Digital Marketing is still Marketing and Marketing’s Enduring Purpose Never Changes
By Paul F Mazzapica Sr.
In the last 100 years, marketing strategies for small businesses have changed radically, but the underlying purpose of all effective marketing has remained exactly the same. The goal of newspaper ads in the 1900’s was to get the advertiser’s message out in the way that was most accessible to the greatest number of people. Radio, and then television, changed the media, but not the principle. The object was still to present the sales message to the widest possible audience, using media they were, literally, plugged into. Consider the marketing ingenuity behind the rise of soap operas in the 1950’s!
The introduction of the internet presented the next most effective means of marketing for small businesses, eventually surpassing radio, TV, and print, but advertising online was still driven by the age-old objective of positioning the message where it would be seen by the largest audience. The more the means of effective marketing change, the more the driving purpose remains the same. This purpose for small business owners has always been, and will always be, to craft a compelling message to consumers and place that message where it will be most conveniently and consistently accessed by the greatest numbers. As an analogy, consider the roadside billboard. No one develops a fantastic message and then puts it on a billboard on an out of the way country road. Billboards are found along major highways because that is where the most traffic is! Intelligent small business owners have always looked for the right “billboard” for reaching the most traffic.
Today, print ads such as newspaper and yellow pages, radio, and television advertising are all in well-documented decline in terms of their effectiveness. Advertising dollars are draining out of those media quickly, and in the case of print newspapers, threatening their very existence. The focus is naturally shifting to those media that the greatest numbers of people are using, with the greatest frequency. Savvy small business owners are targeting these options with their message.
Direct Digital Marketing with Opt-In Power Achieves the Purpose
Currently, the media of choice for smart advertisers includes email marketing, mobile marketing, and social media marketing. Why? The same reason hair tonic companies chose newspaper ads in the 1920’s and detergent companies selected television in the 1950’s – it’s where the greatest number of potential customers can be reached. These forms of direct digital marketing show excellent potential for customer retention, a high referral factor, and the chance to generate some “buzz” about your company and its products or services.
There is an additional factor that goes with this cutting edge territory that is still being charted, and which makes it both the most effective and affordable means of marketing currently available to small business owners – the opt-in factor. What this means is that potential customers have given you permission to further communicate with them over these various media. In most cases, they have filled out a form online, usually on your website, giving you their email address and/or cell phone number, along with permission to use this information to send them marketing information. They may also opt-in by signing up at your bricks and mortar location(s) if you have one.
These opt-ins are used to populate a growing member database of high-potential customers who have already demonstrated an interest in what you have to offer. Essentially, they are telling you they want to learn more – they want to be educated about your products and services, they want to be made aware of special discounts or sales events, an in short, they desire to be included in your community. That, small business owners, translates into powerful marketing potential.
Tap Into Effectiveness of Direct Digital Marketing
It might make sense at this point to provide a brief summary of the digital marketing methods that were mentioned as representing tremendous potential for the marketing efforts of small business owners: email marketing, mobile marketing, and social media marketing. Addressing email marketing, do you realize that more communication is being transacted via email than any other medium in the world? Small business owners that are not using email as a means of communicating with their member database are forfeiting what many are finding to be the most productive marketing tool currently available. Those using email are sending personalized and customized communications that offer their members high value content and offers, and are receiving enthusiastic response.
Mobile marketing offers much the same advantages, with instant delivery of messages, fueling greater effectiveness. Marketing gurus predict that small business owners will find communicating with their customers, their database, through their mobile phone to be the most effective means of producing new and return customers. Recent studies report that SMS messages, or text messages, get read immediately by over 90% of recipients, and that a significant majority of users under 40 prefer receiving communication this way. Small business owners are taking advantage of that fact every day to deliver timely messages about current sales, discounts, and special events that are proving to bring more traffic through their doors.
