What Are eMarketing Tools?
by Jamie Lisse
When preparing an eMarketing campaign, electronic tools are used to achieve your online marketing objectives. There are a plethora of tools available to facilitate eMarketing, though company does not have to use all of them. An eMarketing plan can be part of a traditional marketing campaign, or function as a standalone online marketing campaign.
Company Website
Maintaining a company website is a vital eMarketing tool for an organization. Use the site to build your brand, launch new products and utilize other eMarketing tools. A company website gives an organization a way to connect with customers, which allows you to market to them directly. It also offers a way for the organization to maintain a relationship with the customer.
Online Distribution & Payment Processing
Online distribution of products is an eMarketing tool that gets products directly to customers. The distribution can be done via a third party, such as Amazon.com, or directly to the consumer via the company website. If the organization chooses to do its own online distribution, then another eMarketing tool comes into play. The company will need an online payment processor to accept customer payments for products, such as Google Checkout or PayPal. The payment processing screens can usually be branded with the company name and logo.
Lead Generation & Response Collection
Online lead generation forms can help a company increase its customer marketing list. Such tools are usually implemented on the company website; for example, asking customers to sign up for a mailing list or newsletter on the company website in exchange for a coupon. You can place response collection tools on your website to gain insight about your customers, such as posting a poll asking them their about favorite scent in your line of body lotions, or which of your ice cream flavors they usually purchase.
Online Advertising
Online advertising methods, such as Google Adwords and Facebook Ads, give companies the opportunity to target specific demographics, such as women in Los Angeles that like pets. Online advertising can be triggered by user searches; for example, if you utilize Google AdWords, text ads that relate to the user's search are displayed. Text ads can also be placed on specific websites to target users. Similar ads appear on Facebook, which allows companies to target users based on the demographic information listed in their profiles. This type of advertising can be valuable when trying to gain new customers, or when marketing a product to a specific niche group.
