We’ve mentioned the Internet of Things a few times previously here, and while the concept may be new it isn’t necessarily complicated. It follows the natural progression of the internet being used to link devices up that previously weren’t connected, such as phones, cars, televisions, etc. The Internet of Things appeals to the hearts and minds of our current culture as a bold technological step forward in the midst of uncertain economic times. While this current digital device revolution has been happening, another kind of movement has been slowly gaining its own steam, one that’s been tried often before and has met repeatedly with failure: Virtual Reality. And while the notable commercial flops of Virtual Reality has served as a warning to tech companies to not do too much too soon, the predominance of the Internet in our culture today has served as a gateway for the this oft-maligned technology to finally get some love. The combination of these two phenomena open numerous doors for savvy digital marketers, and we’ll explore these opportunities in this article.

A key similarity to both these concepts is that they’re both in the beginning stages of development. While the idea of Virtual Reality has been dated back to the 1970s, the lack of widespread success in any version of the technology means that in functional terms, it’s still relatively new. This means that the fields are wide open for any smart company to take advantage of the situation, the way that Facebook did with Social Media. Broken down to its component parts, Social Media brings reality (images, stories) to the internet. Using this comparison, The Internet of Things brings the internet to reality, in the form of physical objects. And Virtual Reality brings the user into an immersive experience, combining artificial reality and the connectivity of the internet into a completely new environment.

While the concept of the Internet of Things is helped by the current prevalence of iPhones and Smart TVs, Virtual Reality may seem a more far-fetched idea for a business to build a marketing effort around. But one only need to look at the overwhelming success of video games, whether on console, computer or the “freemium” games on digital devices, to see the potential of the full Virtual Reality experience. You don’t want to have your company become the equivalent of the record labels who rejected The Beatles saying that guitar-groups couldn’t be successful in the 60s. You need to open your mind to whatever technology could give you the edge in the always competitive landscape of business, and both the Internet of Things and Virtual Reality could be your ticket to the top.

One of the biggest temptations when creating a strategy is to assume that it’s complete the moment you implement it. Your team can then focus on the actual execution of the components of the strategy along with maintaining its operations, right? Wrong. For business, it’s hard to imagine the circumstances where this would ever be a good idea. The demands of your customers, innovations of your competition and just the role of dumb luck will force you to modify your strategy in real time. Given that a typical business strategy can have many component parts, you’ll need to choose your battles in order to be successful in strategic modification. In this article we’ll go over some primary areas where you want to spend your focus.

All businesses depend on their clients and customers for their revenue and profits, and your strategy must account for their needs. Given the connectivity of your businesses, random events that impact them will always affect you, so it is essential that your strategy has a built-in client industry awareness so you can anticipate potential effects. It’s also important not to grow too attached to any particular aspect of your strategy because it may be rendered obsolete from a particular request or refusal from your client.

You can’t go wrong by focusing more on the content of your online marketing. From a strategic blueprint standpoint, content is the equivalent of the bricks to your building. You can use all the special affects you want to draw people in, but if you don’t have relevant content they’re going to wonder what the big deal was and leave disappointed. The keyword here is relevant: understanding changes in the industry will keep you ahead of the game and allow you to delight your customers with killer content.

Good communication, both internal and external, seems to be that elusive goal for all businesses to achieve, and for your online marketing strategy this couldn’t be more essential. Whenever there is a change to your strategy, all relevant parties should be made aware. Clients will need to know if there will be changes to their service levels. Employees will need to know if they’re doing the right work. Being able to trust your own company, vendors and contractors to execute when required will allow you to communicate with your clients with confidence, particularly when another strategic modification is required.

Understanding strategy is more than drawing up a plan and seeing if it will work – good strategy requires dedication and expertise. Sun Sign Designs knows all about that, as we make strategy the key to the services we provide to our own clients. Reach out to us today to learn more!

Tracking results is a critical piece to your overall business, and it is important that you’re watching the right results when investing in an unpredictable force like online marketing. It makes sense to look at the cost being put in to these efforts, along with the direct profits earned from what you rightly see as a financial investment. But online marketing has metrics that can be difficult to successfully track unless you are being mindful and diligent, such as overall market awareness and the timing of your measurements. By keeping these criteria in mind, you will be able to properly keep an eye on your businesses efforts so you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

Let’s say you have an electronics store, with a new marketing campaign centered on selling new computers. You advertise on your website that your $600 desktops are now selling for $500 for the month, and you watch in satisfaction as an influx of new customers arrives to your store. Marketing campaign success? Sure, more customers came, but how do you know your competition may have had to raise prices that month, or that you may have got more customers if you lowered the price to $475, or even better, used a more robust email follow-up campaign to reconnect with previous customers due for an upgrade? Business is always in flux, and monitoring just the direct profits of your marketing efforts may not be enough to tell you why you got more customers, or how you could have had an even larger number of people come to your store.

Timing your measurements correctly is a more controllable variable than knowing everything that is going on in your market, but it’s also potentially a harder concept to grasp if you’re not ready to think scientifically. Jayson DeMers explains in his recent column for Forbes that looking only at ROI forces a “skewed perception that slants toward short-term results.” In other words, it is human nature to attribute effects such as profits or losses to the most recent effort done by your marketing team, as opposed to the strategy and efforts put in during the history of the marketing project or website. Online marketing content has a long “half-life” on the internet – articles you publish today will remain there for years to come if left undeleted. Visitors may stumble across an article from 2013 from your website that happens to have topics trending in 2016, and decide to go with your services due to your wise advice. If your tracking is only measuring the visit without tracing it to the source, you may think those visitors were due to your most recent marketing efforts, therefore leading you to miss out on capitalizing on the new trend and the ability to connect with more prospects.

In either of these cases, it helps to have a team of professionals to handle the tracking so you can keep an eye on the bigger targets. Sun Sign Designs is staffed with experts ready to help you deal with these issues. We are able to conduct a full marketing strategic report for you so you understand the impact of your marketing efforts, along with a detailed of analysis of where you are getting your website visitors and how you can get more of them. Call us today to schedule your consultation!