How Marketing has changed (and what to do about it)

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iStock_000024934836SmallMarketing is an ever evolving beast that’s nature is dictated by technologies, audiences and their behaviors.

We have seen over the last 10 years a radical overhaul in how we communicate. The web has taken over how we do business, how we communicate with friends and family and how we make purchases.
How often when someone wants to find out something  or you don’t know the answer to something do you say ‘google it’. We bet it’s a lot!

We all now have more choice than ever and the access to information to be able to make informed decisions. Marketing used to work on a basis of a company telling the audience what services they offered and why they were better than anybody else, it was one way.

Marketing now is much more about social proof even if you’re B2B, yes there’s still a need to tell people who you are, what you do and why you’re great at it but you also rely on advocacy.

The web is your most powerful ally, you can use it to influence buyer decisions and be there when a prospect looks for your service.

Advocacy can manifest itself in many forms, through traditional testimonials to tweets about good service and everything in between such as recommendations on forums, good write ups on review sites and engagement with your content such as blogs.
Marketing has firmly shifted to a pull rather than a push model. Customers don’t want to be sold to they want to buy from you, they are in the driving seat.

Here at Easy Offices we have come up with the top 3 things you can start doing today to adapt your marketing:

  • Get Social– Create accounts for your business on the main social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube. Be present and work out a strategy for your social media ie what will you talk about on there what  won’t you talk about. Create conversations, share insight and show an interest in the wider community. But be warned  do not use social media to just plug your services or products, people are savvy to this.
  • Put SEO at the top of your to do list– remember ‘google it’ ? Well put simply SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) dictates how well your company’s site ranks in Google. Want to be found? You need a good long term SEO strategy.
  • Start sharing– Sharing knowledge and value with prospects and customers is extremely important. This can be done in many ways but mainly through a companys blog and then posted through social media channels. Sharing knowledge not only positions your company as an expert in your field and creates a level of trust but also generates a base for advocacy even from people that may never use your product or service themselves.

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