Not too long ago, marketing was considered a relatively straightforward process.
You’d create ads, run them in local newspapers and on television, and wait for the magic to happen.
While there is still some value in these traditional methods, the marketing world has changed significantly in the past few years because of social media.
Traditional marketing still has its place. In fact, before we get into the weeds, let’s be clear that marketing is a process, not a goal.
You need to set yourself up for success by developing marketing plans, measuring the results of your campaign, and adjusting your strategy if necessary.
As long as you keep this in mind, you’ll be able to use traditionally marketed methods, supplemented by marketing on social media, to reach your audience.
The Rise Of Digital Marketing
You’re already aware of the evolution of marketing in the digital era. It’s an umbrella term for collecting marketing techniques used in online communities like social media.
When people think about digital marketing, they usually think about online advertising.
While advertisements on social media are considered part of digital marketing, so is SEO (search engine optimization), content marketing, and email marketing.
Basically, all the techniques you might use to market a product or service online.
Traditional marketing was focused on driving people to a specific website.
Now that people can get all the information they need from a single site, the attention has shifted to getting people to come back to the site for more. This is where retargeting came in.
The idea behind retargeting is simple; you’ve got an audience on one platform, whether that’s social media or a website.
You identify people who are interested in your products or services and show them tailor-made content for their interests.
Retargeting isn’t a magic solution, it’s a flexible tool you can use to understand better, engage, and retain your audience.
The more you know about your audience, the better you’ll be able to tailor your approach to achieve your goals.
Marketing On Different Platforms
If your products or services are relevant to social media users, you can use the platform to your advantage.
For example, if you sell skincare products, you can begin by creating content to drive people to come back later and purchase your products.
This will gradually transition you into selling skincare products, paving the way for you to eventually create a whole product catalog available for purchase on your site.
Conversely, if your products don’t fit in well with social media users, you can still use traditional marketing techniques to reach your audience.
For example, if you sell office equipment, you can begin by creating ads in newspapers and on television.
Because people who use these traditional channels still believe in the value of advertising, you can use this opportunity to gain some traction.
Once you have established a following on social media, you can transition into using the platform for marketing.
Driving traffic to your site from social media is a great way to increase your visibility and attract potential customers.
However, you must be prepared to tailor your content to suit their needs.
The Rise Of Online Courses
If you’re looking to establish yourself as an industry expert or a thought leader in your field, education is one of the best ways to do so.
Creating a free educational resource for your audience—whether that’s a blog or a self-directed YouTube channel—is a great way to grow an audience and establish yourself as a go-to person in your industry.
If you’ve got the wherewithal, you can even use your free time to write and launch a course that teaches people everything you know about your industry.
Whether you’ve got a specific topic you want to cover, or you’d like to teach people how to solve a specific problem, a course could potentially help hundreds or thousands of people.
The fact that so many people can now access educational content globally makes this option even more attractive. People are looking for ways to understand better and navigate life in this ever-evolving world.
While a formal course might not be for everyone, the ability to access educational content whenever someone wants to learn is powerful.
No More Ads, Just Content
Traditional marketing, as I mentioned earlier, relies heavily on advertising.
While marketers’ methods and tools have changed significantly, the goal has remained the same: to gain attention and interest for a specific product or service.
With the evolution of AdBlock and increased competition, the landscape of online advertising has changed.
Now, more than ever, marketers must focus on creating engaging content instead of relying on ads to do all the hard work.
Varying your content creation and distribution platforms is a great way to create interest and engage with your audience.
Depending on your goals, you can create blog posts, videos, or infographics that will resonate with your audience.
In today’s world, content is not limited to text; images are just as important, if not more so.
Because people use different devices and access the internet on the go, using images to grab attention is more important than ever.
Creating videos is a great way to engage with an audience and demonstrate your expertise.
While YouTube itself can be a bit more competitive than other platforms, if you have the content, you can use all the tools YouTube provides to establish yourself as a go-to person in your field.
The Evolving Role Of The Marketing Manager
With the evolution of digital marketing, the role of the marketing manager has changed quite a bit. If you’re interested in this role, continue reading.
Marketing is a process, not a goal. This means that no matter what, you must constantly adapt and adjust your approach based on new information and insights from different platforms.
The marketing manager’s role is to interpret all the data being gathered from various platforms and take action based on what they tell us about our audiences and their interests.
This may mean taking a different approach than originally planned. Sometimes this may even mean pivoting completely away from our original strategy.
As a marketer, you’ll need to keep in mind the three Ps of marketing— product, placement, and promotion—but you’ll also need to look at these concepts through a different lens.
Looking for ways to understand your audience better and what they want is the key to establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
