5 Marketing Tech Resources For Small Businesses

Marketing technology is changing and growing each day, and businesses can find useful resources practically anywhere. Sure, that’s a given. But which should you choose? Which will work best for you? Which will get you the most bang for your buck. Tough questions, especially when you consider that you have to pay to play the learning game. To help cut through the myriad options out there, here are five areas where the opportunity for positive results are greater than most. Remember, there are no guarantees, but if you choose to market through technology, and you should, these five options are your best for potential return on investment. 1.) Google: I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong if you are just thinking about an investment in Google search. There’s far more to Google, and the ability to customize your solution is easier than you might have thought. Take advantage of all the offerings that Google can offer a business. Some of these offerings include, email, calendar, cloud-based storage, Google chat, and many more that synchronize your business all on one platform. Purely from a marketing standpoint, Google AdWords can get you to the top of the results through clever keyword sequences that your potential customers may be using. Google AdWords also gives the option of location targeting, driving more customers to your site and putting your business in front of new customers. And, of course, for those from beginners to advanced will benefit from Google Analytics, which can offer you insight into how many people are coming into your site, what sites they’re coming from, and what they’re doing while they are on your site. This allows you to act on your insights, giving a business the chance to focus efforts in higher performing media channels. 2.) Mobile Credit Card Payments: This is an extremely valuable resource for businesses because it reduces time spent on the transaction, and for some service brands can be the answer to a quicker payment system. Square, Intuit, PayPal Here, PayAnywhere and the many other upstarts that are moving quickly into this space each offers different levels of service and charge different fees. Find the one that matches your typical transaction and your specific type of business to ensure that you have selected the appropriate platform for your business. Side-by-side comparisons will tell the tale of the tape. 3.) Social Media:  Social media is a valuable technology that every brand should be utilizing. Social is the best way to get word of mouth recognition and offers real-time analytics that allow you to see what’s working or what isn’t. There are many different social media platforms, but the core platforms are Facebook and Twitter. Keep in mind that Facebook is entering into the final phase of its free ride for brands. Right now, based on statistics that are more anecdotal than actual, it appears that – unless supported in some way by paid promotion or one of the other advertising mechanisms that Facebook offers – about 3 to 5 percent of posts made by brands are being seen by their fans. We all knew this day was coming, but it’s rapidly approaching the point where brands that aren’t advertising are not going to have their posts appear in many (if any of) their fans’ news feeds. Still, Facebook remains a tremendous value when compared with other paid advertising media vehicles, and can allow the users to zero in on specific demographics and geographic regions at a relatively affordable rate. If you do decide to use social media in your favor, make sure to make a strong effort to update your brand’s page and keep up to date with communication with your fans. 4.) Location-Based Deals: Location-based deal apps such as FourSquare, Belly, SCVNGR, and others offer deals based on checking in at certain locations or performing certain online activities. This is a great way to capitalize on a growing trend toward consumers making spontaneous decisions about where to eat or what to buy or what to do – if it matches with your brand. Customers have proven to be willing to accept the “challenge” of checking in to locations or performing a task to receive something in exchange. This is a great way for the more transactional brands (restaurants, automotive care, et al) to get new customers in the door for a deal in exchange through a fun, simple activity or task. 5.) SEO Platforms: Digital marketing platforms such as Orange Soda and Moz track everything related to your site, and give you data based on your site’s performance. An area where Orange Soda and Moz are well regarded is search-engine optimization (SEO), and helping customers maximize their SEO value. There are others in the marketplace, but start with them. Clients of a reputable SEO company help place their clients on major directories, social media platforms and blogs to maximize SEO for their clients. Although SEO can be difficult to understand, a trusted partner with experience in the changing algorithms of search engines helps to make this process much less complicated and drives traffic to your site.