blogs. Note that this is a subtle online marketing technique. The idea is NOT to advertise to them, ask a favor of them or ask them to blog about the product. Choosing to mention (or not mention) your product should be solely up to them.

You can find and read blogs by searching blogging directories such as technorati.com.

Join an Online Network
Online social networks allow you to set up a profile page and interact with others who have your same professional interests. Each caters to a different type of audience, and there are do's and don'ts, so you'll want to read about a network before joining, read some of the profiles and learn a particular site's rules before plunging in. Some networks to explore: linkedin.com, ryze.com, myspace.com, orkut.com, friendster.com, tribe.net

Draft a Press Release
First and foremost, the release must be something newsworthy to the media (if you need ideas, read the article here: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/pr/NewsAngle.htm). Also, be sure to include a link to your Website or blog in the press release. Finally, distribute the release through an online press release service such as PRWeb.com.

Begin Surveying Your Website Visitors
Surveys can help you identify opportunities for improvement. Since online attention spans are very short, try asking a single two-part question such as Fred Reichhold's Ultimate Question: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend __________." Fill in the blank with your Website name (or other relevant product). To those who reply with a 6 or lower, ask why not. Most likely you will see a pattern in the comments that will point to ways of improving your Website. There are software packages to help you set up an online survey. Also, surveymonkey.com is a popular Web interface for producing online surveys.

Put Your Product's or Company's Creation Story Online
Or work on conveying one or more of Patrick Hanlon's 7 Primal Branding pieces online -- creed, icons, rituals, sacred words, nonbelievers and leaders. According to Hanlon, these seven pieces form belief systems that inherently attract people who want to believe in a product. Those people form the communities that surround successful products and services.

Study Your 5 Closest Competitors' Websites and Online Marketing Activities
Aside from gaining a better understanding of trends in your industry, you will also gain new insights into promotional strategies and tactics for your own business. As you research, brainstorm a list of ideas and use that list to plan a new online strategy or tactic for your own business.

There you have it - seven ideas for improving your online marketing presence. Choose one and get started today!

About the Author
Bobette Kyle draws upon 15+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, online marketing experience, and a marketing MBA as inspiration for her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network (http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com). She is also author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business." You can search all articles on the network through the marketing directory by going here: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/directory