Before the pandemic, some businesses still relied predominantly on traditional face-to-face networking strategies to acquire sales and maintain customer relationships. With most purchases and supply partnerships arranged through mail-order or face-to-face contact, and sales made at trade-shows and conferences, some decision-makers only rarely needed to use Google or social media for their work, if at all.
Is digital marketing still relevant for businesses whose customers claim not to use Google or social media? Yes, and here are the reasons why:
Most people who say they don’t use Google or social media actually do
What they mean is that they prefer to do business by other means whenever possible; or they don’t feel comfortable with Google or social media; or that they don’t fully understand the value to their business of engaging with the online economy.
These people may like to close deals over the phone or in person rather than by email, but they’ll still use Google for search queries and visit the websites of prospective suppliers. From a marketing perspective, it is important to provide potential customers with a choice of ways to contact you.
Investing in digital marketing and your web presence doesn’t mean abandoning tangible marketing and face-to-face sales, if these work for you. Digital marketing simply increases your options and advertises your products and services to a larger demographic of customers who do actively engage in Google and social media.
Most people who don’t actively use Google and social media today, will do so in the near future
Those that don’t will probably find themselves out of business, as their competitors will definitely be using the online economy to gain a competitive advantage.
One of our IT writers recalls working for a hardware support company in the mid-2000s, at a time when the field engineering team were transitioning from ‘paper and pen’ to hand-held electronic consoles. Some of the ‘old school’ engineers were very resistant to the change at the time, but within a year everyone was using the new technology, and it was often the people who were most reluctant at the start who became the loudest advocates for the new way of working – simply because they hadn’t been aware previously of how beneficial the new consoles would be to their working life.
It is the same with digital marketing. People who haven’t invested much time in online marketing before may be sceptical of the results, or unsure of where to start, but are quickly brought on board once they realise how easy the transition is, and the benefits of adopting Google, social media, and other digital channels – as well as the risks of not doing so.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything
Overnight in March 2020, Covid-19 forced the complete cessation of all face-to-face marketing, networking, and sales. Gone were face-to-face meetings, trade-shows, business lunches, and everything else. The handful of businesses that still refused to engage in online marketing found themselves having to adapt extremely quickly to online selling, or to close their doors entirely. While some traditional sales practices are bound to return after the pandemic – and many businesses look forward to the resumption of events – it is hard to imagine a transition back to a state in which the Internet plays no role in lead generation and sales.
Results-based marketing and sales
At JDR, we are strong advocates of digital marketing simply because it works for businesses in all sectors, including those industries in which face-to-face relationships hold centre place. We don’t propose a one size fits all approach to digital marketing. Instead, we recommend a bespoke marketing strategy that includes a range of search-based, social media, and advertising tactics – based on the purchase behaviour and requirements of your target customers. For more information, or to find out more about our services, please give one of our marketing team a call today.
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