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Last Updated on June 12, 2019 by Work In My Pajamas
The internet is a land of opportunities – is a saying that you have surely read before, on the internet of course. Despite it being quite cliché and kind of cheesy, to be honest, it is hard to find a phrase that describes the phenomenon that marked the last two decades. It is so powerful and important to our contemporary way of life that most of us are struggling to remember how life was when we didn’t have access to the world wide web.
Firstly, the internet was seen primarily as a source of entertainment and most ordinary folks weren’t aware that it offers business opportunities as well. To be fair, in the early days these opportunities weren’t as open and as available as they are now, but there are quite a few entrepreneurially minded people who managed to make a fortune during the dawn of the internet.
The Early Days – How Did It All Begin
We are so used to online marketing; it is everywhere these days. Well, everywhere online, and we spent most of our time online – so yeah, it is everywhere. It didn’t use to be like that, and many major companies were sceptical at first and didn’t think that the internet can be a substitute for conventional marketing.
Even though the first email was sent in the late 1970s, due to its limited scope and limited use, it wasn’t until the beginning of the 1990s when companies realised that email could be a powerful, or it least somewhat useful marketing tool.
The release of the first browsers and search engines played a huge part in all this, of course. You may remember or have read this fact somewhere – Google was released in 1996. Google AdWords was released seven years later, and this was definitely a pivotal moment for online marketing as a whole. But, even before AdWords, Google was a serious boost for the industry.
Nowadays there is a wide range of available online marketing tools and techniques. Some industries are limited by laws and guidelines, whereas marketeers who work in other areas enjoy a greater degree of freedom in terms of content and style of marketing, but generally speaking, the opportunities are endless.
Customer support is another area where the internet proved to be very useful. It allows dynamic communications at all times, without the pressure of conventional channels like phone support. But, the best aspect of internet marketing probably is its cost-effectiveness. It is a lot cheaper to market your business, products and/or services on the internet, then via conventional marketing channels, not to mention that it is easier to set your campaigns to target the right target group. Targeting the right customers can be tricky when you’re doing conventional marketing.
The Market Is Growing Continuously
Company after company, industry after industry, everybody understood the potential of internet marketing pretty quickly, especially companies that are primarily doing business online. Of course, that’s pretty straightforward, if you’re doing business online, you’ll take your marketing online as well.
Not to mention the fact that a lot of industries emerged only after the internet became widely, or at least somewhat accessible. The gambling industry is one example. Online casinos were only seen as a fringe thing in the beginning, and very few people believed that online gambling will be a major part of the industry, but online gambling might soon surpass conventional gambling. One look at the online slots selection at SlotsWise will give you an idea why that is the case – there are a lot more options when it comes to game selection, but also it is a lot more convenient.
Food delivery also changed dramatically. Although food can’t be prepared online (unfortunately), most people deliver food online, via apps instead of over the phone. It is a lot more convenient. Legal services can also be received online, and the list is ongoing.
All in all, online marketing has an appeal even to businesses that work via other channels, not just online, whereas the opposite doesn’t usually apply – no company that works exclusively online will place an add in a conventional newspaper or run a TV campaign.
