Finding an Audience in the Digital Age

Much like life, marketing isn’t what it used to be. In the olden days, you used to be able to buy a T.V. ad, put a notice out in the paper, or get some air time on the radio, all in hopes that someone out there would 1) care about your message enough to listen, and 2) care enough to buy your product or service.This was a shot in the dark. Having a commercial on at certain times of the day or on special networks might give you an idea of who’s watching, but really, you have no idea. Marketing data in the past took a lot of these swings and misses, but today, with digital marketing, you can target your audience like never before (or even find a new audience that you never knew you had.)

Email Marketing: Your Audience on Steroids

We’ve all seen the usual sign up for ‘the chance to win $1,000’ or ‘the chance to win a trip to the Bahamas.’ These methods might work for some aspects of your business (most likely not), but when a business collects these email addresses, the only thing they know about the person they're getting in contact with is that they want $1,000, and really, that’s everyone.When your website is optimized correctly, you can funnel lead’s email addresses into specialized lists that can help create new opportunities for your business. You know exactly whom you’re contacting and what they want, and that means you’re spending less time and money on those individuals that may only want a trip to the Bahamas and not what you’re selling (besdies, that's kind of spammy, don't you think?).

Social Media: The Giant of Digital Marketing

This may come as a surprise to you, but social media isn’t just a way for you to connect with your friends. Those little ads that pop up on the side of your feed on Facebook? They’re targeting you based on what pages and people you like or are friends with.Let's say that you like a page that’s associated with ‘Fitness’ or ‘Health and Wellness.’ A nutrition service that’s properly utilizing their social media can directly target those individuals and send them ads for their business. With old media, like T.V., radio, or print, you don’t have this power. You buy ad space in the newspaper and hope that someone who’s looking for a nutritionist sees it and calls you up. That’s, once again, time and money being wasted on people who don’t care about your service.

Your Website: The Powerhouse behind it All

Let's face it, having an actual storefront is almost obsolete these days. Almost all big box retailers have a website where you can search for, find, and buy products, all with the click of a button. Even smaller sites are beginning to have e-commerce components built into them, so you can set up an appointment for a house cleaning or get the mushroom kit you’ve been hearing about on Twitter.If you can drive your specially selected audience to your website, they’ll see all the awesome products you have and the services you can offer. If they can click one button and buy something that they want right there, why would they go hunting around for something else?Digital media is still in its infancy, but using that digital media for marketing is even younger. If you’re not sure how to navigate yourself through the digital space, then why not click the button below to shoot us an email or give us a call? Digital marketing has been our bread and butter for over three years, and we’re sure that we can help you get your dinosaur of a business into the digital age.