Marketing rules of the yester-years just don’t apply anymore. Gone are the days when simple pamphlets or huge hoardings were considered sufficient for promoting a brand. Since the increase in usage of the World Wide Web, marketing trends have changed drastically.
Everything’s going viral. The world has become so immersed in this digital age that they just can’t do without, now. So organizations have decided to go the same route, with a “if that’s where they are, that’s where we’ll be” policy.
Health care organizations have taken to educating the public on various diseases. The Government uses it to promote tourism. Even restaurants have realized the importance of ‘digital marketing’ and now handle online deliveries, or even just post their menus online to help narrow down your options. We, the consumers, have the upper-hand now, and companies are beginning to come to terms with that.
But even in the digital world, trends change drastically over time. We may not be able to ascertain the exact outlook of this field, in the coming years. One can only presume, based on current fads.
Social Media
It goes without saying that this is where it’s at these days. Almost everyone is on some ‘social media platform’ or the other. Organizations have taken to promoting their wares on said sites, but on a smaller scale. 2013 may just see an increase in those numbers as more and more of them are hopping on to the bandwagon.
Establishments of all sizes, the world-over, are starting to see the brighter implications of advertising on such platforms, as the consumers spend a huge chunk of their day browsing through these websites. Hence, they can advertise to a much wider audience than ever before.
‘Word of mouth does wonders for a business’. Way before our world became connected in such a ‘complex-spider-web-like’ fashion, that statement would’ve been on a more literal note, and reached a very small portion of the public. Nowadays, thanks to social networking, word spreads with the blink of an eye, simply by ‘sharing’ or ‘liking’ a page. It’s that simple.
Content Marketing
Now, content marketing became a fad, fairly recently, when establishments came to realize that their consumers are getting smarter by the day. No longer are ‘blind-investments’ made. People have started doing their ‘homework’ before doing so.
The Web allows one to do an extensive research on products/services, thus enabling smarter purchases. These researches comprise mainly of articles or blogs that are posted by other consumers.
So, organizations decided to go ‘one-step-ahead’. They got into ‘content marketing’, wherein ‘approved-content’ on their merchandise, are posted all over the Internet, so as to lead the consumer on from the very onset of their ‘decision-making’ process.
Gaming
This is a new concept that organizations are just beginning to see the possibilities, in. It works wonders on a ‘younger’ target audience, as an interest of this sort prevails only among such age groups. It’s simply promoting their brand name via games of various kinds…either in relation to their merchandise, or not.
Location Based Marketing
In this form of marketing, companies rely heavily on the various gadgets that we use, that have some form of connectivity on it. Say for example, you walk into a mall, and the Bluetooth on your mobile is switched on. You are instantly bombarded by messages that inform you of the various ‘red-ribboned’ promotions or offers that are available to you, in the stores, should you be interested.
Also, various huge department stores, have introduced the concept of ‘in-store’ GPS, wherein, instead of having to go on a long, cumbersome search for a particular product, the GPS simply points you in the right direction.
Online Shopping
It’s all the rage now. In this busy world, people hardly find time to ‘schedule-in’ shopping. So when ‘online-shopping’ was 1st introduced, it was like a ‘God-send’ for them. They could get their shopping done within minutes.
True, this has been quite popular since a few years now, but up until now, online shopping didn’t include everything ‘under –the-sun’. Now you can even order a ‘home-cooked-meal’, to be delivered to your doorstep within hours. It’s quite the ‘super-hero’ that saves you from having to step out doors, anymore.
So, brands have taken to selling online. ‘Online shoppers’ are a huge sect in themselves, and catering to them is a boon for companies.
Digital marketing is going forward in leaps and bounds. Up until recently, we were relying on those rare TV ads, or jingles on the radio, for more information on companies. Now, it’s all there at our finger tips, making our lives all the more easier.
This guest post is brought to you by Chad Bauer of timewarnercable.wedocable.com, a site that offers savings and current information on time warner internetdeals.
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