21 May Marketing that Works – Four Critical Trends for High Impact Marketing
As a business coach, I often see that implementing effective marketing approaches presents itself as a major challenge for many clients. Today’s marketing trends are changing at a vast and rapid rate. This can make it even more challenging to find and make the most of the valuable trends while they last.
Nowadays, B2B & B2C is being replaced with H2H…Human to Human marketing. We must creatively target, connect, and build meaningful relationships with individuals on that H2H level. This means assessing the individual’s needs and then determining how we can best connect with them and their needs. It means targeting our audience and authentically engaging with them through strategic marketing strategies that establishes a relationship and positions you as someone they want to engage with.
To successfully reach and engage our ideal customer, we must be able to define, identify, and locate our ideal customer. Here, some traditional marketing approaches cannot be forgotten. We must know our USP…Unique Selling Proposition…and be able to clearly explain it. Then our brand must have a consistent message and the marketing we use must be able to dance with our brand!
Above all else, our marketing should always be looked at as an investment – not an expense. Tracking our marketing ROI (Return on Investment) will guarantee we use strategies that have an ROI-positive effect.
Below are the top four trends that can integrate the points outlined and are working as high impact marketing strategies. To be effective, each strategy must be thoroughly and thoughtfully developed and ample time must be given for implementation.
Four Impactful Marketing Trends:
1) Mobile-centric – Goodbye mobile-friendly…hello mobile-focused. Mobile is taking over and that means taking the time to invest in a mobile marketing strategy is of utmost importance. This is the year to consider a mobile app. This can help to increase brand awareness, engage with the customer, and gain valuable data and feedback. All emails and website pages should be mobile-centric and responsive to mobile devices.
2) Email – Believe it or not, email marketing is still effective! But here’s the catch: only if it’s targeted properly and relevant to your customer’s needs and wants. It might even be the best ROI-positive strategy out there. Be sure your emails are mobile-centric! Make the relevant, valuable information the forefront of the message and the sales pitch secondary. This helps to build trust, brand loyalty, valuable leads, and therefore, more conversions.
3) Video – In the digital age, people are preferring video over reading text and that puts video on the rise. Use webcasts, live-streaming, webinars, and videos to tell your story, explain how to do something, and engage with your audience. Video marketing must be engaging and well-designed though – viewers are now watching for shorter durations periods so powerful graphic content and getting your message out fast is vital.
4) Social Media/Writing – Take the time to get good at your social media practices. Think quality over quantity. Write well (or outsource someone who can) because poor writing damages trust in your brand. Personalize social media efforts (H2H!) Your social media tactics should leave your potential customers feeling connected, enthused, and ready for more. Be purposeful about the message you present knowing that a thoughtful approach will leave you with a strong ROI.
The beauty of all of these approaches is they are fairly easy to implement and maintain. The new web-site platforms allow for easier updating that can be done in house and the email, video, and social media platforms become an extension of the website. So, take the time to assess your current marketing and add some new “punch.”