The times they are a changin’
According to salesforce.com, (one of the largest customer relationship management companies in the world, and worth somewhere around $45 Billion)
“consumers are now immune to traditional advertising and marketing strategies”
But even if they did work, one customers purchasing journey is likely to differ significantly from another’s, making traditional advertising even more obsolete.
After all, it’s unlikely that your customers drive the exact same roads to work (making billboards ineffective)
Or listen to the same radio stations (making radio less effective)
Or read the same newspapers (and most have gone “Ad Blind” to the ads they do see anyways)
Even if they were to all likely watch the same TV shows, television ads are often prohibitively expensive, ineffective, and in today’s age of Netflix, iTunes, and TIVO, are just too easy to skip anyways.
So how are savvy businesses getting their brand, business, and message in front of their ideal target markets?
Fortunately, there is a strategy available that’s both effective, trackable, scaleable, and at the moment, still seriously under-utilized by the vast majority of small and medium sized businesses.
And that strategy would be internet marketing and advertising.
Here are the facts:
- 85% of North Americans use the internet
- The average adult spends 20 hours a week online, for teenagers it’s even higher
- You can reach 92% of these users through the Google Display Advertising network
- 91% of online adults use social media regularly
- The average adult spends 40 minutes each day on Facebook
- 92% of social marketers are already using Facebook for advertising with great results
- Online advertising has the highest level of targeting and offers the lowest cost per impression of any advertising method available
So what does this mean for your business?
Well… When it comes to the new rules of marketing you really only have two choices.
You can either believe the internet is just a fad and disregard the overwhelming evidence that online marketing has now become the single most effective marketing strategy available today.
Or, you can accept and embrace it, and start working towards building a solid and systematic approach to build your business, connect with your current and potential customers, and skyrocket your brand awareness.
The great news is that there has never been a better time to dive in than right now.
In the last year alone, online marketing has become even more effective with better tools to work with, better tactics and strategies to apply, and an even bigger audience to draw from.
That said, now really is the time to start putting the pieces in place and building out your businesses online marketing.
Even starting small with a targeted Facebook Ad campaign and maybe a few Google Display Ads is a positive step in the right direction.
But in the end it really all comes down to one question.
Does online marketing work?
And the answer is…
Absolutely.
If your goal is to reach customers, keep your brand top of mind, humanize your company, and connect with your target market where they are, and how they consume information, then there really is no better way.
