Today’s guest post is from Laura Andrews:

Some fledgling entrepreneurs take marketing for granted, when in fact, it’s the best way to jumpstart your business. Marketing will allow you to put your product out there and let your customers know what you can do for them.
Businesses used to rely solely on TV, radio, and print marketing, but with the emergence of the internet and social media, the game has changed. Now you can see products and services being marketed online, targeting specific audiences directly. If you used to ignore Instagram and Facebook before, Inc.com thinks now is the time to start paying attention to these platforms and the updates that can help your business.

Here are some of the marketing trends and tools you should know about:

Spaces

Start your business by creating your logo with Spaces. A logo is an important aspect of branding, which is a crucial part of your business. Your branding needs to have a good recall and it needs to represent what you hope to achieve and stand for in your business. Spaces has a library with hundreds of icons, frames, and font types you can choose from. It has a very simple interface that will allow you to come up with a logo even if you don’t have any formal design training.

Buffer/Hootsuite

These are social media management tools that let you manage your social accounts in one place. Entrepreneur lists it as one of the most effective marketing tools that can help you understand your audience and your customers. Buffer aims to engage your audience and build your brand. Its free plan works great for new business owners who want to grow their social media presence—with it you can schedule social media posts for later and review your analytics to see how your posts are performing. Hootsuite, meanwhile, is a good alternative. It allows you to quickly respond to comments and posts on your social media accounts.

Canva

Once you’ve got your business’ social media accounts ready, you can start producing content that will put more information about your business out there. You can use Canva to create custom illustrations, infographics, fully designed sales proposals, and other business content that will help your market remember your brand.

Sniply

Besides creating your own content, it would also be advisable to share content from reputable sources and experts in your industry. Sniply lets you do just that. It allows you to attach a call-to-action on every bit of content that you share. Responsibly sharing other people’s content can help you build rapport with other entrepreneurs in your industry, not to mention add more credibility to your business. Digital reputation marketing is a great way to turn any potentially damaging feedback into a positive experience.

Google Analytics

This helpful marketing tool allows you to measure the performance of the marketing content you’ve produced for your website and social networking sites. You can even check video stats to see where your audience’s attention dropped or where they stopped watching. This will give you insight to understand what your audience wants to see and learn about your business.

Medium also suggests using Facebook Audience Insights or Facebook ads to optimize and boost the reach of your posts. More exposure can translate to potential and actual sales.

MailChimp

This is one of the largest marketing automation platforms that will help you find your audience and the best people to target when you are releasing ads and creating content. MailChimp has a campaign builder perfect for telling stories, selling products, and sharing big news.

Survey Monkey

Apart from the analytics tools you can use online, you can also send out online survey tools that can help you understand your audience and consumers better. When you ask for feedback, it also gives your customers a sense of security and a lot of reassurance that you care for what they have to say and that you are willing to improve what you have to offer.

Digital marketing did not only change the way entrepreneurs present their products, the new medium has also affected consumer behavior—customers are now more discerning and more vocal about their experience with the services and products they pay for.

That’s why it’s important to keep yourself updated with the latest trends and the most effective ways to reach your market. If advertising was blind before, now it has more eyes than ever and if you do not keep up, other businesses can easily take over. If you don’t feel confident about your knowledge in digital marketing, it’s not too late to take classes. The online marketing page featured on Maryville University details how the industry is predicted to grow to $335 billion by 2020. Digital advertising has created a lot of career opportunities for people who are trained in digital marketing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated the skill set can qualify you for 19,700 new careers in advertising, promotions, and marketing management from 2014 to 2024.

The boom in digital advancements isn’t isolated to advertising; it has trickled down to industries that need to have a feel of the people they service. No matter the service you want to provide or the product you want to sell, digital marketing can help you make the most out of this developing technology—you just have to study it and give it a try.

Laura Andrews is a digital nomad with a knack for understanding and mastering every aspect of online marketing. She likes to write for blogs and insights pages of online businesses that are looking to grow their brand.