The Internet has dramatically changed the way we do things in our lives. It has become our go –to encyclopedia, our shopping cart, our telephone and our bank. Looking back over the last ten years we see that one of the major shifts in the way we behave online has come in the form of online marketing and the consumers relationship with thousands of online brands.
You can purchase almost anything within 5 minutes using your smartphone or desktop—from a sweater to a pizza, to car insurance—and the way brands connect with customers has been completely reinvented by the way we as users are behaving online. The ecosystem for today’s small business, the best comprehensive marketing plan may be a mix of old and new methods.
The Old School
Direct Mail
Direct mailings was once the best way for any brand to get its message out to a large number of potential customers. Direct mailing agencies were set up and lists were sold aggressively to allow brands to connect with thousands of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) at one time. The age of the internet has definitely taken a bite out of this traditional bulk mailing form of marketing, yet this old school method remains as a resilient old school technique. Seems that having a directly trackable response metric, like a return postcard, still provides brands with some value for their pound.
Print Ads
Once the standard way of publicising just about anything from a new car model to a two-for-one burger offer, the space ad in traditional media (newspapers and magazines) has taken a bit of a beating over the past 20 years. Newspapers have faltered in record numbers as the Internet has become the primary news provider for millions (if not billions) of people, and magazines have competed for the remaining ad revenue. Some have fared better than others. Fashion magazines, for example, draw much of their ad revenue from cosmetic and clothing companies, which still don’t mind spending on a two-page spread. Other areas, like news magazines, haven’t been as lucky, resorting to slimmer issues and lighter paper stock to cut costs.
Outdoor Ads
As long as there are roads and cars, there will likely be billboards. While there’s virtually no way to accurately measure a billboard’s return on investment, they remain a popular method of image advertising. That is, they put the advertiser’s brand in front of the consumer at a moment when, let’s face it, there’s not much else to look at. And billboards aren’t just for roadside attractions or accommodations available at the next exit. National brands use them to keep their name in play, and local businesses use them to try to get more market presence than their nearest competitors. Some advertisers, like casinos and other entertainment venues, have gone with electronic billboards with ever changing displays to catch the consumer’s eye.
The New Kids on the block
Web Pages
Whether your brand represents a brick-and-mortar business (like a restaurant) or an online service (like money management or tech support) you need a web presence to stay competitive, build your brand, and interact with customers. That means creating a strong and consistent online brand persona that reflects the main strengths of your business. A significant improvement on space ads, a web page can let your customers know who you are, what skills you possess, what products or services you offer, what special time-sensitive deals may be in effect, and how best to reach you. And a web page can be updated to reflect changes in the market, the season, the introduction of new products or services, or just to create a new and exciting look. The most successful sites are not only aesthetically pleasing but easy to navigate—and that’s especially valuable if your site represents your main interface with customers.
Mobile and Responsive Ads
Most of today’s consumers do at least some portion of their shopping via their smartphones—whether comparing products and services, reading past reviews, asking questions of company reps, or making a purchase. That means that marketing has had to adapt to the small screen. Probably the most effective way it has done so is through responsive ads—ads that “know” on what device they’re being viewed. Responsive ads adapt to the screen size and format of the device so that copy and images flow seamlessly and so that the customer needn’t scroll through endless screens to find pertinent information. Click-to-buy and click-to-call technology has made responding to ads and offers even easier for consumers, removing barriers to purchasing.
SEO and Social
Maintaining a strong presence on popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook is an important link between brands and customers—providing a way to advertise products and services, publicise special offers, answer questions, and troubleshoot complaints. Many brands have expanded their marketing plans to include some form of social media marketing consistent with their brand persona. Another update to old school marketing has been to improve the way one’s brand displays in search results. Subtly adjusting content to include pertinent keywords has enabled brands to improve their position in an ever-shifting marketplace.
How does this impact design
So, what does all this mean from a design perspective? Perhaps most importantly it means that marketing and advertising are changing faster than ever. Campaigns must be timed perfectly, websites continually updated, responses monitored, and approaches adjusted to reflect changing trends. It also means more start-ups and individual proprietorships are entering the marketplace now than at any time in history. So there are myriad opportunities for skilled designers to make themselves indispensable to both emerging and established brands.
By Christiane Ortlepp, Copywriter at 99designs.
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