Five Ways Technology Marketing Can Improve Your Sales Targets

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Despite the downturn, businesses are still investing increasing amounts of time and money into the digital marketing arena. A raft of new technology means that communicating with consumers is more exciting than ever, with touchscreen tablets and smartphones leading the way. 

Technology also continues to make advances in the field of business-to-business marketing with technology marketing companies providing software designed to enhance the sales and marketing function. 

Use a CRM system 

A customer relationship management system can be a powerful tool when it comes to marketing your business and can increase both productivity and profits. CRM systems enable users to build up and maintain detailed customer profiles, which in turn can be used to develop sales and marketing strategies based upon specific needs. Marketing automation takes this concept one step further and delivers personalized content in response to consumer's online behavior. 

Be social, not antisocial 

Unless you have been living under a rock recently, your business will be utilizing platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with consumers. With more and more brands vying for attention, you need to ensure your social media messages are engaging and aligned with your marketing strategy.

Be aware that boastful status updates are likely to encourage customers to hit delete and it is bad form to follow people on Twitter on the off chance they will follow you back. On the other hand, requesting feedback can be a successful way to engage with existing and prospective customers on social media platforms. 

Search engine listings

In order to be found, your website needs to be indexed by major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. There is software available that will automatically submit your URL, website name, keywords and description to popular search engines, bringing more traffic to your website. 

E-mail marketing

OK, so e-mail marketing may not be new, but it continues to lead the way as a cost-effective marketing tool, particularly for small businesses. You can build you own e-mail database from existing contacts and use your website to capture new data. Ensure you offer an incentive for signing up and make sure your e-mails contain valuable, relevant information or genuine special offers. 

Mobile technology

The use of smartphones continues to grow rapidly and this looks set to threaten the humble PC. As millions switch to mobile phones to connect to the internet, send e-mails and access applications, businesses that ignore the mobile marketing platform do so at their peril. Mobile technology can also change the way organisations conduct business as employees have access to company data 24 hours a day from wherever they are.

The digitally connected world paves the way for exciting technology advances that offer businesses an increasing number of marketing opportunities. However, increased competition and an uncertain economy mean businesses must seek innovative ways to gain a competitive edge.

Everyone would be wise to remember that traditional marketing techniques can still be valuable in the digital age and often the most successful campaigns take elements from both the old and new.

Louise Smith is a digital marketing consultant. She has been writing for websites and printed media for over ten years. Louise uses sources such as technology marketing to research developments in the industry.