Digital marketing is a low-cost method to reach new audiences, gain leads, and communicate with prospects. Digital marketing professionals have developed some best practices over time to ensure success. The most important digital trends include responsive web designs, email and video, live chats, live videos, monitoring and analysis, monitoring, and social media.
Despite all the amazing marketing innovations over the past 20 years, many businesses still spend huge amounts of money on efforts that are no longer effective. Cold calling volume customers is rapidly becoming an obsolete art. According to new Google research, the average buyer consults over ten sources before making a purchase. Cold calling is a way for younger generations to be rushed and to avoid doing their research. Here are some basics to help you revamp your marketing strategy.
Social Media Marketing
In today’s market, it is vital to create new and collaborative frameworks that deliver balanced brand messages. Marketers must consult their sales professionals to identify clogs in their sales funnels and address any frequently occurring consumer concerns. Marketers can use this data to send customers relevant, well-informed messages via Twitter, Google+, and other platforms.
This is a crucial relationship between marketing and sales. It sheds light on an emerging trend in business: The role of the salesman has become passive while marketers take a more active role.
Websites with responsive design are more likely to generate sales. These landing pages can be tailored to the company’s target audience. Customers often call sales representatives to order products online. Most often, the decision to buy was made before they picked up the phone.
Social media requires marketers to communicate with their customers on a regular basis. Your customers will post reviews on Yelp and complain on Twitter. They may also ask questions on Facebook or send you snarky emails. Poor marketing can cause a company to fail. Companies today are constantly under scrutiny. Social media is not an option. It is now an expectation of consumers to represent your brand.
2015 Marketing Trends
Today, nearly half of the companies’ marketing budgets are spent on digital promotion. Four out of ten companies spend nearly half their total budgets on online promotion. Five key areas typically have a high ROI in advertising:
1. Video. Multimedia content reigns supreme, and video is more popular than infographics or images for customers. Video is a favorite medium for people, especially short, easy-to-watch, informative videos. A majority of consumers will watch promotional videos for less than one minute.
2. Responsive design. Mobile devices are more popular than desktop computers for browsing the internet and making online purchases. Your website will not be responsive and optimized for all devices if it isn’t.
3. Email blasts. Email marketing is the best way to distribute coupons to loyal customers, keep followers informed, and announce major sales. Also, branded newsletters are very popular.
4. Live chat support. Today’s customer service is quite complicated. Customers don’t want to wait on hold or call customer service. They also don’t want to wait for an answer by email. Many companies heard the complaints and have switched to live chats with online representatives using a text-based messaging system.
5. Review sites and social media. This was already covered in part: customer interaction is good. Your marketing team should respond on Facebook and monitor review sites to address any concerns. If people feel that you care about them, they will be more inclined to choose your company.
Conduct regular digital reviews
Your website may have been redesigned in 2014 but that does not guarantee it will be relevant in 2017. Regularly assess your digital assets. Also, check out what images, videos, and other internet content you have on your website. Is there any inconsistency between information? Is there any information that is obsolete?
Do you remember when the product descriptions were last changed? What about data? Do you send email blasts to unread email addresses? It is vital to constantly update all information, facts, stories, and data about your company. Don’t be afraid to remove outdated content. A site that feels old can be easily detected by users.
Keep a consistent brand message
It is a terrible thing to confuse loyalists by confusing them with inconsistent branding. Many companies stray too far away from their brand on social media and in promotional materials. Customers might have a wrong impression of your brand if this happens. Worse, they may mistrust your brand.
There are many factors that can be used to correctly distribute your brand’s message. Telling a consistent story is the most important.
- Differentiate yourself from your competitors
- Always strive for customer recognition.
- Continue to reinforce the company’s identity.
