When I started out in marketing almost 20 years ago, the big new technology was computers and the advent of the world wide web. Being ‘high tech’ was having a website, doing research on the internet and creating video tapes (yes, VHS tapes) of your company’s capabilities and products. Well, as the saying goes, ‘we’ve come a long way, baby’.
Today’s leading marketers are ‘hooked up’ to the social media explosion. They use twitter, blogs, facebook, linked-in, webinars, mobile marketing, social networks, podcasts, Flickr, YouTube, newsgroups and much more. The list is literally endless as new products, software and features are coming available on a daily basis.
So, how does a marketer possibly keep up? I met one marketer who worked for a large organization and had 8 employees in his marketing department. He tasked each one of them to become an ‘expert’ on one form of social media. After fully researching the technology, they would report back to him on their recommendations on how their organization could best utilize this form of media. Unfortunately, smaller companies may not have the resources to handle all the forms of media they want to. My best recommendation is to do the research on the 5 or 6 biggest venues. Determine which of these are most viable for your organization. Then put a plan together on how you can utilize these resources to maximize your company’s marketing initiatives.
Once you’ve implemented your plan, do not rest on your laurels. Continue to research the latest trends on at least a monthly basis. Plan on changing your social media mix from time to time, when you believe something new might work better. Track the success of the initiatives you use and if one is not doing much for your company, drop it and try something else.
The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at http://www.neminc.com/.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow! Informative post. Thanks for sharing such a good post. However, I found one website http://www.jbglobalpackaging.com on the internet that provides variety of spare parts for the optimal operation of your Packaging and bottling production. Hope it might help people in their Packaging Supplies needs.
ReplyDelete