Online marketing is a good way to confirm if we are getting value for our money. The activities can be traced to know what works and what doesn’t. It is also easy to maintain closeness with customers .

There are several ways and means of really bringing out the very best in an online marketing strategy. Understanding how online marketing works is of vital importance. Below is an overview as to why online marketing is so effective as an advertising medium and the various tools that you can make use of to achieve the most desired results.

The sole purpose of effective online marketing is to utilise a strategy that has the lowest possible cost and risk investment, in order to maximise sales potential and receive a high return on investment (profit).

Advantages and Benefits of Online Marketing Include

• Cost Effective – Advertising online offers one of the most cost effective methods of marketing available in comparison with other mediums. Business owners are able to create, deliver and execute an online marketing campaign to a full spectrum of viewers, spending only what’s necessary in order to reap maximum rewards later on.

• Online marketing allows for statistics to be measured more effectively and easily and at a lower cost. Virtually all elements of an online marketing campaign can be traced and tested in some way. Tracking and measuring can be done almost instantaneously since online marketing encourages interaction by clicking on the ad and visiting the website, as well as other target actions.

• Pay Per Click Advertising is notably the most effective means of generating immediate traffic, leads & sales to a website. Advantages of this form include only paying when a user clicks on your ad. The source of traffic can be easily tracked as well as identify which ads are achieving the best result in a campaign, and target an audience more specifically.

• Online marketing campaigns can be implemented much faster than traditional forms of advertising, reaching a targeted audience within a matter of days and in some cases, hours.

• Online marketing provides a greater flexibility level whereby campaigns can be altered to test new markets, evaluate new programmes and make changes more specific to a targeted market.

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies who specialise in helping companies best market their products and services online can successfully place them on the top or first page of major search engines and directories, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

• Target Audience Closeness – Online advertising enables marketers to get close to a targeted audience and remain that way. Internet consumers are growing in numbers and staying online for longer periods. A complete marketing cycle from A to Z can be achieved with online marketing offering the opportunity to create an initial brand awareness right through to customer purchases. Since internet consumers are adapting their lives to suit a variety of elements available for them to do and use, online marketers are able to capitalise on providing these opportunities.

Sourced from: http://www.optimus01.co.za/why-is-online-marketing-so-effective/

Having ways to measure the effectiveness of online marketing allows for one to make choices and know what ways of online suit the customer well. The data can be collected easily and more accurately.

Gone are the days of Mad Men when marketers used to pump money into senseless, measureless and ineffective advertising. During those times, it was hard to be an informed consumer when media was limited. Now the tables have truly turned; the customer has full control over the buying decisions that they make each day. Marketers must adapt and embrace new technologies and tactics in order to attract leads or even delight their customers. And in order to make ROI, building highly effective campaigns is a must. There’s a plethora of marketing advice everywhere, but finding the right effective tools, metrics and formulas is overwhelming.

The best way to measure marketing effectiveness is

Marketing Metrics and Predictive Analytics. First, marketing metrics is important because they tend to measure output things in terms of effectiveness. In the past marketing departments could not measure the effectiveness of ads, PR and events. So you could not justify the cost of the marketing efforts. With metrics, they can gauge related to the number of things you produce

The second is a new trend: Predictive Analytics. Predictive analytics involves using statistics to examine and determine patterns in data. As a researcher and statistician, now I have to use more predictive analytics and regression modeling in my consulting and research with companies.

Sourced from: http://www.docurated.com/all-things-productivity/whats-your-1-way-to-measure-marketing-effectiveness