When starting or thinking about growing a business, several important factors to consider. One key factor is marketing. Marketing involves identifying what the consumers want and how best to maximize the sale of products. It is an intricate strategizing mechanism that requires the input of experts to accomplish the tasks. Different techniques are used for marketing goods and services to the intended consumers. Competition is very high in the growing market economy, and only the strongest survive. Therefore it is vital to ensure that the products produced are favored by the consumers, meet the consumers’ needs, and ensure that the customers will keep coming back for more.
Company A’s goods and services might not necessarily be of the same quality as those provided by company B; it matters how you present the product to the customer. For instance, a customer might decide to buy car A that is of a lesser quality than car B because car A is presented to the customer’s liking. On this note, it can be said that marketing is a mind game that achieves the desired goals when played professionally. Marketing techniques evolve with technology. The emergence of social media has taken business marketing to a whole new level, deviating from the more traditional way of doing business.
Social marketing is fast gaining numbers regarding customers; it is purchasing products and services. Unlike the traditional model, social marketing uses online social platforms like Facebook and Twitter to showcase products and services. Traditional marketing uses television, newspapers, short messaging service, and phone calls to potential customers. Although this method has worked for decades, people are leaning towards other options that are more efficient and effective; considering the cost, time and response. It costs a lot of money to put up adverts in the newspapers, billboards and television channels. There is also the issue of competition for the limited space.
Sometimes the adverts run at the wrong time, reaching a lesser number of intended audiences or readers. Because these platforms have limited space for marketing, it is impossible to put out all the information as required to convince the customers to buy the products. Billing depends on the number of words used or the length of time adverts run on television. If the health department uses these platforms, it is likely to make less impact because; these adverts tend to have a short life span. It will also be expensive to run them on different newspapers and television channels because various states have additional tracks and newspapers. Social media, on the other hand, has come of age. The social platform has provided an opportunity that the health department should take advantage of. The department cannot afford to spend vast amounts on adverts alone. The money can be best spent on providing health care.
More people are signing up to social websites like Facebook and Twitter, creating a network of friends worldwide. This makes the flow of healthcare information more accessible and faster. The department can use the limitless space and networks to promote healthcare campaigns. The advantage of social media is that the information reaches so many people quickly. It costs virtually nothing compared to the millions of dollars spent in traditional media. Social media also allows the marketer to link to the customer directly. Marketing via social media has an output capacity twice that of conventional marketing. It is estimated that social media increased business by about 13% in 2009. Moreover, these social sites help monitor the customers’ behavior to model the products and services offered to their tastes.