HARSH? NO – Essential? YES!

Let’s face it, times are changing. When was the last time you used The Yellow Pages or your local newspapers classified ads to find a business/service for example? Most likely your first point of call would be to turn to Google for the answer, i know ours is! We wish we could actually opt out of getting a Yellow Pages delivered, in the US you can.

Take the current demise of the Newspaper Industry for example – Since the begining of 2009 more than 30 US Newspapers filed for bankruptcy protection and the UK lost 60+ local newspapers in 2008. Would you agree that spending your marketing budget on print media is as good as burning your money or financial suicide? Especially as it is very difficult to measure your ROI.

This is not a trend that will stop any time soon. Newspapers are losing sales every day, Advertisers are going elsewhere and people are reading the news online. Even hearing breaking news via Social Networks before it reaches the mainstream media – For example the famous photo of the plane on the Hudson posted on twitter.

Unless these newspapers embrace Digital Marketing they will end up with the same grim fate as the others.
So what does this mean for your business?

You and your business now have the opportunity to take advantage of the Digital Revolution before it is too late. This is your chance to truly educate yourself and impliment new strategies to ensure your business prospers.

So what are these Digital Marketing Strategies?

There are many, but our main focus for this post would be a quick overview of Social Media Marketing as we will go into more detail in future posts. Social Media is based on commonality and shared values. People are doing what people do best and that is being sociable. Sharing ideas, helping others, networking, and building real relationships. Business deals are a natural by-product and bonus.

You can now truly add value to your consumer through mediums like blogs where you can converse, educate and get feedback all in the one place. Gathering market research at a low cost can only be good for business. All this while you strengthen your relationships with your consumers.

With well established businesses collapsing every month and the death of the newspaper industry, the time to change is now. We are sure this will illustrate the severity of this shift clearly. But remember, it is not too late to change if you do not want your business to become one of these failing stats.