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Digital Business insights: Email and Google are still your best friends
FOR HUNDREDS of years, powerful sales and marketing people have been pushing products and services at customers. Possibly even thousands of years.
Then along came Google. And changed the game.
"Push" moved to "pull".
All those millions and billions and trillions of dollars invested in "push" and suddenly it doesn't work any more. Not in the way it used to.
When I say suddenly, I mean in a major historical revolutionary sense, so I actually mean about two decades in a couple of hundred years worth of revolution - the digital revolution.
But the impact is already plain to see.
Google is the customer's best friend. And Google is the vendor's best friend.
It costs something to be Google's friend if you are a vendor, but the rewards are more than worth the investment and totally justify Google's current share price.
Will anything much come from the effort being poured into other customer relationship tools?
Email marketing is still worth your time and investment.
Email marketing targets your existing customers. And Google picks up anybody new looking for whatever you might sell.
Email for the already engaged and Google for leads generation. What else do you need?
Not a lot. This is the main game at this stage.
But talk to your customers and see if the 20% that generate 80% of your income would prefer anything else, or would like to use any other platforms and channels for engagement with you. They are important to your business bottom line, so listen to what they say.
If so, give them what they want - Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Podcasts, whatever. But be very clear that in general Google and Email should dominate your ROI.
It is not difficult.
If you run events, expos or workshops, or you are a celebrity, then add Twitter to the mix. But otherwise don't bother.
Remember, 92% of people don't look at online adverts. And only a miniscule number actually click to find out more. If you own one of the very small number of websites that has hundreds of thousands of visitors every day, then you can play the numbers game.
If not, you have to get smart. Use the tools that work. And use the tools that you know work for you and your business. Don't guess. Find out.
Then spend your funds wisely.
- John Sheridan, December 2013.
John Sheridan is CEO of Digital Business insights, an organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on helping organisations and communities adapt to, and flourish in, the new digital world. He is the author of Connecting the Dots and getting more out of the digital revolution. Digital Business insights has been researching and analysing the digital revolution for more than 12 years and has surveyed more than 50,000 businesses, conducting in-depth case study analysis on more than 350 organisations and digital entrepreneurs.
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