With so many ways to reach customers in today’s day and age, sometimes it’s hard for small businesses to decide what’s best to use, what it can handle on a week to week basis, and what might be the most effective in driving customers to a business and revenue into your pocket.  But as we’ve said in the past, one thing you’ll always have to do is market effectively.  But how, where, when, and how much is what separates the great companies from the failures, and as your marketing efforts evolve, so will your business and your personal relationship with customers.

Today we point to a very interesting and well done post by John Jantsch, who operates the very popular site, Duct Tape Marketing.  His recent blog post is titled “7 Signs Your Marketing May Need to Evolve.” In it, he essentially lays out very basic principles that you should be examining and determining if you are doing correctly. They include your marketing strategy, your lead generation, and even your referral program. But he also covers simple but effective things that every small business can and should be doing from a social media/public relations standpoint, including blogging and reaching out to journalists to emerge as a thought leader in your space. Many of these points are themselves part of the evolution of marketing as we know it.

So as you read through, think about how your own marketing strategy and initiatives are doing. Have they become stale, and are you falling into a trap of not evolving with the times? If so, you could be losing ground, and ultimately business to the competition.

How have you seen your marketing evolving? What new steps are you taking to enhance your efforts?

Image courtesy of Digital Attic