"People shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago, so marketers need to adapt or risk extinction."
In the World of Marketing, Change Is Necessary
When I meet new clients, one of the first things we discuss is what they are currently doing and whether or not it's producing the results they are looking for.
Why?
Because if you are already implementing a strategy with your business, whether or not you know that, and it's working the way you want it to, it can give you a lot of insight into how your customers interact with your brand and what they want from you in the future.
Right?
Well...sort of.
So many people that we've worked with in the past have had a "set it and forget it" mentality when it comes to their website and marketing strategy and as long as they continue to have business coming in, they assume that everything is working and all is well. And that might work for a while, but what happens when it stops working?
What happens when all of a sudden, your product sales start to drop and you get stuck in a downward spiral in your business. To make matters worse, it's been so long since you considered your web presence or marketing strategy, that your business functions in a completely different way and so much time has passed that it's even harder to get it working in the right direction again.
You feel.....stuck.
And that's what happens when you refuse to change. Yes, I know change is uncomfortable, but if you don't push your business to be a little uncomfortable, you become something much worse...STAGNANT!
To Be Clear...
Now let me clarify before you get too concerned, I'm not saying that everything needs to change all the time to stay relevant.
Your brand and your business identity are very important factors that you want to remain consistent in order to maintain trust and recognizability with your customers.
In other words,
it is important that your BRAND stay consistent,
while your STRATEGY consistently changes.
There are specific factors in your marketing strategy, like your brand name, logo, colors, and the overall mood and tone of your business, that you want to remain consistent. These factors make up your brand identity and you don't want to change them often because your customers come to recognize your brand and the more they know it, the more they trust it. And the more they trust it, the more likely they are to choose your product or brand over another that they know or trust less.
In a time when millions of other brands are competing for your customer's attention, that is definitely NOT a risk you want to take.
Now Let's Go Back to the WHY
There are some very simple, yet very important things to consider when questioning why it's important to change your marketing strategy often.
- Relevance
- SEO
- Effectiveness
1. Relevance
Think about Facebook. Most businesses today have a Facebook page, especially if they don't have a website. (P.S. Read more about why you should ALWAYS start with a website and then expand into a Facebook page here)
A lot of people expect to be able to connect with businesses, get contact information, and maybe even book appointments, etc. on their Facebook page. But if your business doesn't have a Facebook page, you run the risk of being irrelevant and your customer may choose another company based on this factor.
Another good example is the appearance and functionality of your website. If your website is not interactive, or isn't mobile friendly, you are likely to suffer because your business may not be as user friendly as others.
2. SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is basically how Google, and other search engines, look at your website and decide where it should be listed on its search results.
Most business owners know that you want to be one of the first businesses listed for your keywords or no one will be able to find your business or website.
However, one of the biggest things that Google looks for when indexing websites is that you have good content updating often. If Google thinks that your information is outdated or your brand is irrelevant, it will stop showing your search results towards the top of the page.
On the other hand, if you are constantly updating your customer resources, and staying up to date on the latest social media outlets and meeting your customers where they're at on these platforms, Google will see your business as a relevant source that is helpful to it's customers and bump you up. Without constant change, this isn't possible.
3. Effectiveness
With change comes innovation. New programs and systems are being developed every day that can greatly improve your business practices.
For example, if you are in the real estate market and you are using outdated methods to manage your bookings, you can update your website and marketing tools to optimize this process for you and simplify your daily business activities.
Tons of other industries work the same way and you are basically cheating yourself and your business if you don't take advantage of these tools. Consider how much time, money and resources you could be using unnecessarily by maintaining an outdated system.
To Wrap Things Up...
Any business that hopes to be around for the long term needs to have a business and marketing strategy that grows and evolves with its customer base to stay relevant. This could be the difference between success for a few years and success for a few decades.