Advertising and marketing is no longer meaningless repetitive tactics that forcefully feed the subconscious of the consumer. In fact, marketing has taken a shift in a new direction that forces creativity, interaction, and conversation. When companies take a thoughtful and creative approach with their advertising campaigns, the buyer will be won over by content and quality. Creativity sparks and interest, an interest sparks interaction, which leads to a conversation and a conversion explosion. Digital marketing and word of mouth marketing have grown the new way to relay information for businesses around the world.
What does this mean for a web developer, designer, SEO specialist, and Online Marketer? It means there are new standards in which we should obtain, and new expectations in which we are held to as we quickly move forward into an interactive propaganda. The idea is to step outside of the box and be different. For example, here are some creative digital marketing features to help optimize your website and authenticate the quality of your brand:
- Mobile Marketing & Application Development- Develop Applications to add to your website for mobile users to download such as online coupons, digital magazines, and other creative applications related to your services.
- Social Media Integration-Add social media icons that link to your business Facebook Page, LinkedIn Page, and Twitter Account. Social media allows you to connect on a personal level with your customers. This is a great way to hold contests, surveys, announce events and promotions, and generate more traffic.
- Blog Marketing-Adding a custom blog to your website allows your website to contain “fresh and new” content. Within your blog you can then integrate social media icons allowing readers to subscribe, re-tweet on twitter, share on Facebook, like on LinkedIn, etc. Google places value on new valuable content. For example, if your business sells new and used cars, you could have a creative blog that helps people understand how to properly maintain their car. You could post blogs about different brands of cars, user experience and reviews, etc. What is important is to give free information that is useful. Time is money, and an article that can save a person time and money will go a long way for your brand credibility.
- Webinars & Video/Podcast Marketing- Videos are great ways to demonstrate aspects of your business, products, and services. Blogging does not necessarily need to be articles it can be through podcasts and video streaming. You can host “web-seminars” or webinars on your website and allow feedback, comments, etc.
- Segmented Email Campaign-Adding a newsletter subscription to your website is a great way to update those who are interested in your business on a regular basis.It is important to not use this to spam but respect the privacy of the subscribers. Reward them with coupons and prices for their dedication and interest in your business.
- Mobile-Barcodes-This technology is beneficial to retailers and allows customers scalable barcodes on mobile devices. This allows your business the chance to embrace technology and convenience. This is popular among smartphone, iPod Touch and iPad users. A popular action with 2D barcode scans is linking to a website.
- Online Digital Catalogs/Magazines- Creative interactive way to display your inventory online with 3 dimensional interactive pages. If you have an ecommerce website you can use creative digital catalogs to display new inventory, sales, and specials.
Your website is your company’s headquarter online. It is your domain and your online brand. Marketing is changing to a digital channel where interaction is necessary. Retailers have seen a dramatic increase from their online stores in the last 5 years. Web standards and accessibility are important for website designers and developers to embrace in order to further their reach a culture that has gone digital.
