Feb
Small Business Marketing Trends for 2010
Small businesses need to make the most of every advertising dollar. Understanding what marketing trends will be most successful in 2010 can help your business soar above the competition, while ignoring those trends could leave you floundering.
Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to head the list of online marketing strategies. New aspects in 2010 include personalization and greater relevance. As you develop your SEO strategy this year, dedicate some of your resources to developing content that targets niche audiences. You’ll also want to keep your web content up to date since search engines will begin factoring publication dates, geo-locations, and social media content into their relevancy algorithms.
Social network marketing will continue to rise in popularity in 2010, but you’ll need to fine tune your strategy in order to use it to best advantage. It will no longer be sufficient to maintain a Facebook or Twitter page. You’ll need to take the next step and use it as a vibrant forum in which to engage current and potential customers in meaningful conversations.
Mobile marketing has exploded and continues to rise in popularity. More people now have access to cell phones than to cable TV or home computers. Small businesses need to take advantage of this burgeoning market by creating mobile apps and by instituting location-based marketing techniques.
Video blogs are the blogging method of choice in 2010. Millions of web users view online videos each day, and while video blogging may not replace the text version, still, companies can expect an increase in the number of viewers who want more than pages of text about their products. Videos are highly shareable, and are more interactive than text; consequently, they have the potential to attract more loyal groups of followers than the more traditional written blogs.
Building your web presence should be a key leg of your online marketing platform in 2010. It’s no longer sufficient to maintain your website, Facebook page, and Twitter page. You’ll want to make your website visible in as many venues as possible including blogs, Youtube, Yelp profiles, and email newsletters. For instance, videos that appear on your website but nowhere else online will fail to reach a large portion of your target audience due to the web user’s tendency to search one centralized site such as Youtube for any videos on a given topic. If your video doesn’t appear on Youtube, then for that viewer it may as well not exist.
Online marketing trends in 2010 will expand on the succession of new marketing outlets that appeared in 2009. Using your advertising dollars effectively means putting them towards the venues that will produce the most return on your investment rather than continuing to invest in trends that may be dying out.
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Related posts:
- Video and SEO: Boosting Your Search Rankings with Multimedia Online video popularity has mushroomed, with fifteen hours of new...
- Online Video Marketing for Businesses Online video marketing is one of the most effective and...
- Digital Asset Management/Optimization Digital Asset Management (DAM), or Digital Asset Optimization (DAO), has...
- SEO Techniques You Need To Focus On For Google.TV With the release of Google.tv, small business owners and internet...
- Integrating Video on Your Website Integrating Video on Your Company Website “Video on my website?...
So I guess the trends are still the same as 2009. I’m wondering about that new Google Buzz though – how do you think will it fare in the competition for social networking? Have you tried it?
.-= self storage cumming´s last blog ..About Storage Neighbor – self Storage Facilities / Solutions in Alabama, Georgia & Atlanta =-.
Trends are a little different with the localized thing being a much greater influence. Google Buzz is going to change the social networking landscape in my opinion. More will be coming on that. This post was compiled last week when Google Buzz was being rolled out so was not included in this. Stay tuned though for my thoughts on that
Personalization!? Engage current and potential customers in meaningful conversations!? Are there any programs out there that can automate that?
LOL! I’m sure it’s being developed somewhere. At least, it would be sold as such.
I agree with the article so many people think that once they have launched a website it’s going to show up on search results without any SEO. They miss the whole marketing concept behind it. If people do not know about it they won’t go there. Video marketing is also a very good place to start the only catch is to come up with something that people will actually want to watch and which is catchy. Great post.
So if we follow these trends we are good to go?
You’ll be well on your way =)
Nice work,
I think you completely hit the trends, I think so.
Hi, great blog post. I would be tempted to include local search as a separate aspect to SEO as well as pay per click marketing. Certainly (in the UK) from our experience small businesses buy small businesses and the local aspect is a key to the decision of which suppler to use. The good old fashioned can i meet them, come to their offices and see their business.
Great list of trends! Mobile has definately exploded – or at least we’re hearing a lot more about it lately.
I agree completely – online marketing is one of the most effective ways small businesses can use to market themselves. The low cost of entry means that it’s easy for a sole trader to compete with the large enterprises. Small businesses also have the benefit of being flexible, so they’re able to change and update their online marketing strategy far quicker.
I would also suggest companies employ paid advertising like Google AdWords. These can provide an excellent source of high quality traffic to your site, and the data you get from the campaign can be used to feed your SEO campaign.
.-= Victoria@SMEketing: Marketing Agency Hampshire´s last blog ..Is Social Media a Fad? =-.
I like these trends because I`m full time engaged in internet marketing. and I agree with the extreme popularity of video blogs
I couldn’t agree more with you. Small business grows through online marketing.
Good list of trends, to my surprise social network has really grown the past year.
Press release sites are another popular marketing strategy
Kim´s last [type] ..New HiB Sienna Bathroom Furniture At Bathroom2u
Internet business marketing I guess is really the way to do business/marketing these days.
internet exposure would bring unlimited possibilities.
thanks for your ideas.
Erwin@Small Business Marketing´s last [type] ..Jul 12- Small Business Plan Outline
Im finding more and more clients asking about Facebook and Twitter marketing. Seems they are getting more knowledgable about Social Media. PPC seems to be dying a bit as people are looking to cut costs anyway they can.
I definitely have noticed the rise in video blogs. It is easier for someone to watch a movie than read an article so I understand the adoration, but it is amazing how fast the trend changed.
Rachel@ Web Design Chicago´s last [type] ..Improve Conversions with Remarketing
Well, Mobile marketing is the trend that I still do not have, I still don’t have the idea how can I use it and what would be the best concept that will best work on it. I wish you also add some information on how you can utilize the mobile marketing.
Great suggestion Christina. I will put together a blog post that caters specifically to how you can utilize mobile marketing!
I have only got a Facebook page for personal use at the moment, I have been putting off creating one for work but it seems to be the way to go.
I can see YouTube continuing to grow as more and more people use it for marketing. Hopefully it will get its own marketing section so you don’t keep coming across people’s video blogs or commercials by accident when you’re looking for a song or a movie. I’ve already experienced the mobile marketing thing.
Small business has an equality with larger business with the introduction of internet marketing. The are in a position to maximize its potential and market share, however, they key aspects to success remain simple and often a challenge for the smaller business operator. In order to gain your market, the company strategy and goals must remain proactive, reflective and never static. Unfortunately small business will often establish the market targets, but are not always devoted to the ongoing maintenance as this takes them away for their core activities. Unlike large organizations, small business do not have the infrastructure or personnel to apply a sound maintenance routine. It is important to allow for expansion and redistribution of investments to cater for the trans media opportunities.
Small business needs to increase its trends hopefully for 2011. May be best if Obama got out of office eh?
Couldn’t agree more Justin. Seems like everything is going more and more local these days as the algorithms get better and better.
Our Blog:
http://www.unitedbusinesses.net
I agree completely online marketing is one of the most effective ways small businesses can use to market themselves. The low cost of entry means that it’s easy for a sole trader to compete with the large enterprises. Thank you.
Social networking started out several years ago plainly as a way for people to communicate and make friends online. Now, it has become an excellent way for businesses to tap into their target market.
This small business marketing trend is still applicable in 2011 and for the following years. Social media and SEO will still be around for long years as people are connected online and communicating online.