How to Succeed in Today’s Ever-Changing Online Marketing Landscape
Beating the competition means identifying new trends and adapting ahead of the curve.
In the past, marketing used to be about going door-to-door and spreading the word about a product or service. That was the extent of a marketer’s hands-on ability to contribute to the marketing process. The modern age has completely revolutionized this by creating online, or digital, marketing and changed how people view this field.
From new strategies and processes to a completely revamped business model, marketing looks vastly different from even a decade ago. Learning how to succeed in this evolved field requires looking back at history to predict the trends of the future.
The Origin of Marketing
In the early days of marketing, the field was localized. Professionals could only advertise in their immediate area. However, with the onset of the Internet, access to different marketing platforms, products, and strategies has become far more widespread. For example, if you are looking for access to PPC services in Houston, top of the line products in New York, or funneling strategies based in London, you can.
The digital age has turned marketing from a localized field to a global field in the span of just around two decades. Rather than focusing on converting a small group of individuals into customers, digital marketing has turned the field into a numbers game.
How Digital Marketing is Changing the Industry
Having access to a larger audience is a double-edged sword for marketers. While it’s true that there is a larger audience, there are also more players in the game. Digital marketing has an estimated 17.2% compound annual growth rate to 2030, meaning competition is only going to get more stiff in the next decade.
Not only has digital marketing increased the amount of competition in the industry, it has actually changed the competition companies face. Influencer marketing, social media marketing, and other subsets of the field have all emerged and created unique competitors to traditional marketing firms.
Each of these sub-fields utilizes new marketing strategies such as short-form videos and algorithmic based ads, which are designed to capture the attention of the modern day technological user. With so many different products and services being advertised to consumers, companies only have a limited period of time to convince a potential customer to invest in them. Some of the more prominent effects of this change include:
- An increase emphasis on 24/7 customer service
- Ads can no longer resemble traditional ads
- Ads have become more personalized
This trend of faster company response and conversion time has forced companies to adopt new marketing strategies that place an emphasis on targeted marketing. To that end, gathering insight on your targeted customer base has become far more important in the modern day. Competing with these new forms of marketing requires understanding the direction the marketing field is going in order to jump on trends before they kick off.
3 Strategies to Stay Ahead of the Competition
Perfectly predicting the direction of any field is impossible, but getting a feel for the trajectory is all a company needs to do in order to create an action plan. Using the following three strategies, any company can modernize their marketing strategy to compete with new digital marketing companies:
1. Build an effective funnel
The first step to succeeding with online marketing is adapting your funnel strategy. With digital marketing, putting maximum focus on the lead generation aspect of your funnel is the most important. Following this, it’s important to establish a relationship of trust with your readers or viewers.
Turning your cold leads into warm leads is most effective when sending a sequence of emails spaced out every 2-to-3 days. Once your warm leads are established, you need to develop an aesthetically pleasing ad campaign which converts those warm leads to money in the bank.
2. Set SMART objectives for your business
SMART goals are a marketing strategy that have been around for years. In the digital age, setting SMART goals can help you outline an achievable goal and the steps required to reach it. SMART goals stand for the following:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The general idea behind setting SMART goals is to outline a specific goal while also defining the parameters you will follow to achieve that goal. With the processes of digital marketing constantly in flux, setting goals with parameters can allow you to measure your progress.
3. Plan to be flexible
Digital marketing is a field that is constantly evolving which means flexibility is one of the most important traits a company needs. This ability to adapt means testing different marketing strategies based on your niche to see what works and what doesn’t. You may find yourself investing in a certain strategy only to discover that you aren’t getting dividends.
Focus on providing more interactive content that allows users to select their own marketing path, rather than using a blanket standard strategy. Of all the digital marketing trends outlined by LinkedIn in a recent report, focusing on the segmentation of customers by gathering honest feedback is one of the best strategies for flexibility in the digital age.
The above three strategies are only pieces of the puzzle to staying ahead of the competition in the digital age. Analyzing data to determine the best marketing strategy is the best method to gather helpful insights. Whether you hire a digital marketing specialist to gather this data or use available marketing services, developing your online marketing strategy using actionable data will help you outpace your competitors.
Elevate your marketing strategies today
The future of online marketing is still developing, which means there’s no better time to jump into the thick of things. Changing your marketing strategies to have a more digital focus can be daunting, but the right marketing groups can keep this process smooth so that business can keep flowing. Stay head of the curve and innovate your business marketing processes today.
