The marketing industry is dynamic and constantly evolving, small businesses need to be proactive and modify their strategy as new digital platforms and trends appear.
Most consumers today conduct their research online before making a purchase, so it is crucial for small businesses to have a strong online presence even though conventional marketing strategies like print, radio, and TV ads are still viable options. That’s where online platforms come in to promote your business.
Online advertising is said to become a $335 billion industry by 2026 according to the Gartner study, which is 75% of any business marketing strategy. That said, small business owners should be taking advantage of promoting their businesses online.
What Is The Digital Marketing Landscape?
The broad array of websites, social networks, sales channels, user- and brand-generated content, and developing technologies are together referred to as the “digital marketing landscape”, and they continue to influence digital infrastructure.
How Is The Digital Landscape Evolving?
We’ve put together a list of the newest rising trends in the digital landscape for you to take note of.
New Digital Channels Are Emerging
The emergence of new digital channels is an excellent example of how the landscape of digital marketing is constantly evolving.
For instance, in the US, banner adverts made up a staggering 50% of all online advertising spending in 2000. Today, however, banner ads are but a drop in the ocean compared to other forms of advertising such as Google Ads, social media marketing, landing pages, sales funnels, native advertising, and more.
In other words, the various forms of digital advertising that are currently available have created new opportunities for businesses to engage with customers. Just take a look at the global transition from traditional television commercials to CTV and OTT ads. There were just 12.7 million homes with interactive TVs in 2000, and 41.6 million regular 30-second TV commercials were airing (ITV). Today, smart TVs are currently owned by 119 million households, and CTV advertising is worth $9.03 billion.
Social commerce, or the inclusion of retail e-commerce on social media platforms, is another example of traditional marketing in the modern digital world. Influencer marketing now accounts for up to 20% of the average marketing budget, compared to sponsorships, which accounted for 27% of online ad spending in 2000.
The Future: Machine And AI Learning, Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality, And Metaverse Marketing
The premise that automation, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning, and the metaverse will significantly impact digital marketing in the future is no longer considered a bold one.
Machine And AI Learning
There is no doubt that AI machine learning will play an increasingly larger role in the landscape of digital marketing. This is so that marketers can automate tasks, utilize consumer data, and target ads far more quickly and effectively than they currently can.
AI can find patterns and correlations in data that humans will likely overlook. AI can also provide SEO analytics, such as the most popular content and the keywords users use most frequently. This makes it easier for businesses to produce content that consumers are more likely to see.
Rise Of Virtual Reality (VR) And Augmented Reality (AR)
A simulated experience known as virtual reality (VR) can be remarkably similar to or very different from the real world. VR is made possible by giving users a headset and graphics that either replace or improve their hearing and vision.
Product visualization, trade show demos, and customer experience simulations are typical marketing VR applications. For instance, if your business specializes in house renovations, you could utilize virtual reality (VR) to allow prospective customers to see how their homes would look after using your products without performing the task themselves.
The term augmented reality (AR) refers to a live direct or indirect view of a real, physical environment whose elements have had computer-generated sensory input, such as sound, video, graphics, or GPS data, “augmented” into them.
The Metaverse
The metaverse is arguably the most recent technological development in the context of today’s digital landscape. The term “metaverse” refers to the merging of the virtual and real worlds into a single digital experience.
Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg is one of the key players in developing this new digital environment. So what can you actually do to market on this platform?
Starting small and “purchasing” virtual billboards to advertise on might be our best suggestion currently. You can also design interactive digital worlds for users to explore. These encounters could be a 3D tour of your products or an exploration of your service’s work.
Although the metaverse is still in its early stages, there is still room for marketing in this space.
The Leading Platforms Most Businesses Use To Grow Their Business
Online platforms allow users to create and share content or participate in online and social networking. They are an effective way for businesses to connect with and market to their target audience.
Google: Google Business Profile
Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile in 2022. Google Business Profile not only lets buyers know that you sell what they want, but it also offers reviews as social proof of your product or service quality. Localized content can also be published using Google Business Profile. However, it is crucial to claim and verify your listing before considering the content.
With an upgraded Search and Maps experience, you can update your profile, complete the verification process, and fix any problems you might encounter directly.
