If you’re navigating the marketing world, use these advertising tips to ensure your business is getting the facetime and recognition it deserves to increase your bottom line. With ever-changing technology offerings, shifting target audiences, and consumer involvement, the advertising world seems to change daily, and these tips will help you keep up.
If you don’t have a website for your product or service, then create one immediately. It’s one of the best ways to keep in touch with old customers and to gain new ones. Get a modern website and products that appeal to Millennials, as they will soon outnumber the population of baby boomers—meaning they will likely become the largest fraction of your target audience. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly, or go the extra step and create a mobile website specifically with smartphone users in mind. Ensure your homepage is easy to read and that pertinent information can be accessed with one or two clicks—Millennials value speed, so making them work for information on your site could lose you a customer. Consider a rewards system for your site that Millennials will be inclined to work for. It could be a discount after a certain number of visits or it may be referral bonuses, just find out what would work for your company and utilize it.
- Customer Service
If you don’t have a storefront location and do most of your sales online, that doesn’t mean you can avoid giving an excellent customer and guest experience. It is wise to utilize a customer communication service, in which customers can directly give you feedback. This will allow you to collaborate with your audience on product ideas and make an item or service they’ll be more than ready to use.
- Understand Social Media Channels and Your User
Don’t stick to Facebook and think that you’re in the clear. Social media channels are constantly changing and updating, and so are their users. Those who may have been on Twitter yesterday may now be avid Snapchat users. Stay in the know about the most popular social media avenues and consider how changing technology may affect the channel you choose to use. Throwing a small fortune into advertising on a social media channel that may be defunct before you can make a splash is definitely something you need to consider before throwing your company into the social media rodeo. If your product or service is being marketed to Millennials, then you’ll definitely need to be on top of your social media practice game—this faction of the population spends an average of 25 hours online per week—that’s 25 hours of advertising potential you could be utilizing.
- Don’t Shirk Email
While you’re probably tempted to throw your whole marketing strategy into social media, don’t forget to keep up with good email practices. You need to ensure you’re targeting the right people, at the right time, with the right email content. It’s a delicate balance, but if you master it, you’ll definitely see dividends in your company. Don’t spam your customers’ inboxes, as this can hurt your sender score, and make sure the content within your emails will benefit the consumer; emails offering discounts do very well, as do indications of sales—but remember this is not a general rule, it only works for the consumer who appreciates your communication so do not saturate your email list.
- Use Visual Content
A text post won’t likely grab attention in our fast-pace world, but a well-selected image can do wonders for your marketing campaign. There are various ways you can utilize imagery and multimedia within your advertising, and what you choose depends largely upon the product you sell and the audience you’re seeking. Humanize your product with a video media campaign that shows regular everyday users enjoying your product or make a splashy advertisement that will remind in mind of consumers (be careful to avoid controversial or potentially offensive imagery unless you’re 100 percent sureit won’t alienate your target audience).
Staying updated with your marketing tactics and advertising venues could be the difference between a successful business and failure. Utilize the right social media channels, understand your target audience, use visual content, and follow marketing trends closely to ensure your tactics are always as current as possible.