Dana on Marketing Messages: A-Marketing We Will Go
3. Social media keeps growing in popularity. Stop believing that sites like Facebook and Twitter and YouTube are insignificant. The current statistics, as reported by Digital Marketing Ramblings, are mind blowing. Right now, Facebook has 1.06 billion active monthly users. YouTube has 800 million users and more than 4 billion views daily. Twitter has more than 500 million total users, over 200 million of which are active users. LinkedIn has more than 200 million members, with the top five largest industries using this site being IT, financial services, higher education, computer software and telecommunications, in that order. Stop and think what this means for your marketing efforts.
4. Consider Generation C. You probably know about the people known as Generation Y, a.k.a. the "Millennials." They follow Generation X, and there's not a clear consensus as to what date marks their beginning. I have read that Gen Y typically dates from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. Well, forget about them. It's time to focus on Generation C: those born after 1995. These folks have grown up—and are growing up—constantly connected to one another by technology. I've read that "C" stands for Connected, in fact.
According to Nielsen and NM Incite's U.S. Digital Consumer Report, "they consume media, socialize and share experiences through devices more than other age groups." They're already in the workforce or soon will be. Stop and think what this means for your marketing efforts.
I believe these four salient points have to be considered as printers and equipment manufacturers plan their marketing strategy from this moment on. Regardless of any vertical markets, any geographical location, or pretty much any specific print product or service you offer, these facts should guide your marketing efforts beginning today.
In my next column, I want to focus on your Website. When you realize that your home page is the first place an interested person will visit when hearing your company's name, it's important to have the information they're looking for right there on that landing page. Knowing that the visitor could be a brand-new marketer or a savvy, senior buyer—or someone who's barely out of college—should help shape how your Website looks and feels, and what content it holds.
