Many business managers comment that the Internet changes too fast to keep up with. They are in a constant state of overwhelm.  To those so affected, I offer the following observations and overwhelm cure.

Yes, the Internet is a young media and it is rapidly evolving. But some of what is new at any point in time can be ignored.  Some new things are just trial balloons that will go away as fast as they came. And some new things have limited if any business value. But some new things are must have business tools.

The trick is knowing what new things are must do versus can ignore.  In my opinion, in the last decade there is a short list of must have business class digital tools. 

1. Search Engine Optimization – SEO – (organic ranking)
2. Sponsored Links (AKA – PPC ads)
3. E-Commerce and Auction websites
4. Email Marketing
5. Demographic, Geographic, Contextual, and Remarketing advertising (banner type ads) in ad networks
6. Streaming audio and video and associated publication channels (like YouTube)
7. Blogs
8. Content sharing websites (like WIKIPEDIA)
9. Social networking engagement websites (like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc)
10. Social Communications websites (Facebook = yes, Twitter = jury still out)

Some might argue to add a couple of other things to my list, but give or take there are about ten Internet developments over the last decade that are high value to the business world.  That is only one development per year. That isn’t very overwhelming.

Focus on the above ten items and you will cover what’s important.  And not all of those ten things are needed for every business.  The above ten are the foundation of Internet Marketing. You can safely ignore everything else and wait for a new tool to prove itself before adopting  it.  Mobile Maketing is likely the next big thing, but it isn’t quite there yet.

One thing is crystal clear. Old, conventional media channels are in decline – newspapers, Yellow Pages, radio, etc. Digital media channels are in ascension. Focusing on appropriate tools from the top ten digital marketing list will cure overwhelm and move your business to a better place. 

We can help. For more information, contact us.

Tags: Digital Marketing, Digital Media, Digital Media Marketing, Internet Marketing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, PPC, SEO, Social Media Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.