In order for a business to survive, it must have customers. In order to have customers it must sell a product or service that people want or need. Then it must find ways to reach out to those potential customers in order to convince them that their wants and needs can be satisfied by that particular business. In a competitive marketplace, where every business is reaching out to a finite universe of consumers, getting enough customers “in the door” not only requires excellence in the product or service being offered, but most certainly in the ways in which the business promotes itself and markets it product or service to the public.

In the advertising world, there are two broad categories of marketing, sometimes known as the shotgun approach and the rifle approach. The shotgun approach just puts the word out there to be seen or not be seen by a broad swath of potential buyers. Examples are billboards, newspapers, radio and TV. In contrast, the rifle approach concentrates a business’ marketing efforts on a more narrowly defined audience. Direct mail marketing and ads in niche publications are two examples.

In today’s advertising environment, online marketing – marketing that uses websites, emails, and social media platforms to communicate – manages to marry the best of both strategies. With a robust and compelling website, a business can literally advertise itself to the entire planet at minimal cost. Anyone searching for a product or service can see anyone else’s electronic billboard at any time of the day or night through the medium of the World Wide Web.

But online marketing also lends itself to a laser-like personalization of customer relationships. Businesses can track its website use in order to cultivate those who have visited it, and then use sophisticated email campaigns, as well as all the various social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – to reach out to specific individuals who are most likely to become, and stay, customers.

In today’s world, having an online presence and utilizing the internet to its fullest capacity, is crucial if a business is going to be able to reach people where they are and how they now shop. Businesses cannot survive without customers, and for the foreseeable future, those customers will be knocking on their doors via a home computer, a laptop, a tablet, and/or a mobile phone.