With many businesses feel pressured to achieve the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the year. Next year’s resolutions are months away, but there are still changes happening this year that will heavily influence the practice of marketing in years to come. Here are some of the biggest trends on the horizon that stand to change the way businesses reach consumers.
Live video
Video has already become an integral part of marketing for many businesses. The clear majority of businesses have reported plans to increase their spending on video-based marketing, and that will likely continue going into 2018. Live video has been touted as the big game changer this year, with YouTube and Facebook encouraging members to go live. Some businesses are using Periscope to reach consumers who are looking for live videos to view.
Machine learning
Experts often tout machine learning as the future of business marketing, but the future starts now. Marketers will invest heavily in tools that use machine learning to provide increasingly accurate leads. Instead of blindly marketing to a database of contacts, businesses will have a list of people who are likely to convert, with the results changing over time as the software monitors customer interactions with a brand.
Predictive analytics
Like machine learning, predictive analytics can inform a business’s marketing efforts, offering an edge over the competition. Software uses variables to predict future behavior, which can come in handy for those trying to plan a marketing campaign. Predictive analytics can be used to predict customer needs, applying the data businesses are already collecting to help them grow.
Interactive content
Businesses spend a great deal of time and effort creating and sharing content with their . However, if customers aren’t engaging with those posts, they’re a wasted effort. Interactive content like quizzes and polls are a great way to capture customer attention to subtly get a message across. Successful brands will learn to use interactive content to engage customers while also learning more about them.
Director of Digital Marketing for CreativeOne, Clifford Blodgett says, “We use interactive content to engage and educate our customers while collecting data like email addresses, phone numbers, and financial details in a less obtrusive way.”
User experience
At the start of the year, business owners already realized the importance of user experience when it came to their website and products. But many are ready to take their usability audits to the next step. User experience expands well beyond a website or product design, encompassing every interaction a customer has with a brand. When someone calls for more information, can they easily get the information they need or are they sent in circles by confusing phone menus? If you create blog posts or articles as part of your content marketing strategy, consider whether the information is useful to customers, rather than merely serving to market your offerings. When you consider everything from the customer’s perspective, everyone wins.
Executive branding
Business leaders now realize it isn’t enough to promote the products or services they’re selling. Customers want to invest in a brand, which includes the people behind the scenes. This is especially true of leaders, whose background and dedication to their mission can help form an unbreakable bond with customers. Executive branding will continue to grow and become an integral part of every marketing campaign businesses design.
Brand culture
Just as businesses know that they need to help customers get to know their leadership team, they also realize the importance of communicating their brand culture to customers. If you make it clear what your brand stands for, you’ll attract the workers and customers who match your ideology. The key is to first identify what a business’s brand culture should be and then include messaging that helps convey that to audiences.
Permission marketing
Spam is a brand reputation killer. Businesses that are still relying on one-size-fits-all messaging to their customers will find they’re getting poor results. Their competitors are delivering customized marketing messages to consumers, sending offers and announcements that they’re likely to be interested in. Permission marketing relies heavily on analytics to gather data on customers and create marketing campaigns that speak to their interests.
Businesses still have plenty of time to take their marketing to the next level. With so many tools available to help, even small businesses can use the latest technology to create marketing campaigns that get results.
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Marketing Trends and Predictions:
- Forrester Research: - Explore Forrester's research on customer experience and its increasing importance in marketing strategies.
- Marketing futurologist blog by Scott Galloway: - Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU Stern, offers insights and predictions on future marketing trends through his blog.
The Rise of Personalization and AI:
- McKinsey & Company: The عصر جديد (New Era) of personalization (mckinsey.com) - Explores the potential of personalization and artificial intelligence for creating more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
- HubSpot Blog: https://blog.hubspot.com/ - HubSpot offers valuable content on marketing automation and personalization strategies, showcasing how AI is changing the landscape.
Focus on Customer Experience (CX):
- Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA): https://www.cxpa.org/ - CXPA is a professional organization dedicated to advancing customer experience practices. Their website provides resources and insights on how CX will shape future marketing strategies.
- The CMO Council: https://cmocouncil.org/ - The CMO Council is a global community for marketing leaders. Their website features discussions and insights on evolving marketing trends, including the growing importance of customer experience.
- Book: Marketing 4.0: Moving From Traditional to Digital by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Iwan Setiawan (ISBN 1118738055) - Explores the shift towards digital marketing and the changing landscape for businesses in the digital age.
- Article: Why the Future of Marketing is All About Storytelling (contentmarketinginstitute.com) by the Content Marketing Institute - Examines the importance of storytelling in connecting with audiences and its role in future marketing strategies.
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