SCORE Chicago is an organization that provides business counseling to startups and small businesses. I had the pleasure of speaking to a group interested in adding online marketing into their business plans on Monday.

The crowd was an arrangement of those who had tried to use various online marketing techniques to those who were looking for the basic knowledge to get started. First, I had the group identify if their business message was brand recognition or direct response.

Are they just trying to get their name out and for people to be aware of them? Or, do they have a cost per acquisition defined and they know how they want their consumer to respond?

After the group got a handle on their business message and target audience, we were able to move forward with how online marketing would fit into their plan.

I started by giving a brief overview of the two services L2T Media executes best: pay per click and search engine marketing.

The key message I conveyed for the two services is that the goal is to drive relevant traffic to their websites. By bidding on and optimizing a list of keywords, it is possible to increase the ranking of your website and drive qualified traffic to it.

After all, the point is to drive such traffic to your site so the person searching is more likely to convert into a sale. I also discussed online display ads and how those are a great addition to pay per click and search engine marketing.

I spoke about how each product can be brand recognition or direct response driven. Digital marketing is so customizable that it can mold itself into any business plan once it has been defined. With a little time devoted into learning how these services work, online advertising will be a great addition to your business plan.