Have you ever wondered how the greats of online marketing got to command such a huge following? How is it that by crunching the keyboard they can influence people they probably have never met before who live across the world to buy products over the

In the 7p's of marketing, people are the most important component because without people you cannot sell your products or services. Without people you have no product or service to tailor at. If the marketing mix was a human body then people would be the heart. People are the ones that make any inventor or business person realize there is a need in the market that requires to be met. The enigma of selling and marketing is how to target people and make them realize they have a need that only the product you are promoting can meet.

Marketing your products can be quite expensive especially if the medium is designed to attract many people at once for example Above the line advertising. This form of marketing does not guarantee it will always work because it is expensive, relatively informal and has no feedback. This article will focus on educating you on cost effective ways to raise awareness of your product and services through social marketing which is inexpensive, more personal and you get feedback on your products and services.

Social marketing involves the art of applying marketing principles and techniques in order to create, communicate and influence the behavior of your target audience. The goal of the marketing effort will be to persuade the customer to purchase our products and services and to create loyalty among our existing customers in order to guarantee continual product or service purchases. In order to achieve our desired goal, we need to adhere to the 7p's of marketing that is Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical evidence to ensure that no area is neglected especially if we are operating on a shoe string budget.

In order to marry your marketing budget to your online campaign, you must first know the audience you are targeting and conduct a thorough research aimed at understanding your audience. You can source this information regarding lifestyles and demographics from the internet, use search engines to seek out surveys on audiences that have been done by colleges, media companies, and government websites e.t.c

Secondly, create a dynamic website which is updated constantly with new images and content to remain fresh and intrinsic. The website should be easy to navigate and a simple to remember domain name. Linking to other websites while returning the favor and linking other websites to your own can really improve your search engine optimization rankings.

Thirdly, you can use various social media sites to promote your services and products to your target audience. For example: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest e.t.c. These sites bring together thousands of people in one platform and you can always promote your services and get instant feedback. Your products can be shared by your fans online hence marketing your products and services free of charge.

Lastly, social media has influenced the marketing world in a big way hence cannot be ignored by any organization that seeks to increase its online presence. You might spend a lot of time connecting to people on the internet however, the results are always generous. You will end up creating a following of loyal customers from all genres of people who will act as brand angels for your products and services.

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