An online marketing strategy is vital to the bottom line of virtually every business. There used to be a time, not all that long ago, when an online presence was more of an option, but not anymore. If you have already implemented a strategy, but it's not producing the results you need, then it's time to add some technology to the mix. But even if your promotions are doing well, you may still wish to take a look at how technology can help you even more.

To be clear, we are not talking about the kind of technology that is there just for the sake of being there. Sure, those kinds of things may look neat, or give you some sort of bragging rights...but what difference do they make if they're not helping your business?

Anybody who sells a product or service will want to consider any number of technology-related enhancements to their current marketing strategy. Before you start looking at any such improvements, you need to have a firm idea of what your business is, what your goals are and what your customers expect from the purchasing process.

For starters, you should have multiple pictures of all of your products online. This will give your customers the ability to see your product from different angles; which is important because they won't be able to physically inspect it as they could in an actual store. If you want to ramp this up technologically, then you can get software that displays three-dimensional images on your site. Instead of clicking on individual pictures, your customers will be able to rotate a single image to see it from every angle. Not only will they like the ability to look at the product, but they will also be impressed with the technology...and that alone could generate additional sales of your products. Remember, if you aren't doing this, you can be sure that some of your competitors are, or will be doing it soon.

The internet is ideal for using multimedia. Imagine visiting a website that was nothing but black and white text, all of the text the same size, and no images or color of any kind. That wouldn't make for a very compelling site, would it? Even online newspapers jazz things up. You can easily add a special audio message to your visitors or include a video that shows your product in action. If you have a television commercial, you can add that to your website, too.

Now does this mean you should use every bit of technological wizardry on your site? Not at all. The key is to make sure any technology you use on your site is relevant. If it helps improve the customer experience, improves functionality, provides more data about your visitors or increases sales, then it is a piece of technology that you should seriously consider using to your advantage in your online marketing strategy.