The year is 2010. And if you haven’t come to terms with the fact the world and how business is done has changed, you are in for a bumpy ride going forward.
Believe it or not, there are still businesses out there clinging to the hope that one day, all that money they continue to invest into print advertising will eventually pay off. If you’re seeing a great return on print advertisements, my hat’s off to you because you’re in the minority. To stay competitive in today’s marketplace, you have to evolve and adapt to the changes around you.
In other words, you need to leave the Stone Age Marketing tactics behind and upgrade yourself to 21st Century Marketing.
Stone Age Marketing consists of limiting your advertising and promotion strategies to what worked yesterday, not today. Advertising in newspaper coupon fliers, big yellow books, and direct mailers are prime examples because their effectiveness is lost due to a declining audience. Even TV and Radio commercials aren’t as effective as days past with the advent of DVRs, satellite radio, and iPods. Marketing strictly on these mediums is the equivalent of writing an important message on a stone tablet when a PC with Microsoft Word sits right next to you.
The reason these once-effective mediums now lack consistency is that audiences have turned their attention towards easier-to-use options. There’s no secret that Social Media has swept the globe and swallowed its population whole, or that the average person consults Google before Yellow Book.
So being privy to that knowledge, why would you still cling to the Stone Age when the 21st Century is just as available to you?
What Is 21st Century Marketing?
When you think back to the expectations we had for the turn of the century, you’d think we’d be flying around in hovercrafts and jet packs and getting teleported from town-to-town. Unfortunately, we haven’t reached those Star Trek-esque levels (yet), but it certainly doesn’t mean there haven’t been some monumental advancements in communication, technology, and marketing.
21st Century Marketing is what’s working RIGHT NOW. This is the form of marketing that’s building your presence and authority across the Internet’s most recognizable and frequented sites. 21st Century Marketing involves leveraging websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, Posterous, Foursquare, Digg, Reddit, Delicious, and blogs to efficiently build relationships with your current customer base, as well as provide a means for potential customers to find you and get to know you.
There’s a reason that major companies are redirecting significant portions of their advertising budgets towards Social Media. If you pay close attention to commercials these days (if you’re not fast-forwarding them with your DVR), businesses are redirecting customers towards Facebook and Twitter even more than their website. And it’s because of two words: IT’S WORKING! And, of course, MILLIONS of people are using these sites on a daily basis.
While still a necessity, a website normally doesn’t provide the same level of connectivity and conversation as a blog or social network does. And with 21st Century Marketing strategies being what they are, establishing and nurturing those relationships is a key element to successful business.
If you go back in time as little as five years ago, most companies never thought it was possible to build their business through Social Media campaigns. If you think about it, you can probably envision the forward-thinking few who walked into a meeting and suggested implementing marketing strategies that gave the customer a voice and allowed two-way communication to strengthen the bottom line getting laughed out of the room.
Before the rise of the Social Web, the customer’s voice was very limited, and for the most part, muted. As consumers, we listened to ads and made the best buying decisions with the information available. In most cases, that information translated to who had the catchier sales pitch and still does to this day. The only difference is today, where those pitches take place has evolved.
Case in point: Old Spice DOUBLED their sales with their most recent YouTube campaign.
Today, companies providing outlets (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) for their customers to voice opinions, rate products, and provide reviews are the ones winning the ball game. They understand the new generation of consumers will not be won over by speaking loudly because they no longer control the volume…their customers do. If your company is unwilling to satisfy your customer’s needs by opening up the lines of communications, they’ll find a company who will. Simple as that.
The year is 2010, and it’s time to get on board with what’s working this very second. You’re in the 21st Century, so it makes sense to market your business so people also living in the 21st Century can find it, learn it, understand it, and most importantly, use it, right?
If you’re still relying on marketing initiatives that aren’t working, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy and leave the stone tablets behind
Believe it or not, there are still businesses out there clinging to the hope that one day, all that money they continue to invest into print advertising will eventually pay off. If you’re seeing a great return on print advertisements, my hat’s off to you because you’re in the minority. To stay competitive in today’s marketplace, you have to evolve and adapt to the changes around you.
In other words, you need to leave the Stone Age Marketing tactics behind and upgrade yourself to 21st Century Marketing.
Stone Age Marketing consists of limiting your advertising and promotion strategies to what worked yesterday, not today. Advertising in newspaper coupon fliers, big yellow books, and direct mailers are prime examples because their effectiveness is lost due to a declining audience. Even TV and Radio commercials aren’t as effective as days past with the advent of DVRs, satellite radio, and iPods. Marketing strictly on these mediums is the equivalent of writing an important message on a stone tablet when a PC with Microsoft Word sits right next to you.
The reason these once-effective mediums now lack consistency is that audiences have turned their attention towards easier-to-use options. There’s no secret that Social Media has swept the globe and swallowed its population whole, or that the average person consults Google before Yellow Book.
So being privy to that knowledge, why would you still cling to the Stone Age when the 21st Century is just as available to you?
What Is 21st Century Marketing?
When you think back to the expectations we had for the turn of the century, you’d think we’d be flying around in hovercrafts and jet packs and getting teleported from town-to-town. Unfortunately, we haven’t reached those Star Trek-esque levels (yet), but it certainly doesn’t mean there haven’t been some monumental advancements in communication, technology, and marketing.
21st Century Marketing is what’s working RIGHT NOW. This is the form of marketing that’s building your presence and authority across the Internet’s most recognizable and frequented sites. 21st Century Marketing involves leveraging websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, Posterous, Foursquare, Digg, Reddit, Delicious, and blogs to efficiently build relationships with your current customer base, as well as provide a means for potential customers to find you and get to know you.
There’s a reason that major companies are redirecting significant portions of their advertising budgets towards Social Media. If you pay close attention to commercials these days (if you’re not fast-forwarding them with your DVR), businesses are redirecting customers towards Facebook and Twitter even more than their website. And it’s because of two words: IT’S WORKING! And, of course, MILLIONS of people are using these sites on a daily basis.
While still a necessity, a website normally doesn’t provide the same level of connectivity and conversation as a blog or social network does. And with 21st Century Marketing strategies being what they are, establishing and nurturing those relationships is a key element to successful business.
If you go back in time as little as five years ago, most companies never thought it was possible to build their business through Social Media campaigns. If you think about it, you can probably envision the forward-thinking few who walked into a meeting and suggested implementing marketing strategies that gave the customer a voice and allowed two-way communication to strengthen the bottom line getting laughed out of the room.
Before the rise of the Social Web, the customer’s voice was very limited, and for the most part, muted. As consumers, we listened to ads and made the best buying decisions with the information available. In most cases, that information translated to who had the catchier sales pitch and still does to this day. The only difference is today, where those pitches take place has evolved.
Case in point: Old Spice DOUBLED their sales with their most recent YouTube campaign.
Today, companies providing outlets (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) for their customers to voice opinions, rate products, and provide reviews are the ones winning the ball game. They understand the new generation of consumers will not be won over by speaking loudly because they no longer control the volume…their customers do. If your company is unwilling to satisfy your customer’s needs by opening up the lines of communications, they’ll find a company who will. Simple as that.
The year is 2010, and it’s time to get on board with what’s working this very second. You’re in the 21st Century, so it makes sense to market your business so people also living in the 21st Century can find it, learn it, understand it, and most importantly, use it, right?
If you’re still relying on marketing initiatives that aren’t working, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy and leave the stone tablets behind
