No matter what your business is, you want to solve some need that your customers have, or anticipate needs they don’t even know they have. You have to market your business.

 

Marketing and advertising are not synonymous. Marketing includes advertising, but also includes all of the activities needed to get attention for your company, like launching your product or service in the right place at the right price, promoting it (attending trade shows, running contests, sponsoring events, etc.), keeping in touch with customers via newsletters, and so on. Everyone in business knows effective marketing is crucial, and it never stops being important.

 

As Web 2.0 applications have gained popularity, so have the creative ways people market their companies.

 

It’s often hard to measure success due to specific marketing tactics because you don’t know how many people have looked at a website or read a story. But if you’re using Web 2.0 applications, it is easy to see how many people have seen your site and clicked for more information.

 

But they have to find you first.

 

Web 2.0 software helps customers find your website more easily if you use proper tags, which are keywords that describe your company. When people type a tag into Google or YouTube, you want your company to come up first. If that’s not realistic, you want it to be close to the top, so choose single words as your tags, as opposed to phrases.

 

Next, if you decide to be part of a social networking site, e.g. MySpace, or you create a video for YouTube, be prepared for comments from both fans and critics. Obviously, if people say positive things, it’s good for business. But it’s also to your advantage when people say negative things. You have the opportunity to respond to those comments and turn negative customer experiences into positive ones.

 

Streaming videos are another effective and creative way to market your company or product, and if the video goes “viral,” meaning people watch it and forward it to friends, all the better. Remember the bride who cut off all her hair?. She marketed herself right onto the Tonight Show.

 

The band OK Go had been around for years, but gained significant attention for their self-produced video, which led to more radio play and an appearance on the Grammys.

 

From a convenience standpoint, using smartforms on your website will guide customers to fill in information needed, and fill it in for them if they’re a returning customer.

 

Web 2.0 technology allows you to communicate more effectively with your customers because you can customize the content. Think of e-newsletters – the very thing you’re reading. They let customers know the latest news and promotions, while providing content that interests them and a forum to express their opinions.

 

Using Web 2.0 applications may not be right for every company. A neighborhood bakery may be happy with a website that showcases their menu and location. However, if you want to improve your customers’ Webability – their ability to find you and communicate with you – then using some combination of social networks, streaming video, podcasts, viral marketing and a host of other marketing tools might be the next step in building your company.

To read more about the risks and rewards of using Web 2.0 in your marketing, click here

 

Have you utilized Web 2.0 technology in your websites? Have you noticed any measurable change? We’d want to hear from you.

 

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