Take into account that an updated profile is 50% more likely to result in a purchase, 7X more likely to generate clicks, and 70% more likely to generate location visits. Other numerous benefits and tools that Google offers to small businesses include:
- Online traffic and leads from Google Ads.
- Google Analytics is a free tool that displays website traffic statistics so you can develop additional content that users will enjoy and fix issues that aren’t working.
- A collection of web-based productivity tools and applications called Google Workspace can be used for collaboration.
There’s no doubt that Mark Zuckerberg created one of the best social media platforms for businesses to date, overall.
For the first time ever, Facebook’s ad revenues reached $115 billion in 2021. This reflects an increase of almost $31 billion over the previous year or a 36.6% annual increase.
According to more recent data, of the $84.4 billion in revenue Facebook has generated so far in 2022, $82.4 billion was from Facebook ads. This accounts for 97.6% of all of the platform’s revenue.
Over 1 billion people use Facebook daily. It comes as no surprise that it has emerged as one of the greatest ways to identify your target market, build an email list, and gain new clients. But it’s useful for more than just that.
Facebook will undoubtedly continue to be one of the greatest social media platforms for your business in 2023, even though its user base has significantly decreased over the past few years.
5 Underrated Ads Platforms Businesses Should Pay More Attention To
LinkedIn was one of the first modern social media platforms to really catch on and thrive, in a professional capacity. In 2002, co-founder Reid Hoffman started LinkedIn in his living room, before launching it in 2003.
Under the leadership of Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn operates as a diversified business today, generating revenue through membership fees, advertising sales, and recruitment solutions.
The way we look for, find, and get recruited for jobs has changed as a result of this networking tool that is used mostly by professionals (sometimes in the loosest possible terms). It’s also a fairly good tool for content sharing and business networking.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn’s advertising platform is called LinkedIn Ads and is known for producing high-quality leads. Check out the example below:
Click here to view the LinkedIn Ad in real life.
The platform will display your content when you launch a LinkedIn Ads campaign. Unlike Google Ads, where users see your content after actively searching for the service or product, this strategy is built on interruption advertising.
The numbers with LinkedIn are quite huge. By the end of July 2022, LinkedIn had 849.6 million members worldwide, according to its statistics on the global advertising audience reach.
The vast majority of marketers in the B2B space use LinkedIn over all other socials:
Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer website where users can ask and answer questions on various topics. It was founded in 2009 and has since become a popular platform for people to share their knowledge and expertise on various subjects.
Users can ask questions on any topic and receive answers from experts in that field or from other users who have personal experience on the topic. Quora also has a feature that allows users to follow specific topics or users, and receive updates in their feed when new content is posted.
With more than 300 million monthly users, the platform is a valuable resource for businesses, allowing them to showcase their expertise and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. It can also be a useful tool for businesses to gather insights and information about their target market and industry trends.
Quora Ads
Quora Ads is the advertising platform provided by Quora that allows businesses to target and reach specific audiences on the Quora platform. With Quora Ads, businesses can create and run native ad campaigns to promote their products and services, drive website traffic, and generate leads.
Quora Ads use a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model, meaning businesses are charged each time a user clicks on their ad. Advertisers can set a budget for their campaign and choose their target audience based on factors such as location, age, and interests. Quora Ads also provides detailed performance tracking and analytics, so businesses can measure the success of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.
Quora Ads can be a valuable addition to a business’s marketing strategy, allowing them to reach a highly engaged and relevant audience. It can be particularly effective for B2B businesses, as Quora’s user base primarily comprises educated professionals.
Quora is recommended by Semrush to marketers because of its “Answer-specific” feature, quality traffic, and a few other factors.
Reddit is a social news and discussion platform where users can submit content, such as text posts or links, and upvote or downvote submissions to determine their ranking on the site. Reddit is organized into subcommunities called “subreddits,” each covering a specific topic or theme.
Reddit is known for its highly engaged and passionate user base, and it can be a powerful platform for businesses to connect with their target audience. However, it is important for businesses to be authentic and transparent on Reddit, as the community values honesty and dislikes overt marketing and promotion.
Over 430 million people use Reddit each month and there are over 130,000 active communities on the platform.
