7 Ways Marketing Online Will Impact Oklahoma Small Businesses
Traditional marketing has suffered in performance with small businesses in the recet years due to cost and an overall return on investment. This impacts a businesses ability to generate new business and often times questions the strategy in place to many marketing initiatives. Why are we online? What is our website doing? Who are our prospects online?
Inbound marketing has surfaced as an alternative that generates leads through attraction and conversion methods using content as a source of marketing rather than interruptive advertising and marketing gimmicks. Have you ever been on a site that offered some type of content in exchange for your information? Do you get emails thanking you for purchasing or visiting a site personalized to you? It’s not a sales tactic to spam your inbox – it’s the most effective tool to date that allows companies to offer remarkable content to promote their brand, product, or service. Why is this so popular and why will it grow?
1. The change in technology is constantly shifting
We come from an age 7 years ago when websites were still embarking on old platform technology with little measurement. SEO was in it’s infancy and exploring search related material had not been thought of. Today, to rank for Google you must create sites and pages that get visited and visited often. To do that, Google introduced algorithms that protected genuine content from spam content.
2. Start-ups realize there’s a cheaper way
To start a business today, entrepreneurs find the process much more affordable and possible with lean marketing methods utilizing website platforms that structure around sound content marketing. Before, to be successful, strong marketing campaigns needed to be developed with expensive tv, video, radio, and strong press releases. Today, the theme is centered around methods and content. Without it, the small business owner knows they must rely on a much harder and traditional form of marketing – word of mouth.
3. Consumers are in control of the buyer’s process
Today, consumers are not moved by jingles and obnoxious commercials with extraordinarily loud ads. XM Radio and Sirius exploded on the scene for music lovers to flee these types of annoying ads. TV is running in much the same direction with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. In fact, HBO has offered a new service for non-cable subscribers knowing that there is a huge market potential for its growth away from media controlled platforms. Consumers want to be in control of entertainment and information and they want to shop on their own measures instead of what the companies decide.
4. The marketing ecosystem is embracing content
There are marketing professionals that are realizing that proving to be a busy CMO may not always show results in today’s market. To be valued is to now show that marketing dollars need a return on their investment and a response to efforts and justification in spending. Content is not only measurable but it is an asset that is fully owned and not rented in temporary ad placements. Knowing this means that creating remarkable content requires a special craft in copywriting for the business and not just boring blog material. The copy must be tailored to a persona that the company self-identifies with. This is what brings prospects to your website.
5. Sales departments are adapting to digital selling
Once leads are generated and a proper database is created with list segmentation the inbound methodology does not end there. Marketing must find a way to integrate with the sales process. Companies are finding ways to include their sales team in digital marketing by amplifying their involvement in producing content with a sales focus after the prospect has generate the interest. Now the leads are warmer and with inbound methodology the closing process takes on a more personal touch.
6. Networking and trade shows depend on the internet
Networking events and trade-shows will likely not drop off in popularity. People still need that human touch, especially at product trade shows. However, once we shake that hand and take a business card we have to find a way to make that prospect part of the process. Utilizing an inbound marketing structure provides a way to do this with the customer in mind.
7. Analyzing data is proving to be right
Once you have generated that interest you need a way to understand how your content and marketing activities are working. Setting up a platform that measures your email activity, social media activity, blogging articles, form submissions, site visits, pages visited, bounce rates, and many more takes professional guidance. Without it, however, you run the risk of wasting months of creating content and finding your process needed to change weeks ago.
In summary, online marketing strategies in Oklahoma will grow because of technological advancements, consumer behaviors, the changes in the market ecosystem, and sales departments adapting to the modern buyer. We will still continue meeting face-to-face at trade shows and networking events but we will be smarter on how we follow up by utilizing good data analysis and reporting methods.
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