With the global recession still hitting hard, many online businesses are struggling to stay afloat and maintain a positive cash flow. Services are being cut, positions are being restructured and internet marketing ideas seem to be getting thrown around and about like no one's business. With hundreds of companies and internet marketing specialists wondering where they should be going, it is time to invest in uncertainty and low-cost, high risk marketing ventures.
What one change has been highlighted in the last two years of marketing? It is the collapse of the old and the formation and foundation of new business and marketing practices. To dominate the online world, internet marketing specialists need to experiment with new ideas, maximize their potential for success, and stress test future marketing plans.
These five online marketing strategies are all about low cost, huge risk, and massive potential payoffs. Progressive internet marketing specialists should them out, twist them to their liking, and get ready to incorporate them into their online marketing routine.
#1: Product Hundreds of Ultra-Low Budget Video Shorts
The backbone of viral marketing content has always been the short video, and since the rise of Youtube and online video, that backbone has grown even stronger. Video marketing is incredibly low-cost, especially when people can pick up a reasonable digital camera for around $200. Internet marketing specialists should invest in a decent camera, experiment with a wide variety of ideas, and see which ones tip. For those who see any success with their initial video marketing releases, they should replicate it with a bigger budget and prune away poor ideas.
#2: Start an Online Community
Starting a community around an online business or service is always a good idea. There are web forums for almost everything, photo groups for every location and interest imaginable, and Facebook communities for almost every online presence. If a brand still does not have a community, now is the time to create it. Internet marketing specialists should invest in community marketing while the opportunity cost is low. They should spend time fostering growth and progression, and use their communities as a marketing tool as your business picks up.
#3: Release a Free Product
Free eBooks have always been a popular way to get attention, but the quality has simply never been there. Save for a few guiding lights, eBooks have always been about low quality, high buzz promises. Internet marketing specialists should some time into creating a really great free product, give it away to as many people as they can, and enjoy the free publicity that it brings to an online business. If the product goes viral, internet marketers can expect a huge surge in paid business.
#4: Be Stupid
Seriously. The internet loves stupid, especially when it is short, easily spreadable and funny. There is unlimited growth potential for easily spreadable ideas, and if internet marketing specialists are sitting on a stupid one, they should really consider releasing it. The top videos on Youtube are not the complex lectures and ultra-valuable business propositions – they are the funny, stupid clips that appeal to everyone. Internet marketers should get one out there, watch it grow, and market to their massive audience.
#5: Experiment, Analyze and Plan
Now is the time to experiment with new viral marketing methods and risky ventures. The cost of losing in a down economy is much smaller than in a booming one, and with opportunity cost so low it is wise to get experiments out in the open now. Some of the 21st century's most impressive businesses were built in a down economy, with unconventional marketing ideas, viral potential, and a great deal of optimism.
There are a number of effective internet marketing strategies that do not necessarily involve huge costs. Such strategies are often those that leverage on viral and community marketing concepts.
Related Readings:
- The Shift to Internet Advertising
- How Failure is Still Success in Viral Campaigns
- Beating Competitors at Internet Marketing
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