The customers today can purchase a product or service online with no effort. You can buy and sell on internet everyday, 24 hours a day. The online shopping it’s fast and easy. A great advantage for the online business.
A business survey shows that:
96% of Americans with internet access have made an online purchase in their life, 80% in the past month alone.
51% of Americans prefer to shop online.
67% of Millennials and 56% of Gen Xers prefer to shop online rather than in-store.
Millennials and Gen Xers spend nearly 50% as much time shopping online each week
51% of seniors have shopped on marketplaces, 66% at large retailer sites, 30% on web stores or independent boutiques, and 44% at category-specific online stores.
Marketing professionals understand the importance of the internet and how to effectively leverage this power. The 90% of marketers use social media for their businesses. Sadly, many small businesses do not recognize this fact.
In fact, e-Commerce is growing more than 23% annually; however, 46% of American small businesses do not have a website.
Digital marketing should be a tool that every serious small business should utilize. Digital marketing, known as, e-commerce marketing, online marketing, and internet marketing. Digital marketing can be defined as “the marketing of products or services using digital channels to reach consumers.”
The digital marketing include websites, social media platforms, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, podcasts, and online advertising to name a few.
Beyond technology gimmicks, businesses should know their customers and their core competencies. Digital marketing is not a silver bullet. Digital marketing is a great tool for the savvy business professional.
The effective digital marketing requires plenty of careful planning. Track what you’re doing, track the impact, and track the sales. Looking at the landscape of technology and internet innovation, small businesses should think strategically about the following five digital marketing trends:
• Artificial Intelligence
Some people develop elaborate doom-day scenarios of machines to control the world. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a way of life in marketing. AI can be defined as ‘the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.’ Voice Activation technology like Amazon’s Echo is bringing AI into public attention. By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their purchases without interacting with a person.
• Internet Searching
Buyers are more knowledgeable than ever with access to the internet. In fact, 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making big purchases. Thus, exploring how to utilize search engine optimization and getting your business at the top of searches is an invaluable step.
• Mobile Communications
Most Americans have grown accustomed to instant gratification and easy access to technology. Mobile and tablet e-commerce will reach $293B by 2018. Smartphone and tablets are part of this wave of innovation. Mobile will account for 72% of the U.S. digital ad spend by 2019. Marketers recognize that mobile marketing is a very effective business tool.
• Social Media
Social media platforms, like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, allows buyers to connect with each other virtually. 65% of business-to-business companies have acquired customers through LinkedIn ads. Marketers realize this value.
• Web Content
The content is king! Good content will attract customers. In fact, customers are more likely to purchase from sellers with good, relevant videos/photos on their website. 52% of marketing professionals globally name the video as the type of content with the best ROI.
The small businesses need to utilize digital marketing if they want to suvive. Make your research and discover the new digital marketing strategies for your online business. The future is now!!