The 411 on Web 2.0 Marketing

Using Web 2.0 technologies, small and midsize businesses can now reach large audiences directly: The emergence of social networking, blogging, and virtual worlds has enabled a single individual to reach an unprecedented number of people without depending on traditional mass media channels.

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Adapted from "The 411 on the 2.0: Web Marketing for the Small Enterprise," a McLean Report Research Note

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The American Marketing Association adopted the following new definition of marketing in October 2007:

"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

Marketing goes far beyond creating slick presentations and brochures. It's about getting to know the customer and demonstrating value.

Key Advantages of Web 2.0 Marketing

• Small and midsized IT companies are more nimble and faster at leveraging new trends such as social networking. Done right, smaller businesses can level the playing field with larger companies by using tools such as blogs, wikis, and social networks that are far more affordable than traditional advertising methods.
• Organizations can realize improved value from online marketing. Online advertising technology works by placing ads based upon content analysis of e-mails, blogs, and other user- generated content; the growth of Web 2.0 user-generated content complements contextual advertising perfectly.
• Research has shown that customer engagement drives customer loyalty. Web 2.0 provides leaders in smaller businesses with multiple contact points to engage customers and build relationships.
• Measuring results is now simple, thanks to a host of services that track customer behavior online. BlogPulse helps bloggers track who is linking to a blog site and what's being said about it. For more information, refer to the McLean Report research note, "The Measureable Web 2.0."

With all the hype around Web 2.0 and its promises, it can be a daunting task to sort through all the options and find the right solution.

Next Page: Web 2.0 Marketing Channels & Recommendations

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