Technology-related gifts had to be on the wish list for the vast majority this year. It only takes one tweet from Apple regarding the latest enhancement to the iPhone or iPad, to get half of London rushing to their nearest supplier, focused intently on being among the first to trial the new addition.
So there’s a pretty good chance that right now (the lull between Christmas and New Year), millions of people across the world will be playing with their newly received gadgets and reading instructions on how to get the most from them – but how many actually do?
Computers and gadgets invented ten years ago are still being under-used by users today because they have little or no idea just how much they can get from them. So, when advancements are added by the gifted people at companies like Apple, they’re surely speaking to a small minority of those who can actually comprehend the limitations of the current model, aren’t they?
Why am I going on about this? Well, we see a very similar situation unfolding in the digital marketing world, the possibilities are huge when you think about the tools available to businesses these days, but such a small group actually push them to the limit.
We work primarily within the HR industry, and one classic example within this arena when it comes to underusing technology is among car dealerships (tenuous link here for HR…car dealerships provide company cars to businesses; company cars come under employee benefits; employee benefits fall under HR…), because while the ability to ‘sell’ effectively cannot be questioned, it is the generation of leads that falls away so much of the time.
Many dealerships have been in operation for some time, and so have a bank of contact details for their corporate target market – fleet managers in this case. However, little effort is made in terms of engaging with this market, building community and building profile to get ready for a ‘sale’. Email marketing provides the perfect opportunity, and to be fair, some dealerships are involved in some form of email marketing campaigning, send emails to their entire database to promote latest offers or inform their ‘community’ of a new model on the market. But, and this is a massive ‘but’, the emails are often sent from Outlook Express, or something similar, as opposed to broadcasting from actual email software, which means that the sales team have no idea who has opened the email, what links were clicked and whether it was shared around.
Imagine having a list of 5,000 email addresses, sending an email out with five new promotions, and then having no idea as to whether any of the recipients clicked on any of the promotional headlines or showed any interest.
Social media, in much the same way, is underused and misunderstood. Sending a tweet or Facebook update once a day won’t sell you a training programme into a global organisation, or win a recruitment business a new client to work with – but what it will do is start to build profile and help companies to share knowledge and expertise. In essence, social media is just like a whole host of marketing tools, great as part of a strategy, but limited on its own, and companies with an eye on modernising the way they attract new business in 2012, need to be aware of this.
So, while you continue to play with your new iPad or HTC into the New Year, consider that there is every chance you’ll never be stretching that piece of equipment. It’s probably capable, just like digital marketing tools, to be able to offer far more than you know.
Speak with the GoldSand Digital team today about having a digital strategy designed for your business in 2012. Test the likes of email marketing, social media, blogging and SEO by calling us on 020 7269 9885 or emailing info@goldsanddigital.com.