In the past 10 years marketing methods that have been used and followed by businesses either small or large, have evolved and changed dramatically. These changes have affected businesses in a positive way and has also affected manager in how they conduct their marketing activities and what methods that they use to get the best out come.
And at the same time, prospects and customers now have unlimited access to a great amount of information, enabling them to make comparisons, assessments, and decisions regarding the product or service they want to buy making the marketing process challenging yet full of profitability potential for those who understand it.
Here are three of the major changes in marketing management methods in recent years:
In the past, companies and brands sought their marketing on being available mainly offline to their prospect customers. While having a website on the internet or having a fan page on Facebook or an account on Instagram were not considered or put into account when thinking of their marketing placements.
This has changed drastically, where having an online presence, whether through having a website or being on social media, is crucial and essential to the success of your business and to be able to reach a vast majority of prospects and customers.
Where customers not only use the internet for doing research about your company and your products/services, they can also use it to purchase your products as online purchasing has become the most convenient way for customers nowadays.
It is every business’s goal to increase its profitability yet the marketing methods used to reach that goal shouldn’t be focused on the product and/or service you are selling solely but it should also put your prospects’ and customers’ interest, wants and needs at the heart of your marketing and business operations.
Thus the content you put online, the advertisements that you place, the offers and features you present to them should be tailored to their persona. Your content should be targeting the right prospect, at the right time and in the right way which ensures the success of your marketing operations by gaining the right customer who will buy your product/service, become loyal to your brand and advocate it to others as well.
Marketing has progressed immensely in the past decade and so has technology and machine learning. Businesses in the past and even some nowadays rely on traditional ways for customer service tasks such representatives who answer prospects and customers inquiries either on the phone or online.
But at the same relying on employees can be limiting where they can only do this job during working hours or if the means are available, others can be hired to cover a 24 hour shift 7 days a week, which would be ideal.
But other businesses are not as fortunate to be able to have such excellent service, that’s why relying on modern technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning using Chatbots is the more cost effective and efficient way to provide your business the assistance it needs to exceed customers expectations of your service level.
A basic Chatbot, for example, would be available 24/7 on your website, with artificially intelligent automated answers and solutions to the most common and frequently asked customer questions. Yet other advanced Chatbots can help you gather information about prospects and offer them suitable products and services based on that information.
On a final note, managing your marketing activities is a continuously evolving process specially in this ever changing and developing world of technologies and innovations that is why staying up to speed with these developments is essential for your business to succeed and to distinguish you from the competition.