Online marketing is one of those phrases which seems to crop up a lot. It usually means “Get me to the top page of a Google search”. However ‘Online Marketing’ is not so narrow a concept. In fact is part of a general marketing effort and usually has a branding core to it.

The web is where people are searching, researching, running projects and whole businesses. It is where you probably already are, but what may not be obvious is why you bothered in the first place. The page ranking on Google is not going to do you much good if your visitors don’t get you when they get there. It all has to make sense, not to you, but to the end user. In the same way that anything you do off-line also has to make sense. And these days they probably have to make the same kind of sense in an integrated way.

This comes down to brand. I do not mean logo, I mean brand as defined by “…a shared perception of a given thing”. It’s what people know you as, and how comfortable they are with your business. What the Americans call ‘Corporate DNA’ – a classic Americanism, but you get what they mean. It is what you are, what you cannot help being it is making the most of your good bits, improving the not so good bits and engaging with the sort of people who will be attracted to your ‘brand’.

To stop short of becoming a lecture about marketing, simply put, marketing on the web is not much different from marketing anywhere else. However, the execution can be much cheaper. If you can provide a reason to return, by involving your visitors, you create a following. And your followers will become your brand ambassadors without asking for any money in return.

Most businesses will tell you that referral is the primary source of sales. Online word of mouth is also a very strong medium among net users. That’s why 90 per cent of worldwide online ad budget goes to only 30 per cent of websites. There is no fixed formula for marketing except that you should use a hybrid of both online and offline solutions and these should be integrated so that they are clearly part of the same thing. It is not only consistent, but it builds a critical mass giving your brand substance.

To get net users’ attention and conviction, you need to differentiate your product very precisely. Precision is power – the more you focus on your niche, the more people know what you stand for. Product diversification or brand extension should come later.

But online or off-line, there is still a lot of hesitation when it comes to branding. The misconception is that product is all that matters, that branding is smoke and mirrors, and it will all costs too much. However, this is the era of connectivity. Subjectively you will make a judgement about a company the minute you see their website, brochure or during the first sentence of the first phone conversation. The trick is to be precise about what you do, make it engaging and involving as possible, fully integrate your messages and media with all other marketing and customer touch-points and present your company as unashamedly impressive.