I believe one of the most dynamic business changes over the past decade has been in the area of marketing. We started the decade with traditional advertising medium being our focus and ended with a social media explosion. Some question whether this social media trend is real or a fad. I predict this decade will prove that social media will continue to expand at an alarming rate, opening up new opportunities to promote products and services.

How Can You Get In the Game?

First, don’t just jump in, make a plan. Jumping on the band wagon, without a plan, will do nothing for you. You have to evaluate everything you’re doing, from your website to your YouTube channel. It all has to be working together in concert, because if it isn’t, you won’t reap the benefits of someone finding you through a search on Google or other search engines. Today, your graphics, your message, the timeliness of your message, where it appears, and call to action can impact your business overnight. Equally important to making a plan, is building a database. If you are not finding ways to collect potential prospects and to communicate with them, you are behind the eight-ball already. You need to invest in ways that will grow your database so you can build new customers, and keep the ones you have now. If you need help trying to figure this one out, give me a call. It’s dependent on your business and who you are going after.

How Important is My Website?

Your website better rock their world. Websites have become your first line of offense and validation. Does your website articulate the vision and help achieve the goals of your organization? Websites today must do 2 things. They must give me something that is important that I might be interested in, and they must make me do something active. The active part is to make a call, sign-up, send a referral, let someone else know you exist, or buy something today. Most companies today have literally dozens or, in some cases, hundreds of sites to generate traffic. You can start creating your own feeder sites to generate traffic by developing a separate blog site that is only for marketing purposes. There are many templates using WordPress, and some are free. The purpose is to drive your message out in a number of ways that begins to grab the interest of potential prospects and clients.

Is there more?

Yes, there is a lot more, and my goal is to not overwhelm you. I’ve personally taken time to learn new strategies and source the right resources that can help any organization. Let me know if I can help.

Robert Van Arlen is a motivational speaker, business strategist and author of Focused Synergy – Orchestrating Your Purpose Path and Performance. You can learn more by visiting www.robertvanarlen.com.