Now vs Then: How has Marketing evolved in the last two decades, and how can it benefit my business?

Over the last few years, marketing, especially social media marketing, has EXPLODED. It seems like every kind of marketing is done digitally nowadays. What was marketing like before social media? What changed the game in terms of marketing? How can I apply this to my business? Let's talk about it.

In 2005, only 5% of people were on social media. Digital marketing did in fact exist, but it was mainly through email marketing and even then, it wasn’t very effective. The main forms of marketing at the time was telephone marketing, TV ads, radio and print advertising (such as newspapers and billboards) Marketing was really cut and dry, and was often not very effective since business's ads were being shown to a general audience instead of a target audience. It was the put-your-content-out-there-and-hope-it-reaches-the-right-audience game, which was more often a waste of time. Reaching a wide audience was also trickier, since print media was often limited to local assets. The budget to pay for ads in several magazines, several newspapers, while also doing commercials and radio ads was tricky to fit in with small businesses.

Not longer after 2005, the spark of social media marketing was created with Facebook, with Facebook opening up ad options soon after its beginning. This then sparked the usage of social media as marketing for businesses. Adding the option to run ads on social media was relatively inexpensive, and could reach a wider audience. And if you didn't have enough money for ads, that's okay. Social media accounts are free to make, This really opened the door to new possiblities with marketing.

Digital Marketing Now

Now in 2023, above 70% of people are on social media. Businesses are able to run ads on various kinds of social media platforms, and email marketing is becoming increasively more effective as almost everyone is online. With the advance in techniology, we are also able to see more data as to what ads are working and what ads aren't online. You can see who is seeing your ads, what content produces the most traffic, what posts lead to the greatest sales, etc. Having this data at our fingertips make it easy to know how to adjust and produce content that meets the people you want to sell to.

But knowing this, why is digital marketing such a big deal, especially social media?

In an article titled, "Social Statistics for 2023", it gives these stats as to why you should include social media in your marketing:

• 78% of salespeople engaged in social selling are outselling their peers who aren’t.

• Companies with consistent social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals than non-social sellers.

• Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.

• 66% of marketers that spend at least 6 hours on social media per week have gotten more leads.

• 90% of all marketers say social media marketing has increased their business’ exposure.

• 49% of people in the 18-29 age range report purchasing something after seeing a social media ad for it.

The fact that these statistics about selling over social media are so high should speak for themselves. Digital Marketing, and Social Media Marketing specifically, is not something to be ingnored. This is now the marketing of the future. Take a look at your business and find better ways to utilize Digital Marketing in your office today.

Source: https://optinmonster.com/social-selling-statistics/