Still stuck in the one-way street of traditional advertising? It's guaranteed to give you a problem in trying to stay afloat within the highly competitive and fast-paced world of e-commerce.

You need to wake up to the brand-new digital age, where business owners can directly communicate with consumers from around the world and where ads are posted every minute and seen by a thousand people every second. How can you keep up with new marketing trends in this time and day? What should you do in order to draw and hold the attention of your target audience?

Below are 3 simple yet powerful ways that will help you capture prospective customers without falling behind competitors. Remember these 3 E's:

Engage
Instead of focusing on the conventional method of advertising, you ought to start engaging people. The digital age is the social age! So stop hiding behind your banners and commercials. Get out there and mingle with potential consumers.

You need to send inspirational emails, answer blog comments, like their Facebook posts, and chat with them. It's important to treat these individuals as real people and real friends rather than mere buyers and figures in your books.

Building a community around your business is the most powerful method of marketing that you can do today. After all, they'll certainly believe their friends more as compared to companies they don't know and trust yet.

Evolve
Innovation is of utmost importance if you don't want to get buried underneath the fast-moving online entrepreneurs growing by the number each day. You have to keep evolving as you adjust to your target audience's changing needs and wants.

For instance, children today are extremely tech-savvy. Toy makers need to come up with digital versions and integrate high-tech electronics into their new products. Book publishers have to offer e-book versions complete with music, sound effects, voice overs, and interactive games.

It's also not enough that you started out as an online seller in the first place. If you used to rely on just article marketing and backlinks, you're surely dawdling behind! What if your prospective clients are hanging out on Instagram these days? What if they're always on the go and would rather access mobile services through their smartphones?

Adapting to the whirlwind journey of technology can be exhilarating, yet fun and profitable if you know how to ride the waves.

Empower
The third essential E that you must always keep in mind is Empower. These days, it's not enough that you share information and interact with your target audience. Capturing their curiosity, trust, and love entails empowerment of their biggest weaknesses and needs.

Employees are often stressed out. Then show them how your product can provide instant relief.

A lot of teenagers lack self-esteem. Make it your job to induce that I-love-myself feeling. Show them what they've got and increase their confidence. Obesity is becoming widespread. So start a "Fight Obesity" campaign in your online community, innovate your products and services to incorporate a weight loss program, and share success stories of moving toward better health and a more attractive appearance.

There are a lot of things you can do to inspire and energize your followers, visitors, subscribers, and existing consumers. But you need to get to know them better first.

You don't have to grope around the dark and crazy corridors of this unfamiliar business turf. Just follow the 3 E's above, keep educating yourself, and stay involved. And don't forget to have fun!