With an unprecedented level of social media sites and devices being steadily used and brought into the market place, we at Bridging & Commercial sought the advice of Richard Deacon, Sales and Marketing Director at Masthaven as to how these services will become more prominent.
There are a plethora of new lenders to the bridging finance market all of whom are jostling for position with the stalwarts of the industry in the advertising and marketing sphere.
Just look at the daily intake of solus emails and newsletters you receive from all of your online subscriptions. You will see that even the most eye catching advert will be blended into obscurity with the avalanche of competitors latest offers and boasts that you can easily miss what the real story is.
Notwithstanding, online advertising still is a very good way of getting a message out to several tens of thousands of brokers all in one hit, but is it the future?
Social media services, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are not the reserve of your teenage children’s way of communicating to one another, but a viable way of getting out a message to your “followers” and “friends” almost in an instant.
There are many varying statistics that I could well bombard you with here, but as most of us are sales people we all know that they are more than likely made up! However, if you think just 5 years ago, the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were either not invented, or in their infancy.
The growth of these phenomenon’s has been well documented (and in the case of Facebook, made into a film) and in a relatively short time they have exploded onto the scene and have overtaken many other viable ways of communication in today’s lifestyle.
Celebrities, royalty, sports stars and elderly members of your family have one, and in most likelihood more than one of the above accounts. It is the next step up from simply texting or messaging your nearest and dearest, and think what it can do for your business.
Branding and marketing experts are all too fully aware that social media is becoming of such importance to business that they have had to adopt their own business model dramatically to cope with the demand from their clients. The computer geek is suddenly many people’s best friend again as they explain how to get the most from this new found advertising gem.
With the improvement in technology and specifically the use of smartphones in business, social media has nurtured a following that is very much of the “now” with millions of people hungry for up to the minute information.
Fast forward another 5 years to 2016, and think what the next big thing in communication will be? If you have an idea of what it may be, let me know! One thing is for sure though, social media will be overtaking the likes of everyday communication with online newspapers, magazines and books far outweighing their traditional paper based predecessors.
Knowledge will still be consumed with a voracious appetite, and the need for speed will be the number one consideration for any marketing initiative from all forms of business. In bridging finance, as competition increases, lenders and brokers alike will always want to be the first to get their information out to the public, and social media has this boxed off with their “instant” offering.
With the world’s population approaching an eye watering 7 billion, and the number of mobile phones owned in the UK more than people in the country, businesses must be alert to the swiftly changing planet we live on and learn to diversify their way of communicating to their clients, or risk losing out.
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