In two earlier posts, “What is a Modern Marketer?” (parts one and two), I briefly discussed the ways in which marketers have evolved (or should be evolving) in sync with consumers’ increasing adeptness at independently mining the troves of available information to assist the buying process well before engaging a company’s sales staff.
From part one: “Not so long ago it was the traditional marketer whose role was to provide the information that influenced buying behaviors, whereas today’s consumers have already sourced much of the pertinent information needed to make a purchase decision. So it is that most companies simply cannot succeed unless they recognize that today’s customers are savvier than ever.”
In part two, I provided links to several studies that demonstrate the increasing importance—and effectiveness—of video as an integral component of any small business’ overall marketing strategy.
Much of what’s included in the phrase “modern marketing” should also be considered “content marketing,” because of the clear requirement for marketers to ensure they’re delivering timely, informative content (not necessarily company- or product-specific) that can be easily found by potential customers during the information-gathering phase of their buying process.
Recognizing that buying behaviors have changed in-line with more widely available online content, including social channels, customer reviews, blogs, videos, customer forums, etc., is the first, and most critical step toward becoming comfortable navigating the new era of modern marketing.
How close is your business to becoming a true modern marketer? Here’s a quick and easy two-part assessment to give you an idea, courtesy of Oracle.
In future posts I’ll dive deeper into other important modern-marketing components, including social media, search-engine optimization, analytics and more.
