Marketing is the backbone of any business, whether that business is a book store or providing grooming for pets. Marketing is how word of a business gets out, and how new business comes in. Experts have been studying marketing and new marketing concepts for years, and developing good marketing strategies has become a multi billion dollar industry in itself. We are going to take a look at some of the most cutting edge concepts to come out of this important research, concepts which could help move your business forward.
First, you probably know that there is no more important strategy in marketing than networking. Unfortunately, marketing analysts have discovered that many people approach this important marketing technique in a very ineffective way. They think network marketing is all about the number of people they know, rather than the number of people they have a relationship with. It's not the number of contacts which is important in a business, rather, it is the quality. Networking should focus on building relationships rather than just meeting new people, and making referrals within that network in the hopes of reciprocation.
Marketing through social media sites is probably one of the newest marketing concepts to come out of the whole new age of marketing we find ourselves in. Abbreviated SMO, marketing through social media sites works along the same principles as search engine marketing, with the objective being to attract the attention of the most people on a site rather than the spiders. If you are on Facebook or any other big social networking site, you have probably seen how this works in several different ways. There are advertisements on the right side of your home page, you become a fan or subscribe to the page of different businesses. The idea is to combine the Internet and networking as a powerful marketing tool. A perfect example of an online ad you may see pop up on your computer screen can look similar to this ad from Builder's Choice:
Writing, and good writing, is also beginning to receive a lot of attention as an important way to market one's business. That might not be too surprising, considering that the more we learn about how the search engines work the more we realize writing has a lot to do with rankings. A business can get a lot of attention simply by writing articles on their own web site, talking about getting a real estate license or any other topic related to one's business, or submitting them to other sites. A few hundred publications later, and your business can be recognized as a leader and yourself as an expert in the field.
Whether you work as an executive recruiter or a real estate agent, you need to remember that marketing and effective marketing strategies have changed drastically over the last ten years. Marketing is now cheaper, measurable, and geared towards an information hungry public. Keeping up with the latest marketing trends and strategies will help your business move forward in this new millennium.
|