How Marketing Has Evolved and Why it’s Important
A great deal has changed in marketing since the dawn of the internet. 50 years ago people had used paper flyers, posters, eve word of mouth to spread the news about a business opening, or product launch as a form of marketing. Today, businesses have become reliant on the internet: social media, e-invites, and online advertising to help promote their business. Online websites and tools have contributed to the revolutionary changes occurring since the turn of the century in marketing. Technology has transformed the way we communicate and access, share and disseminate information.
What about marketing, then? Has the way advertisers work at that time changed, too?
Today, the information available on any product is almost endless. With unlimited online data, customer reviews, and countless vendors to purchase from, purchasing power is more in the hands of the customer than ever before.
In the past, firms had the ability to convince and reason customers about their purchases. Salespeople were trusted, and speaking directly to a company was considered a logical step in making a purchase. Today, however, customers can locate most of the information before ever talking to a company representative, making sales outreach more difficult for companies.
How do you sell to a customer who already has all the facts?
Marketing to customers has become a challenge. It is easy to pitch to individuals in person, but in a world of online and social media outreach, conveying a company’s branding has become more difficult. Traditional strategies such as cold calls, cold emails, snail-mail, and trade shows have much less impact. The bad news for marketers is that a lot of their campaign budgets are going on waste. The good news is that there is a whole set of new strategies available to marketers who want to take advantage of competition.
Marketing Strategies to help engage customers:
–It’s hard to do a sales pitch to a customer who isn’t interested.
If someone doesn’t want to purchase your product in the first place, they’re not going to want to sit through your presentation or even hear you out. The consumer attention span is also shorter; people do ten things at once, and they don’t have time to listen to your thoughts. This is where the value-added comes in handy. If you can show your target audience a token of value — maybe it’s a free item, a piece of information, or even an interesting or funny video, they’re more likely to engage with you. Don’t focus on delivering the sale right off the bat; focus on creating a line of communication with your client.
You can start a dialogue with your customer, the transaction can follow naturally. Adding value is a good starting point. Instead of interrupting someone’s cold dinner by calling them and immediately pitching your product, consider taking a softer approach. Everyone, including your customers, appreciates value.
-It’s a lot harder to be heard by today’s social media marketers.
There is a seemingly endless stream of advertising, marketing material, and other noise that fills our Twitter news feeds and covers our Facebook homepages. To be seen among the crowd, be unique. Be interesting, authentic, and captivating. Don’t be obsessed with just promoting your product; be obsessed with engaging your customers. Never forget that the commitment comes first – the purchase comes second.
People and customers operate in a multi-channel world, and so should your marketing. Old marketing strategies that use emails and calls solely are outdated. Make sure you leverage LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other channels to reach your customers.
-The best way to achieve the highest ROI in your marketing campaigns is to examine the data.
Make sure you consider the most potent, relevant KPIs to determine the direct impact your campaign has on you. This way, you’ll be able to test whether certain advertisements, blog posts or content generate real traffic and drive purchases. You are only shooting in the dark without analytics.
You need to be seen if you want your customers to see you. People no longer sift through the paper to look at ads or to evaluate products; people search online. Your SEO is, therefore, key to customer outreach and acquisition. Focusing on using keywords in the right place, leveraging the right outlets, and connecting back to your homepage are good ways to start with SEO.
Your focus should be on your customers. Make sure you market and sell based on the customer’s specific needs-not just your needs as a company. Allow your marketing campaign to be guided by the insight you gather from your potential buyers.
