Small Business Marketing: The Power Of Media (Infographic ...

If you?re not a fan of social media in general, well, I can?t fault you for that. I?m on Facebook but I hardly use it except to post inane and silly things. For me, ?it?s hardly more than a shiny little bauble that occasionally makes noise and flashes prettily if you poke it just right.

While I recognize its usefulness for me, there?s absolutely no denying the power it holds for those of you that use it (or should use it) to push your business into a realm that?s literally begging for attention. And while you see the potential it has for your business, perhaps through those that have used it quite successfully, you might be left wondering how,though. How do they do it? How do they connect? What challenges are there? Is the print medium truly dead?

The answers aren?t all that simple, and certainly not easy to lay out in a small article, but suffice it to say I?ll sure try, especially with the help from the infographic below, from Bolt Insurance.

E-mail and the Web. A huge majority of small businesses connect with their consumers via e-mail and website marketing; solid tools that still drives decent numbers across the board. It?s used by just about everyone and is checked often during their day ? at least six times a day. Many people, almost 70%, say they?d give up that e-mail address for discounts and promotions. Almost 60% say they?d be more likely to buy something after getting an e-mail about it.

Social Media Cool-Factor. What the world needs more of is the cool-factor that is defined more by social media, which is itself used by almost three-quarters of your peers. Most use Facebook (just over 80%) and YouTube (73%). Combined these two have almost two billion users. How can you ignore those numbers? Add Twitter and LinkedIn for another 261 or so million. Ignore these numbers at your own risk.

Print and Online Advertising. These are at about the same level of use as social media; it?s tough to ignore older customers that prefer actual paper to read and aren?t keeping their noses pushed into an iPhone for six to sixteen hours a day. Even so, according to our infographic, the young make purchases via mail distributions as well. While I tend to throw away such junk mail, 65% value it.

I keep thinking print media is going to eventually die, but like my mother-in-law?s 13-year-old dog, it hangs on, and on, and on. Computers were supposed to make us 100% more efficient with getting work done, but it?s actually generated 400% more work in the process. ?Paperless? media was supposed to disappear with home computers, but that didn?t happen either. It might take another generation or two, but eventually, it?s going to be all about the nose-in-the-iPhone. In the meantime, I?ll hope it doesn?t go quite that far.

Read more posts on Ramon Ray & the Smallbiztechnology.com Team ?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/small-business-marketing-the-power-of-media-infographic-2012-8

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