Integrated Marketing to an Online Audience

It’s no secret that the internet has now become a vital source of communication when it comes to businesses and the public. More ancient methods of communicating to clients & the media such as press releases and mail-outs are still effective, however any communications strategy that leaves out communication through their website and the online world will eventually falter. Using your website to communicate to potential clients, current clients and the media is the cornerstone of any strategic campaign.

A website can be used to relay communication, but since the internet is instant access, your online efforts are a great way to show your business and you are genuine and transparent. Perhaps the most important thing you can do for your site is to set up a blog. Blogging is extremely popular as of late, and just mentioning the word can sometimes be enough to cause someone to take notice. Blogs are useful because they are easy to update on a regular basis with pertinent information. The media likes blog-based communication because it is often a no-hassle way to learn about your company’s latest endeavors. Blogging also allows you to inject a human voice into the site, which pulls quite a bit of weight with some people. After all, clients usually prefer to know that the company they’re working with is professional but also personable. A well-written blog can help to get this across.

On top of having a successful blog, every website should have a press release and news section. This is where you will want to post all of your latest happenings, awards and news. While the blog is used similarly, the difference is with the tone of the writing. Your press release/news section should be written with formal professionalism, while your blog should be written conversationally, a more approachable voice, even including comments and conversation. One thing to take note, however, is a lack of attention to a conversational type of post can turn a great thing into negative affects on your company’s reputation.

It also can’t hurt to jump on the social media bandwagon, which is what most business are doing. No matter what genre your business fits into, it is always beneficial to be apart of the social media conversation. For some businesses, it is the only way to increase transparent conversations with clients and the targeted audience. By making use of sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you can elicit and become informed of “the buzz” that might otherwise be hard to come by, especially with the hard-to-reach audience, the online audience.

The final way to increase communication from your company to the public online is to creatively develop interaction on your website. Whether it be through your blog comments, give-a-ways, developing a youtube channel or joining an online chat room on your website, the more the interaction you have on your website, the better feedback you’ll get and the more you’ll be able to reach the sea of potential online shareholders.

About the Author

Written by Victoria Knight, finance writer and money market rates reporter for Ratlines.com.