Marketing has undergone some major changes over the past few decades. In many ways, marketing today might seem unrecognizable when compared to how marketing was carried out in decades prior. Prior to the advent of electricity, marketing was carried out almost exclusively through direct mail marketing and print ads. Then, as technology progressed, people started to advertise on the radio. These radio spots were powerful and cost-effective ways to reach large numbers of people in a short amount of time. Marketing campaigns started to become well-rounded, encompassing numerous strategies to reach a target audience.
With the growth of TV totally hanged how people advertised. TV commercials become coveted forms of advertisements. People started to forgo radio spots as people shifted to the visual element of TV. Now, marketers had to use their few seconds of TV to tell a story, grab people’s attention, and convince them to buy the product or service. While TV commercials are still essential to any marketing strategy today, marketing has seen another major shift over the past few years.
Largely, this shift has to do with the internet. When people look for a product or service today, they typically turn to the internet. Social media marketing has totally changed how people approach advertising. Now, the focus of marketing is on clicks, likes, and shares. The internet has led to the rise of a totally new industry in the form of search engine optimization (SEO). The goal is to get the company’s website to land on the first page of the search results because this is where all the clicks are found. As a result, many people feel that marketing has undergone a paradigm shift in how it is conducted.
While there has been a shift, the core principles remain the same. One of the pillars of marketing that has persisted through all of this is the packaging. The packaging of a product is still as important as it ever has been. For many people, the packaging of the product is the first interaction they have with the company. Therefore, it is critical for companies to think carefully about how their custom packaging is going to be received. In reality, if the packaging is perfect, the person might even want to share the company’s packaging on a social media platform. This can be seen as a form of free marketing. This is the crux of marketing’s evolution in the modern era.
These are a few of the major ways that marketing has changed over the past few years. While the core principles of marketing remain the same, it is important for everyone to embrace the modern era of marketing and put it to use for their small business.