Reddit users (colloquially known as Redditors) can post links, questions, long articles, movies, and images to encourage discussion on the content they’ve posted.
Users can also share ideas about a particular topic in subreddits, a Reddit community.
Reddit Ads
Reddit Ads is a platform that allows businesses to advertise and reach specific audiences on Reddit. With Reddit Ads, businesses can create and run campaigns to promote their products, services, and website to users on the platform.
Reddit Ads uses a cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing model, meaning businesses pay each time their ad is displayed to users. Advertisers can set a budget and choose their target audience based on factors such as location, age, and interests. Its analytics report helps businesses track the performance of their campaigns and make informed decisions.
The platform can be used by marketers to target niche audiences within these particular interest groups. Use prominent subreddits like those for health & wellness, public health, telecommunications, college admission, or agriculture in your marketing strategies.
The benefits of content having a UGC creative vibe are enormous. Users are more inclined to interact with localized material.
Every month, Reddit receives billions of views. The demographics of men are significantly larger than those of women. Reddit receives more than half of its traffic from the US.
One of the best platforms to leverage is Reddit if your objective is to reach American or male populations:
Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that allows users to discover and save creative ideas, such as recipes, home decor, and fashion, and share them on virtual pinboards. Users can browse and save ideas from other users, or upload their own images and videos to share with others. Pinterest is organized into topics called “boards,” and users can follow specific boards or users to see their content in their feeds.
Pinterest is a popular platform for businesses, particularly those in the retail, lifestyle, and home decor industries. It allows businesses to showcase their products and inspire their target audience with visually appealing content.
Users “pin” images on Pinterest that point to websites, product pages, blog articles, and other online content.
Pinterest is a central hub for discovering new ideas and products with 445 million monthly active users.
Pinterest Ads
Source: Hootsuite
Pinterest Ads is a powerful business tool to generate leads and drive customers. With the visual appeal, potential customers are likelier to click on images than traditional text-based ads.
Additionally, the platform’s targeting capabilities make it easy for businesses to target their ads directly to the right audience. Pinterest Ads can be used to boost brand awareness, promote products or services, and even support retargeting campaigns. When done correctly, Pinterest Ads can help businesses reach their desired objectives with minimal effort.
It’s a fantastic tool for increasing website traffic, and shoppers on Pinterest are 7X more likely to make a purchase after seeing an item they’ve pinned.
Fashion, beauty, home, gardening, and DIY are among the platform’s most popular topics and themes. You should seriously consider using Pinterest marketing to promote your business if it operates in any of those sectors.
TikTok
TikTok is a short-form video-sharing app, also known as Douyin in China, with over 1 billion active users.
Despite only being introduced in 2017, it is one of the world’s fastest-growing apps and surpassed Google in 2021 as the most popular website.
With TikTok, users can create and share 15–60 second videos that can be enhanced with various sound effects, music snippets, and filters to make them more visually appealing. Videos relating to almost all interests are available, from lip-syncing, dancing, and challenges to do-it-yourself tips and makeup tutorials.
TikTok Ads
As more and more people turn to TikTok for entertainment, companies are now starting to recognize the platform’s potential as an advertising tool. TikTok Ads are designed to draw attention with short, highly entertaining videos that quickly tell a story or create appeal around an idea.
Businesses can easily target their ads by leveraging the platform’s powerful analytics tools to ensure they reach the right audience. With attractive visuals and creative content, TikTok Ads make it easy for brands to generate interest in their product or service while engaging with their customers in an entertaining way.
Ages 10-29 comprise about 47.4% of TikTok users in the United States.
This is why TikTok makes an excellent platform for businesses that would like to target millennials and the Gen Z generation.
Wrap Up
The last thing a small business owner wants to do is invest their hard-earned revenue in advertising that doesn’t pay off. But with so many possibilities available, it can be challenging to know where and how to start.
In reality, there isn’t an ideal platform that’s a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to promoting your business. The best advice we can give you is to give them all a try and see which one works best for you.
Maybe the more common platforms such as Google and Facebook will yield the results you’re looking for, or maybe underrated platforms such as LinkedIn, Reddit, and Quora will be the right platforms for advertising your business.
In conclusion, the most effective online platform is the one you can stick to and that consistently produces positive results for your own business.
