Marketing 2015

[Gamerprinter]

While I don't have "pink or blue hair" as some artist types do, in most ways, I'm a non-conformist, or at least I care nothing to be like other people - so if I'm atypical, I am fine with that, even glad to be so. I do see flak against FB from other individuals - again though its not a problem for me, I limit the information I post on FB/G+, so I think I am atypical in my use of social media as well, even though I certainly use it.

[pauland]

I didn't mean 'atypical' in a derogatory fashion and I think conformity is underrated. It's the atypical things that make life interesting.

[haakoo]

This contentmarketing is already a booming way to promote products these days.
I have the feedly rss reader on my Phone/tablet and as webpage on the desktop,
I downloaded a file where 250+ feeds were listed to be used in the feedly app/site
This list contains feeds from numerous blogs about art,design,crafts,DIY,tech and more.
Everyday there are about 120 articles about different subjects and when it appeals to me I read it.
If it is something to keep,I can save it to my (free)account to read about it later.

On real products I do a search on comparison sites so I get the best buy

Hans

[Egg Bramhill]

FB is 95% purile nonsense. That said I have a friend who operates a chippy and his (in fact his 12 year old son's) marketing on FB is fantastic. It pulls in over 60% of his trade. But it requires constant every day input.

I've never understood blogs. I follow one. Never follow any rss readers, nor twitter or LinkedIn. As for google Ads etc I get pissed off with being targeted for products I no longer am interested in or have already purchased.

In fact I believe the communication channels are become so splintered that they are becoming a hinderance rather than a help. "I pm'ed you on FB", great, I only go on FB about once a week. I Skyped you, I Facetimed you, Twitered you, I Google Chatted you, I dropBoxed you, I Texted you, emailed you, etc etc etc. My names Victor Meldrew!

[Cloud]

As someone who not only offers SEO and Social Media Marketing but also traditional Printing services I have found the following:

Printing still works the best if you are a fairly local business as you can get your message out quicker to people who actually need and most likely to use your services.

Actual usage on google for keywords/keyphrases has dropped for people searching for a product or service.

Social media works better for people supplying digital services or for distance selling through ecommerce. Out of the social media outlets facebook is now on the back burner for marketing companies. Twitter, instagram and pinterest are the ones to target.

Here in the UK there are two main outlets for purchasing, Amazon or Ebay, both allow small businesses to compete with the big guys but amazon wins out in terms of people actually purchasing (certainly all people I know bought from amazon in the build up to the Christmas period rather than ebay)

But beware if you plan on using social media for bring in business; there are millions out there doing the same thing, we always hear about how someone creates something in their home and through social media become overnight millionaires (cambridge satchel company were promoted by google through tv adverts) but the success rate is miniscule.

TV/Radio advertising. the domain of the big guys (tv certainly)

The successful companies use a combination of all this to market their product/service.

Personally I think that amazon is about to wipe out a lot of online and bricks and mortar stores this year, their logistics are mind blowing, order on a saturday evening and receive your items sunday morning, who else delivers on a sunday just a few hours after you ordered.

[pauland]

My understanding is that Amazon are hurting Google as the uptake of mobile grows apparently people are using Amazon as the primary product search rather than google on mobile platforms.

[Albacore]

All that I can say is that FB and I would also include Twitter here are huge and must be used professionally by any company who wants to stay in the business that they are in. Also these companies must employ people to do only this much like Gary's "Photo Retouchers" as it is a highly specialised skill. Blogs get lost in todays internet as fewer and fewer people are accessing the internet using their desktop. Even when you talk about "Kickstarter" look how many projects fail to get funding and I hate it when a large company use kickstart to bring a product on when they shouldn't need to raise capitol that way.

When we discuss the way that we shop I think I am fairly typical I prowl the highstreet for a product and then use my phone to find it cheaper. Even shops now realise this carrying less stock and using "Click & Collect" just about easing their pain. I think in the future of shopping centres/malls they must have a seamless integration between Off-Line/On-Line shopping allow free Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connections in store and that will allow businesses to highlight offers to the customer. I am sure that these places must wake up to the fact that they shouldn't just be a retail area for selling, surely they will think that they are the place of leisure as it is the only way that they will keep open.

[Gamerprinter]

My understanding is that Amazon are hurting Google as the uptake of mobile grows apparently people are using Amazon as the primary product search rather than google on mobile platforms.

Adding to me "atypicality", I don't own (nor ever have owned) a mobile phone device. If you want to call me, I have to be near my landline, otherwise I get no phone call - and never a text...

[pauland]

Adding to me "atypicality", I don't own (nor ever have owned) a mobile phone device. If you want to call me, I have to be near my landline, otherwise I get no phone call - and never a text...

It's not a bad place to be. So many people's lives hang on waiting for the next text or snapchat.

[jaydear]

I too am not a FB fan. I only rediscovered Xara because I had occasionally been using Xara 3D for many years and realised last year that I hadn't had an update for a long time. I was surprised that I still had a working password when I logged on and in updating my details discovered Web Designer 10 Premium which I bought to replace my old, dysfunctional FrontPage (yes, yes, I know!) .