01 Mar Marketing Your Business In The Digital Age
The digital age may have increased the options for marketing a business, but the core principles remain the same: reaching the right people in the right place at the right time.
These are the marketing principles that all business owners will have learnt throughout the decades, it is simply that the digital environment allows us to be even more accurate in our approach. It also costs less to create and distribute each message, so small businesses can compete with large ones if they know how to be relevant.
Reaching the right people
The web allows marketers to develop more granular strategies than ever before. People using the internet don’t represent a vast expanse of sand, visible only as a single sheet. With internet technology, we can target the right people with very little wastage.
Web and social media users can be identified not only in terms of the traditional demographics like age and lifestyle, but also in terms of their specific interests. You can now develop many different messages for each, instead of one that hopes to appeal to as many as possible in one message. It’s all about being relevant.
In the right place
Statistics tell us that your customers are online. They spend much of their time whether at work or leisure accessing the internet via their various devices. Frequently, Google is the first step. Potential customers want to find your business easily in the digital landscape. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a form of marketing based on using search as a medium.
Again, this is a cost effective form of marketing that relies on being smart rather than throwing huge budgets at the landscape in order to break through the clutter.
At the right time
The customer lifecycle requires different messages to be sent to the same person at different times.
Prospective customers are in various stages of readiness to buy. If they are in the browsing stage, they don’t want to be hit with a pushy sales message. Perhaps they just want to gather more information first. On the other hand, if they have approached you, they want the right information quickly and smartly.
Existing customers are also at different stages of their relationship with your business.
· Are they new customers or are they ready for a longer-term commitment?
· Do they need post-sale support or more information?
Each message has to be crafted with this in mind and the digital landscape – from your website through to direct contact via email or smartphone – represents a cost effective and accurate way to reach each individual at the right time.
Each piece of digital marketing activity will have generated reports that are valuable assets when you wish to sell your business.