Online marketing techniques are changing as rapidly as the technology that enables them to be possible. In the future, the businesses that will be the most successful are the ones who understand the fluid nature of the online marketing world, and know how to appropriately adjust for these changes. However, the consensus is clear that the three most important areas to concentrate your marketing techniques are mobile marketing, social media marketing, and email campaigns.
Mobile
Time and time again, we’ve stressed the increasing importance of optimizing your content for mobile consumption. This has been validated by Google’s latest algorithm update in April 2015, otherwise known as “Mobilegeddon”. The more mobile-friendly a website ranked, the higher it appeared on Google’s search result pages. According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing Report, which surveyed over 5000 international marketers to ascertain what their top marketing priorities were, a majority of them emphasized that mobile applications were critical to creating a cohesive customer experience. Most marketers see some sort of ROI resulting from their mobile marketing investments. Mobile marketing is up 49% from the year before, finding that it contributes positively to generating leads. New businesses, especially, need to find lurking development opportunities and utilize them. Where are these opportunities? Hiding on people’s smartphones and tablets, which accounts for an increasingly larger portion of people’s time. Try advertising coupons and deals that are only available through mobile devices. Perhaps consider sending your customers welcome text-messages when they first sign up for your email subscription. Promote your social media or holiday campaigns through text message as well.
Social Media
Social media’s omnipresence in the past decade has been cemented, evidenced when you look around at people on their phones scrolling their Facebook feeds. Social media is an important enabler of a business’s success, as well as a roadway for important revenue production. An increasing number of companies are starting to develop a prominent social media arm, with a majority of companies employing more than 1 person to oversee their social media presence. Facebook and Twitter still reign supreme, but that is not to minimize the importance of other social media platforms that may be just as important, if not more so, for various companies. Other important social media stages include LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, blogging, Instagram, and Vine, depending on the nature of your business. However, don’t abuse your power. This means that the content that you chose to share shouldn’t be completely self-promotional. Customers don’t want to be inundated with anymore advertisements. Rather, they want to learn. Balance what you share on your social media platform between informational content and self-promotion. If you can make the customer care about the field that you work in, and engage with the material that you share, then you can capture both the interest and loyalty of the customer.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a technique that has been in the books for quite a few years, but shows no sign of slowing down. Email campaigns are important because it provides the consumer with continual exposure to what the company is doing. The more often a consumer is exposed to material relevant to your company, the more likely the consumer is going to fully engage with your company or product. Hiring staff who are dedicated to managing email campaigns are worth the initial investment because 92% of marketers said that that email produces ROI for the business, whether directly or indirectly. The proliferation of smartphones partially ties into the importance of successful email campaigns as well, because 50% of the time, people check their emails on their mobile devices. The template and presentation of the email is important. Companies must produce a fresh, easy to read design that will visually entice the readers. The content that goes out must be of good quality. Again, it must not all be self-promotional in nature. Infusionsoft and Anweber are two popular email providers that can help your company automate email funnels for this purpose.