At a basic level, marketing is simply the act of promoting your business to potential customers. Even something as simple as doing a letterbox drop of flyers in your street is considered marketing, however in today’s world, with so much competition vying for consumer’s attention (and dollars!), marketing has developed into its own multifaceted industry with a broad range of tactics and methods, which is constantly evolving to keep up with technology, social trends and patterns of consumption.
There is sometimes considered to be a divide between ‘traditional’ and online marketing, however the latter really is just an evolution of the former to take advantage of the digital age and the way potential customers access content, and offer better return on investment for those advertising dollars.
In traditional marketing, a business might place an advertisement in a newspaper, hoping that a small percentage who come across it might be in need of the services they’re offering. In the digital age, advertising can be refined to specifically target the potential customers who are actively searching for that service.
For example, instead of an electrician placing a small advert in their local paper, hoping that the readers who don’t glaze over it might actually be thinking of getting some electrical work done, and a small percentage of those might pick up the phone and enquire. The return on the money spent placing the advertisement is potentially quite small, or may even lose the business money.
With digital marketing, advertising becomes much more targeted. By using a skilled online marketing agency and tools such search engine optimisation and Google AdWords, the electrician can hone in on potential clients that are not only actively searching for electrical services, but the kinds of services that businesses offer and in the same geographical area, and with a well-designed business website it is super easy for leads to tap to call the electrician, or send a quick message through their contact form.
In this way, by taking advantage of technology and the shift towards digital content consumption, a business utilising digital marketing services not only has a better chance of being seen, but being seen by the right people!