A growing marketing technology industry indicates that there is a growing amount of ways for a brand to interact with potential and current customers. As a result, the effectiveness of traditional marketing methods is diminishing and their digital counterparts are taking over.

For example, online listings have replaced phone books. Whereas potential customers could easily find a company through a listing in a phone book, a company must now place their business on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Tripadvisor in order to be “searchable”. However, the four sites mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg. There are over 70 major search engines and sites that a business must be on in order to “leave no cards unturned”.

Similarly, businesses used to compete for customers with print advertisements and commercials. Usually, a company would place one or two different advertisements on a couple of TV networks or in a few magazines. Due to a limited amount of consumption channels (TV/magazine/newspaper), these advertisements would be seen by many.

Nowadays, businesses dedicate large portions of their marketing budgets on paid search campaigns and social media advertising, which puts their brand in front of a highly-segmented individual (thanks to marketing technology). As such, whether or not you gain a new customer depends on your being in front of the right person in the right place at the right time. This is true now more than ever.

As you can see, competition between businesses for customers is intensifying. In addition, the digital marketing required for a business to remain relevant will continue to increase. The matter becomes even more pressing for an SMB who oftentimes requires a strong digital presence in order to compete with corporate counterparts.