A lot has been made of the potential of internet marketing as a way of building a business, whether it’s online or bricks and mortar. Upon hearing this, the first thing many people do is take their sales brochure and turn it into a website, and take their print ads and turn them into Pay-per-Click ads or Ebay auctions. And are discouraged when these tactics fall short.

But there is hope. See, the tactics you are using are designed for MASS MARKETING. And online marketing is NOT mass marketing. It is highly targeted, very specific marketing. At the risk of being very elementary, let me explain why.

For a commercial, brochure or an ad, the idea is to find the medium that will reach as many people as possible, and hit them with a message that appeals to the widest possible range of people. The hope is that the readers or viewers will see your message in passing, get hooked, read it and take action.

The Internet works in a completely different way. It is not a passive medium at all; people usually get online for a specific purpose. Rather than hope to capture their attention when they’re doing something else, Internet Marketing allows you to find the people who are looking specifically for the products you offer—or even better, make it easy for your customers to find you.

Online real estate is cheap. So, to make the most of your marketing, you are better off advertising specific products to specific demographics, in highly targeted ways, rather than selling a general idea to a mass audience. On a superficial level, that means don’t tell everyone in the world “Hey, we’ve got soy candles!!! You can use them as wedding gifts, or Christmas presents, or just to set the mood in your home!”

Instead say: “Hey, these SoyLuscious® soy candles make a great gift, and will remind the happy couple of you every time the lovely aroma fills their home.”

Get out of the habit of making general claims to one huge audience. Start thinking of your customers as five or ten highly specialized markets. Not only will your marketing be more effective, but it will also make your optimization efforts easier AND your SEM less expensive (just try bidding on AdWords for “Soy Candles” and see how far your dollar goes).

Sorry if this seems a little elementary. I just wanted to make sure we all start out on the same page, because from here on out, we’ll be looking at specific tactics you can use to find, capture and dominate those specific markets with Search Engine Marketing, Social Networking and other Internet Marketing strategies.

Until then, if anyone has any questions about SEO, SEM, Social Networking, or any other form of Internet Marketing, please post them in the comments below, and I’ll answer them for you.