2014 brought a lot of changes in the way businesses communicate with prospective clients. Things have gone crazy... I recently stumbled upon an article that teaches how to master automotive digital marketing. The article was prepared for automotive professionals. Are we at a point where an automotive professional needs to learn how to develop a digital marketing strategy in order to make a sale?... Maybe he/she needs to learn how to create content, start a blog and manage multiple Social Media channels? This is where I got off the bus.
As I mentioned once before (somewhere), media names and types have changed, the reasons for advertising are still the same: more visibility, more customers, more sales. Despite millions of articles pointing out why your business needs Social Media and how to do it, confused business owners are still battling technology to promote their product online. The majority of them without success.
They do need an Internet presence... and advertising bucks! Like I said before... media names and types have changed, nothing else. The fact that Facebook, LInkedIn and Google are free platforms where businesses can establish their presence, doesn't mean that advertising there is free. The recent (honest) announcement from Facebook about changing their algorithm for pages and promotional posts proves my message (Page owners will need to pay in order for their promotional posts to be viewed more). Businesses that need advertising do need to advertise on Social networks - that's where people are. At the same time, advertising cost money.
At this point, Social Media advertising, and Internet advertising in general, are still the lowest hanging fruit on the market. Compared to traditional marketing - it is wonderful, cost effective and with real results. Businesses can choose whether they want to pay if someone clicks on their ad (and purchase, sign up or visit website), or just views their ad. They can pick an audience - to a detail! Age, location, interests, hobbies, gender, education level, household income, marital status, home ownership status, etc. The best part of it: the results are tangible numbers, indicating how many people did what and when. If businesses are looking for the return on investment data - BOOM!
Now, compare that to the average TV ad (that costs businesses a small fortune), run for a week, once a day, during the evening news on a local channel. There is no way to measure the results. Money - gone.
As the technology evolved, our needs evolved too. Business owners are looking for tangible results, meaning: "for what we spent = this is what we earned." To the point.
As for the digital marketing strategy from the beginning of this article: graphic, content, ad placement, message and setup? Don't waste your time, hire a professional.