'New Age' Marketing

I had a semi in-depth discussion with one of my professors yesterday and what follows are some of the ideas we discussed. I have slowly been putting together a 'New Age' marketing option which will contain the following ideas and a few secret tricks. Oh and before I begin, follow my blog. The social media world is fast, really fast as most of us know. Some times it even amazes me. But how do we expect businesses, primarily small businesses, to keep up... Most small businesses are just starting to embrace Facebook and have not even heard of up and coming social networks and mobile applications. I truly feel the traditional ('Old Age') small business model and small business marketing techniques have only a short amount of life left. Yet, many small businesses are still embracing these methods (yellowpage ads, newspaper ads, and even direct mailing). No longer can small business compete with online retailers and still employ a staff. They try to build credibility through everything from in-house service or how long they've been established. All those methods currently still have a place, but I look at the online reviews. People check reviews more often than small business owners want to realize. Heck, some business owners don't even know where to find these reviews and your 'online image' is single handedly one of the most important things to manage. The best part is that these 'New Age' ideas are manageable, track-able, and affordable. One of my favorite methods currently are QR codes. While QR codes are still somewhat of a novelty, they still have a place in driving traffic. QR codes cut down time. Now you've removed waiting for the person to get home, sit down at their computer, and hopefully remember your web address. Along with QR codes, I think PPC(Pay per Click) ads are under utilized. When was the last time you had an advertiser come to you and agree to only charge you if they increase your traffic? Most of you are probably think, "Like that will ever happen." PPC ads do exactly that. You pay only if someone click on your ad. Those clicking may not buy, but clicks are much more selective than organic results on search engines. ROI is usually fairly high with PPC ads since the people clicking on your ad have read your ad and are most likely actively looking for a product you sell. So, you have gained new customers but what about increasing traffic from existing customers...? That's where mobile apps come in. Now you may be able to achieve the same idea by using a bulk emailer, but many people already get spam in their inbox. It is hard to attract their attention among hundreds of other spam messages. But few people go anywhere without their cell phone, right? Mobile apps are a perfect way to constantly update your customers on sales, events or just news. Apple makes this process even easier with push notifications that show up like text messages. Smartphones are the new billboard. With smartphone sales projected to surpass regular feature cell phone sales this year, why don't you have an app yet? Just something to ponder about. I will leave you with this, Kiip may possibly be the next Adwords. Keep in mind that I do provide many of the mentioned services at extremely reasonable prices.

-Matt