…as the traditional marketing sector has also been affected by this recession. With companies slashing their marketing budgets from traditional means such as Television, radio, newspaper ads, SMM and RM has increased 10 fold due to it’s affordability and outreach.
The gas price inflation which in effect has kick-started this change, encouraged businesses to look for other vehicles or means to “get the word out”. Vehicles or means that were available but low-keyed in existence were: Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, blogs, ping, Youtube, Delicious, digg, StumbleUpon, Squidoo and countless others. They were vehicles just waiting to be boarded and boarded they were.
Twitter’s vertical climb was off the charts and couldn’t be harnessed because it was moving so fast. Facebook’s social outreach created such a landing place for personal and businesses pages that it also has morphed into a community which has blown itself off the charts with phenomenal growth. Youtube went from being a fun place to upload personal video’s to a wide open advertising market, with phenomenal growth continuing as it has and is becoming a tool for businesses & marketer’s having a lower price tag than television. (Consisting of someone shooting the video, processing it and uploading to their site, versus full blown production costs.)
Video itself is ubiquitous – existing or being everywhere at the same time…constantly encountered it also has helped change the market field. Businesses are changing their vehicles from traditional means to places like-YouTube, Facebook, Hulu, Metacafe, Blip.tv, which can host or provide links to user friendly self-help video’s, educational video’s, how to video’s and news-feeds.
Networking has become a part of who we are.
Businesses are reaching out to customer loyalty, which in turn creates “word of mouth” marketing in today’s world on an internet level. This is where Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, YouTube and others have become so important to businesses. People are talking in these places, talking to friends, relatives, and certain acquaintances/businesses. If they like your product or service, they will talk about you, to you, to family, to friends, to neighbors and connect with you.
Online ratings and reviews are an amazing tool that affects consumer’s buying decisions, and consumers really are using this information to make those decisions. Online companies have already realized this and business owners are now turning to this phenomenon as consumer’s are wanting to know how good the product is, how many people are liking the product and more. The consumer has become very active in researching product information. Businesses need to understand this.
Studies show that the average person has around 250 friends, acquaintances, business connections, etc. within their network/social life. Things to focus on – building relationships with your customer/client, not buddy buddy, but really listening to what they need, being helpful, finding the best deals and passing that on, being aware of what’s happening in your region. Keeping in contact with your clients, even sending thoughtful cards to them. These things will bring your customer/client back and open the door for “word of mouth” marketing, whether it’s in person, online with Facebook, Twitter or others.
The magic is this: If one customer likes your product/service, then you have the potential of reaching 250 more through that one connection. If you have 10 happy customers then you have the potential to reach 2500 connections, if you have 100 happy customers ….. well, you do the math 
Have you changed your playing field yet? 
If you’ve changed your marketing practices…leave a comment in the comment field below and let us know how it’s helped…
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