Small Business Internet Marketing: Investment Vs Expense

If every time you handed me $10 I handed you back $100, how many times would you do the deal? Like any sane person, you would probably be shifting your budget around to free up as many dollars as possible right? Would you consider this to be an investment or an expense? This same type of thinking must be in your mind as you consider investing in internet marketing services to get you more customers through the web.

It seems that some of the big price tags on internet marketing services can catch small business owners off guard. Shelling out $1,000-$5,000 for an online advertising campaign that helps you rank #1 in Google can seem like a steep price, even when compared to the price of getting on a local radio or TV station let alone the phone book or newspaper. It can be hard to swallow, let alone turn over that type of cash.

But here's the deal,

Every year more and more people are online than the year before meaning that your potential customer base online is growing. Every year, more of the people that are online are spending more time online searching for businesses like yours in your local area. Every year more and more people are interacting with a business like yours online. What's all this mean? The internet is worth investing in because that is where nearly all of your customers will be in the next 5-10 years if they aren't already.

You just need to make sure you invest in the right services that will actually get you results.

So again I ask you, would you trade $1,000 for $10,000 in sales? Would you trade $5,000 for $50,000? Where would you stop? Would you stop? The potential of the internet is nearly limitless.

Hopefully you are realizing that investing in internet advertising in an investment and not an expense in which case you're probably thinking, "This is all great, but how do I know which services are actually investments vs which ones will just suck my pockets dry?"

That's a great question! Here's a solid but brief answer: Generally speaking, most small businesses are going to get the most bang for their buck from social media marketing (like Facebook) and from doing SEO (getting your site coming up at the top of Google). Facebook is new form of guerrilla marketing and SEO is the new yellow pages. Find a company that provides them both to get the quickest, fastest results for your company. Other services such as pay per click advertising and video marketing can also be extremely effective, however small businesses should focus on connecting with customers on Facebook and getting ranked #1 on Google first.

In some cases, online marketing has been known to literally double some small business owners business. Because the internet is still new, most of your competitors probably haven't figured out how to use the internet effectively yet! This means that if you understand that internet marketing needs to be an invaluable part of the overall marketing for your business, you are in a position to dominate if you take action quickly. Remember, online marketing done correctly is an investment not and expense.

If you need help with your online marketing campaign, Scepter Marketing provides small business internet marketing services at affordable prices to help your business dominate your competition.