One of the biggest online marketing challenges for small businesses is staying on top of emerging trends and filtering hype from reliable marketing tactics. For many small business marketers, dealing with constant change typically falls within a spectrum of doing nothing new and sticking with "what works" all the way to spending a large part of the marketing budget "testing" new channels and tactics without any ability to anticipate the possible return.
Best practices often fall somewhere in between. What are some of the successful online marketing tactics being implemented now and into 2008? Below is a list of 35 such tactics that may be meaningful for both BtoB or BtoC marketers.
- Blogging
- Search engine optimization
- Blogger relations
- Email marketing
- Social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Corporate web site
- Pay per click
- Online public relations
- Webinars/Teleconference
- Online display ads
- Online communities/forums
- Social News / Bookmarking
- Viral marketing
- eCommerce Feeds/Comparison Shopping
- Blog advertising
- IM / Microblogging (Twitter)
- Sponsorship / Cross Branding
- Paid reviews
- Affiliate marketing
- Free content (white papers)
- Online contests, giveaways
- RSS advertising
- Behavioral targeting
- Advergames
- Podcasts
- Rich media apps/demos (Flash)
- Rich media avatars
- Virtual worlds
- Virtual tradeshows
- Video marketing
- Contextual Advertising
- Widgets
- Mobile ads
- User generated content
- Branded microsites
Which tactic is best for your small business marketing objectives? Right now there's a poll running on the above list of 35 tactics. You can see which tactics marketers are picking as their choices for the most promising in 2008.
Blogs are at the top of this list because they can serve as the basis for so many other internet marketing tactics ranging from brand building to search engine optimization to lead generation.
Take the poll yourself and then come back and share your opinion on what you think are the best small business online marketing tactics for the coming year.