How awesome is technology?!?! Seriously, we are living in the greatest time of technology ever! At the palm of my hand I can access the weather in Phoenix, Arizona in seconds. I can tell you who pitched game 3 of the 1971 World Series. I can find the closest & cheapest gas station and I can speak face to face with a loved one on the other side of the world. We live in a constantly advancing time of technology right now and staying up to date with all that cool stuff is difficult enough personally, but then trying to figure out how to keep your business up to date is a task in it of itself. But don’t freak out too much, you don’t have to be the pinnacle of nerdy to stay up to date.
In any business the key to marketing is getting in front of your users/potential users and as technology invents more and more distractions for people, you are losing eyeballs. Let’s look just 5 – 6 years ago before Smartphones were as common as carrying your wallet. You business may have had a basic website and you probably advertised in the phonebook because that’s where people would look towards as their resource center. Now in those 5 years since Smartphones are at everyone’s fingertips and when it comes time to look up what restaurant they’re going to tonight or what hotel to stay in or what electrician to call you can bet those potential customers will be checking on their phone or tablet and if you’re not there then won’t go out of their way to find you. But even if you’re on there, if you aren’t staying up to date with website technology then you still might be hurting yourself.
“Well I have a website so I’m online & they will find me.”
– Oh, that’s great. Have you updated it since you built it 4 years ago?
“No, but it works fine.”
– Oh, okay. Well you know all that cool movement on your website that grabs everyone’s attention? Yeah well since that was built in Adobe Flash then nobody on an iPhone or iPad can see it. It’s just a big white square to them.
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
That’s just one example of one part of one new popular technological gadget and how it can cause problems for your business. Everything is evolving and that next new thing is just around the corner. Nobody knew what Facebook was 10 years ago and it’s now a major marketing tool for every business large or small. Who knew a decade ago that posting your company’s video on YouTube and putting that on your website could help your business and help your Google ranking? Hell, how many of you know that now?
Your potential client’s window to see your product is either closing or expanding everyday, depending on whether or not your business is embracing or fighting technology. Sure maybe your business has a Facebook page but maybe your competitor also has a Facebook page and they are also sending out text message coupons. Maybe they are sending eblasts to customers. Maybe they are running that pay-per-click campaign on Google for mobile devices. They just expanded their window while your stayed barely cracked. So yes, while most new technological advances make our personal lives easier, they can complicate our business if your company chooses to stay in the dark ages.
Try not to think of technology as a scary thing, look at it as a new opportunity to reach your customers. Don’t fight it because that’s a battle you will lose. Don’t ignore it because it won’t go away. Embrace it. Constantly updating and staying on top of the relationship between technology and your marketing is your key to staying out in front of your competition. I understand that you’re busy enough running your business everyday, so talk to someone like us whose jobs it is to stay up to date on the latest technology and how it can help your business. Unless you’re still trying to sell beepers…then I have no answers for you.