It was during the pandemic that the digital market showed its indispensable role in sustaining the needs of many people. It was also the time when business leaders saw the effectiveness of digital marketing – when onsite presentation was not a wise thing to do.
The fear of COVID-19 was a game changer in the marketing world. Business transactions and human interaction were made generally online, while market demand and consumer behavior changed drastically. It made modern sales teams realize the need to appreciate the importance of focusing on the virtual landscape, and conceptualize marketing strategies that will suit the needs of a struggling market. To make your business thrive in these trying times, you should make adjustments in your marketing strategy. This means you should consider digital marketing – with the help of an effective provider of digital marketing service.
Incidentally, 12 business leaders who are members of Business Journals Leadership Trust, a leading resource for local business updates, share their personal insights about digital marketing, and how they leverage it to stay relevant in a market that can only more freely online. Here’s what they say about different aspects of digital marketing, and their role in keeping business sailing amid difficult times:
1. Jared Knisley, Managing Partner of Fizen Technology on Increasing Your Social Media Presence
“If you were tweeting once a month before the pandemic, start tweeting once a week. If you were posting on Facebook once a week for your business, post once a day. As we digitize and move more of our marketing online, update your approach to how you would have previously developed and promoted your brand.”
2. Christine Hollinden, Founding principal of Hollinden Marketing Solutions on Marketing Automation
“Communicating at the right moment is more important than ever. Implementing a marketing automation tool such as HubSpot is a great way to put the right information in front of your prospect at the right time. Plus, automating follow-up means it gets done promptly.”
3. Pradeep Anand, President, Seeta Resources on Social Creating Relationships Virtually
“The work-from-home trend has created an environment of distributed purchasing decisions in which people are no longer in the same geographic place at the same time. Sales organizations will have to learn new ways of creating trusted personal relationships in a Zoom environment. For sales, every Zoom call will be like a TV ad, except they are interactive and improvisational, without standard scripts.”
4. Parna Sarkar-Basu, CEO, Brand and Buzz Marketing on Social Selling
“In today’s digital era, social selling is more important than ever. It is about building relationships — educating and engaging with customers and prospects on topics that matter to them. Get to know them. Meet them via virtual sessions. Understand their challenges and what they are looking for. Sending a barrage of emails and cold calling doesn’t build credibility, nor will it help sell a product or service.”
5. Matthew Palis, CEO, Infront Webworks on Local Online Selling
“There is a large trend for local retail online purchasing in the past year. People want to order from local stores online and either pick it up or have it shipped. The local retailers that already have their inventory online with simple point-of-sale integration are ahead of the game now, but it’s not too late for local businesses to ramp up their local retail e-commerce presence.”
6. Joe Morgan, CEO of Joe’s Datacenter, LLC on Direct Email Marketing
“Direct email marketing can be an effective way to engage your audience and get them to act. Businesses should be collecting email addresses from their customers and providing them with direct incentives to take action and return. There is also value in being able to track insights about your audience to fine-tune your message and reach them more personally.”
7. Rachel Namoff, Managing Partner of Arapaho Asset Management on Virtual Meetings
“The days of in-person meetings may be behind us. It is important for companies to be adaptable within the virtual landscape and engage in alternative formats. Engagement over a screen may be different than in person, but leveraging its potential can be powerful.”
8. Jon Schram, Founder and CEO, of The Purple Guys – a managed IT services and computer support provider, on Online Sales Presentations
“Face-to-face meetings are a critical part of effective sales presentations. The trend to online presentations cuts down on logistics costs but adds a degree of difficulty. Perfecting the art of camera placement, lighting, virtual backgrounds, microphones and screen-sharing are now essential skills for effective selling.”
9. Kent Lewis, Founder and President, Anvil Media, Inc. On Influencer Marketing
“The digital transformation (including e-commerce) has forced brands to rethink marketing. One channel that many brands — especially B2B companies — have overlooked is influencer marketing. The pandemic has reshaped how we shop, and according to consumer research, this has created a greater reliance on influencers. Brands should test if not embrace influencer marketing in 2021.”
10. Scott Baradell, CEO, Idea Grove on Building Trust through Marketing
“So many companies — especially B2B companies — are used to earning trust with their customers on a one-on-one basis through the rapport-building efforts of their sales teams. That doesn’t work anymore. Companies need to learn how to secure trust at scale, and that’s done through public relations and marketing, not sales.”
11. Tom Jaleski, Managing Principal of Code Unlimited LLC on Starting Conversations with Artificial Intelligence
“Companies are using AI to direct potential clients and increase engagement speed. With so many options for almost any service, rapid response is critical to engage clients before they move on to someone else. Using AI to start the connection, answer some basic questions and assure clients that you will respond with an expert to meet their specific needs is critical in the digital world.”
12. Jason Comstock, President of Clarity Technology Solutions LLC on Intentional account management
“Account management is critical to keeping the client relationships you have developed. Doing so in an era where you are not on-site (as in the past) requires intentional action to continue to demonstrate the value your business provides. Think about ways to be intentional.”
All these business leaders and visionaries are talking sense – with or without the fear of the pandemic. As you can see, digital marketing is the marketing of the future, and it will stay for a long time. While it is still not too complicated you must make your business’ presence felt in the virtual market. Do it by building relations with people on social media. Make it possible with help from an experienced digital marketing agency like Muzeum Marketing. We can open doors for your business in the digital market.
