Here we are finally emerging from the Great Recession, helping our clients take fresh look at business planning for the future new perspectives, and forefront in our efforts is to gradually bridge the gap between traditional and digital thinking. It has become apparent the recession actually helped to speed up the inevitable process and shift in marketing mindset. It’s a lot harder to try new things when tried and true methods are still working. During the recession many companies were faced with serious cutbacks, and marketing budgets were ultimately (understandably) affected. There was a point during the slowest times when (for many) no amount of marketing dollars could stimulate sales. Those ultimate cutbacks opened doors to look at fresh, new ideas.
Helping to gain (digital) acceptance with new clients, was the fact that digital marketing often comes in smaller bites with lower costs. There are, of course, the necessary upfront costs to upgrade websites. All digital marketing ultimately leads to your interface with the web, and having that platform ready to do its job is of extreme importance. There has been much confusion surrounding all the social media hype that erupted just before and during the recession. It’s often tough to decide where time is best spent. We recommend and assist our clients in developing a social media strategy that fits their situation. Most social media platforms are still evolving, and the jury is still on their ultimated effectiveness for business.
Major changes have occurred within the popular search engines we use to find things on the web. These changes have reshaped (for the better) the way companies optimize websites for search. Pre-recession, there was a lot of noise in the industry about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and many companies were utilizing (SEO) methods that are no longer effective, and in many cases can be detrimental to website performance and ranking. This noise and confusion hasn’t helped in the quest to gain digital acceptance. It is normal to be skeptical after spending thousands of unnecessary, and often harmful, marketing dollars. But, the changes that have been made are designed to reward real and relevant website content. Creating and properly formatting that kind of content is a challenge for many. That is why there are many companies like ours dedicated to helping clients handle the task. A glimpse into future staffing for most companies will be a position called digital manager, or digital strategist. Almost 100% of the information needed to create website content is readily available within your company. Getting it properly formatted, posted and distributed will be the job of your digital manager, along with learning how to measure and adapt to results.
If you would like assistance preparing your company to bridge the gap between traditional and digital thinking, we’d love to help. Contact us HERE for a free consultation.