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We all witness traditional marketing forms — flyers, newspapers, television ads, posters, billboards, etc. There is no doubt that the 21st century has brought a complete shift to the marketing world with the rise of the internet and the dominance of social media. Moreover, new-age customer-centric marketing provides value to customers at every interaction by tailoring it to their needs and interests. These values are determined by thorough market research and experimentation with the marketing mix elements.
How has marketing changed for small businesses?
Marketing for all types of businesses has changed in recent years due to new platforms, channels, and technology. Let us dive into the various ways which marketing has especially changed for small businesses.
Customer Service to Customer Engagement
We all understand why small businesses are important and how they affect the economy. But we don’t know how difficult it is for them to set the hours during which they will be available to answer questions or follow up on a customer question or issue. Social media platforms are helpful in continuously engaging with customers.
A recent study on understanding customer engagement in social media explains how the popularity of a promoter on both Instagram and Twitter plays an essential role in increasing customer engagement with a social media post.
Offline to Online
Offline marketing methods are the "old-school" types of marketing and advertising that have been around for decades. For example, print collateral or direct mail pieces that arrive at your door. Mobile-responsive websites, social media, display ads on websites, and pay-per-click campaigns are all examples of online strategies.
Expensive Advertising to Low-Cost, Results-Oriented Advertising
Creating a TV commercial is difficult, and TV advertising costs are pretty high. While many people watch TV every day worldwide, the costs of designing and producing a commercial can really eat into your company's budget.
The digital age enables you to create your own YouTube commercial and distribute it through your social media outlets online for a fraction of the time and money required to create a TV commercial.
Cold Calls to Whatsapp Marketing
Cold calling is the most significant marketing method that is opted for by all types of businesses. It was believed that only insurance companies, telecommunications, and travel agencies rely on phone calls; e-commerce businesses take up email marketing.
Soon, startup owners understood the importance of WhatsApp marketing for small businesses while giving up cold calling and email marketing. However, the digital era of marketing begs me to disagree. Does the question arise of why you limit yourself to using either method? Today, marketers across all sectors believe that a company’s cold-calling efforts can be optimized through a targeted WhatsApp marketing campaign to get the most out of both.
B2C to D2C
Companies' approach to selling their product has also taken a turn. Previously, D2C was known for high-end and luxurious products such as automobile, fashion, footwear, and jewellery brands. Most of these businesses used to sell their products directly to customers through their brand outlets or showrooms.
All personalised products, including smartphones, laptops, wearables, electronic items, cosmetics, and consumables, are available on the manufacturer's website or store. The company can shorten the distribution channel and directly reach out to customers through social media, events, and other digital marketing methods.
CASE STUDY
Company: iDG10 Engineering Solutions
Objective: Marketing videos and website
26TechServices helped an early-stage startup launch its services directly to customers by providing marketing assistance. Understanding their marketing video requirements and managing the project from start to finish resulted in an effective website architecture and content. The marketing materials were ready to go live on schedule, and the launch was successful.
Digital Media Shifts
Since the introduction of the internet, more and more of our lives have been moved online. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the unprecedented mass adoption of new digital behaviour. In just 12 months, our digital behaviour and habits accelerated ten years into the future.
To prove this, just ask yourself if you can imagine your life without the internet and, more importantly, social media.
As we got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies quickly realised that they needed to abandon their print marketing tactics when their direct mailers sat in empty office buildings. With no residential addresses to send to, many businesses decided to invest this money in developing a website and creating content.
Below we have identified the difference between offline and online marketing:
Category | Pros | Cons | Examples |
Offline Marketing | Less time consuming, easier to implement, focus on business profit, impactful. | High cost, limited audience, short term impact, difficult to modify, not trackable | Yellow pages, newspaper ads, brochures, TV ads |
Online Marketing | Increased brand loyalty, increased engagement, measurable & trackable results, affordable, builds authority | Cut-throat competition, security concern, time consuming, requires high-end skills | Social Media, Blog, SEM, paid advertising |
All Elements of Digital Strategy
Every organization requires an optimised marketing strategy for its products and services. The major digital marketing services required for sound growth are as follows:
Facebook ads
Creating and managing social media campaigns starts with understanding how digital marketing changes business for startup owners. Facebook ads play a major role in digital marketing services, targeting a specific audience for your products and services.
Google ads
Google ads are similar to FB ads, but time-consuming concerns short-term operating under a pay-per-click (PPC) model. That means digital marketers target a specific keyword on Google to make bids on it. Thus, competing with others who are also targeting the same keyword.
LinkedIn ads
LinkedIn ads help small businesses drive traffic to their website, generate higher quality leads, build awareness and promote their brand using content marketing and other tools. As per recent market research, a LinkedIn ad reaches up to 14.6% of the world’s population.
Social media management
Manage your online presence using social media platforms. You must hire a digital marketing strategist to understand what is the latest marketing trend to go viral on social media.
Email marketing
Another powerful marketing channel, emails, is a direct form of marketing. It is believed that for marketing to be effective, it must be impactful. This is where the role of a digital marketing strategist comes into the picture — to help you build an email list and create appropriate content.
CASE STUDY
Company: The Confident Communicator
Objective: Newsletter
Strategy
At 26TechServices, we invite all small businesses to understand the role of marketing tools and the impact of marketing on society. We believe that you can take your startup to the heights with expert digital marketing consultation.