Specifically the Benchmark study showed that the newer digital options dominated the most used category with E-mail being the single most used option at 98% with Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation  (S.E.O) and Online Paid Search coming in second, third and fourth places.

The fact that email marketing is almost universal used by the businesses being surveyed comes as no surprise and acts to reaffirm the many benefits it presents by way of being able to personalise the message to each specific customer, deliver it at optimal times in terms of time and day and craft it based on previous conversations with all previous leanings able to be applied.  It goes without saying then that the importance of building and maintaining up to date email lists has never been higher than is at the core of running an effective email campaign.

 

In second place social media marketing continues to win over businesses that a few short years ago laughed at the idea of tweeting their customers or having a Facebook business page. But a lot can and has changed in that time and all but the most recalcitrant businesses have conceded that to be and remain relevant today, it is vital to be engaged with them and there is no better way to do this and maintain this ongoing connection than to be linked through social media.

At the other end of the popularity scale we find both radio and television ads, which for so many years dominated the advertising media landscape but today are relegated to the back of the long cue highlighting both the number of options people have but also the highly segmented nature of the media market today compared to twenty years ago.

Also noteworthy is the fact that currently mobile marketing is still the least of the digital mediums but I can assure you that this will change quickly and I anticipate that within 2-3 years, mobile marketing will outgrow and outperform more popular options based on the fact that we already know that today over 80% of Facebook users for example, log in Facebook via mobile devices. Consequently I have no doubt that the dollars will quickly follow the behavioural curve and invest accordingly there.

Regardless of what you have or haven't used till point, it is important to start making planes to integrate these other digital forms into your plan and drive your performance higher. For more on digital and social media, check out the digital enterprise program at the VECCI website on:

http://www.vecci.org.au/business-solutions/digital-enterprise-program/workshops

To book in for any of the seven free workshops around the state.
Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.