A major hurdle that many SMBs experience is convincing senior executives to embrace digital marketing. Some comments of why they decline that I have heard include:

• We’ve haven’t used it so far to get customers
• That works for larger companies, not us
• It doesn’t work
• It costs too much

While there are scenarios where these reasons and more can been true, it assumes that things are staying the same, and our customers aren’t changing. But the fact is, they are! They are no longer courting mobile (smart phones and tablets) – they’re married! An appendage, often physically closer to us than our children or life partner! The quick access to the Internet or an app to provide info or take notes is too invaluable. And why? At a high level to accelerate their decision process. Whether its buying a pair of shoes, a plane ticket, or purchasing cleaning services for the home or short-term help to assemble IKEA furniture.

Admit it. We are increasingly moving from a ‘plan, do, check, act’ society to, ‘check, do, act’, with the ‘check’ collapsing into ‘do’ merely by visually assessing whether reviews are 1-star or 5-star. The result is that all SMBs, every one, has to look at how to educate and support their customer’s decision faster and reliably. The author of this article provides one way to help your senior executives see the light on having a digital marketing plan and forming a union sooner vs. later.

Link