Build a Contagious Community
The opportunities inherent in social media marketing are still being mined, but the results to date are very encouraging for small business owners. Establishing a presence at the most popular social media outlets like MySpace, Twitter, and facebook, offering an online blog, or contributing to online communities, are all wonderfully organic ways to spread the message that you exist, and that you have products and services others ought to know about. A sense of community is the key, and the news travels largely by word of mouth, creating a “buzz” about you, the essence of viral marketing. Word that travels peer to peer is powerful. When entering this arena, it is important to downplay the sales angle, and play up the value of your offerings in a conversational way that does not smack of marketing. Effective social media marketing doesn’t feel like marketing to the consumer, but feels like one user telling other users about a great new pizza shop, clothes store, dance club, or auto mechanic they’ve found. This is where the term “viral” originated, because like a good virus that spreads on contact from one person to another, social contacts through these popular media spread the word about you in a “contagious” way. An experienced marketing company will be able to guide you in crafting the right social media marketing message, or they will do it for you as part of their comprehensive services.
To summarize the discussion to this point, email marketing, mobile marketing, and social media marketing are leading edge tools that today’s small business owners are using to reach new customers, produce increased sales from existing customers, and generate the word of mouth referrals that every business owner cherishes. To take it one step further before moving on, the opt-in, permission-based relationship increases their effectiveness. It does this because consumers today are hit with so many digital messages they must pick and choose which ones they pay attention to. When they have opted in to your communication stream they have made a conscious decision, an important first step toward becoming a loyal customer, are much more likely to open emails or messages, or follow your company at their favorite social media sites.
Partner With Proven Professionals
Now, if you are a small business owner, you may be starting to stress a bit as you read about these marketing strategies. The last thing you need is a major project to deal with, trying to figure out what these marketing tools are and how to effectively use them in your business. Your days are spent making customers happy, managing your inventory and employees, handling payroll, and all the other minutiae of being a small business owner. That is why it is essential to partner with an experienced marketing company that fully understands these marketing strategies and will do the bulk of the work for you to get your message out. They should be able to offer you turn-key options requiring little or none of your valuable time, while giving you the level of control you desire over the direction of any marketing campaign.
Offer Value at Every Opportunity
The marketing organization you select should understand that it is not enough to simply send emails and texts to your member database. They already know you exist – they opted in—and don’t want a steady stream of chest-thumping from you. That approach will earn small businesses more opt-out decisions by their members than anything else. The key to an effective marketing strategy is that each communication must contain something the recipient considers to be of legitimate value. Examples of this include obvious enticements such as coupons or other discounts, but list members may also respond positively to invitations to informative or how-to seminars, member only sales events, open houses where quality door prizes are to be given away, an invitation to a holiday party you throw locally, cross-marketing offers with other retailers, or invitations to join your company in making a difference in the community.
Find The Right Partner
A proven marketing team will be able to offer plenty of effective and creative ideas that can be perfectly tailored to appeal to your customer base. Their team should be able to design a strategy customized to your audience and your market, create compelling copy that effectively communicates your message, execute the campaign on time, and then be able to track its success. Look for one that consistently keeps up with the changing technology involved in getting your message out, as well as staying on top of the methods and trends which can be proven to be most effective in converting your database of interested members to first-time customers, and then on to becoming repeat, loyal, long-term “regulars” who enthusiastically refer your company to others on a consistent basis.
Engage Direct Digital Marketing Today
SMART small business owners are searching for the right marketing firm to help them achieve their goal: a steady stream of new customers and very high customer retention rates. They want the company to handle the marketing, so they can pour their energies into what they do best – delivering great products and fantastic services. Many small business owners are partnering with an innovative company called Opt-in SMART that is providing industry leadership in the growing field of direct digital marketing. Their SMART System employs proven best practices for digital marketing using email, mobile communication devices, and social media networks. They demonstrate a unique balance of cutting edge technology skills and a firm grasp of the most proven strategies for achieving marketing’s age-old purpose– getting your message in front of the largest, most receptive audience. Their success has put them at the forefront of firms employing these means.
Contact us today info@optinsmart.com
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