Marketing these days is a hundred times more complicated than thirty years ago. The amount of different ways to advertise your company and the platforms available for marketing is absolutely mind boggling. Communication methods can reach a global audience very quickly. Everything from sponsored events to a social network profile could help your business and need to be considered as to their individual benefits. When confronted with this huge array of platforms, how can you make strategic decisions on the best way to go? After all it may be possible to make use of all of them, but which ones should go first and which ones will do your company the most good? This article examines some of the platforms available and how you can decide if they are best for you.

The key questions you should ask yourself when making this kind of decision are; what kind of exposure is required and practical? Who is the target audience and what platforms are they likely to see on a regular basis? A good example of this would be Facebook for use as a business marketing tool. Some businesses would benefit from this, particularly if a target market is those people with access to Facebook and the internet. Consider an event organiser or a nightclub that wishes to keep people updated with up and coming gigs. Facebook would be an excellent way to achieve this. Consider another company such as one manufacturing and selling walking sticks and other products to the elderly. They may have a Facebook profile, but it is unlikely to be the primary method of communicating with its target market.

It is not just social network sites that provide marketing with a way of connecting and relating to the public and therefore generating business. Many companies use sponsorship of events as a way to access different kinds of people. Local businesses will often sponsor local events and this is not limited to sports. Sponsoring a local team and therefore getting a banner up in stadium when they play can be a good way to make the public aware of your company. When considering this strategically, think about how you will promote through the banner design. If you are running a building company called 'Bob's Building Equipment,' then the company name and location/web site address may be all you need to get the message across. The clue is in the title! If however, your building company is called something less obvious such as 'Bob Cratchett and Son's' then the title will not be enough to let people know what you are trying to sell.

In this way it is not only the platform, but the way you use that platform that is important. It does not always have to be expensive or elaborate in order to generate business from your marketing. Smaller businesses could make use of the Microsoft Office suite to generate email shots or design leaflets to distribute locally which can be an effective way of letting lots of people know about your company. Smaller companies may well need to think smaller in order to generate the sales required for them to move into larger more commercial marketing schemes. It is unlikely that a small company would be able to jump straight into a prime time television advertising slot, but an advert on a local radio station might be effective. Consider the size and practical budget of the company before deciding on the method of marketing.

When looking into marketing it is worth remembering that platforms are constantly changing, but methods that have been around for years are still viable and practical to businesses. It is exciting to build an application for i-phone and be part of the cutting edge methods of marketing. If you have the budget and the appropriate target audience then this may well be a viable method of generating sales. Do not however dismiss simpler, cheaper and more traditional methods as out of date. Plenty of people who have an i-phone also read the local paper and would view an advert in it. Plenty of people who would look at your Facebook page would also read your email shot.