5 Trends in Marketing Strategy You Need To Know Now

The world of marketing is changing rapidly. New technologies, new customer expectations and a more competitive market have all played their part in forcing marketers to evolve quickly. In an increasingly digital world, brands must think beyond offline strategies if they are to remain effective. With that in mind, here are 5 key trends you need to know about now if you want to stay ahead of the curve in your marketing strategy.

Consumers are in control

Today's consumers have more control over their online experience than ever before. From the brands they trust and their preferred content to the speed at which they are delivered and the experience they receive, consumers are in charge of their online experiences. As a result, they are also more wary of brands who are too eager to control the way they live their lives. Consumers are more likely to challenge brands who overstep the mark, particularly on sensitive issues such as gender, race and sexuality. And with more and more brands moving into the online space and consumers keen to spend their time on services that offer value, brands are increasingly looking to offer premium experiences. With this in mind, marketers are also starting to consider the role of virtual assistants in their strategy. Virtual assistants offer a range of benefits for brands, such as creating bespoke content and automatically responding to queries or requests, and consumers are increasingly looking for ways to interact with brands and AI. This is especially true for voice-first experiences and the increasing uptake of virtual assistants and voice search is another trend marketers should keep an eye on in 2019.

Personalization is the new norm

In the past, personalization was seen as a way to increase brand recall and engagement. However, as consumers become more wary of brands and want to ensure they get a high level of value, personalization has become the norm. Advertising, sponsorship and media buying are all being personalized to help brands adapt to the shifting context and communicate more effectively with the right audience at the right time. This is particularly important for retailers and e-commerce brands as personalization helps brands in these sectors engage with consumers on an emotional level. From this, consumers are far more likely to act on any relevant message or impulse.

Video marketing is here to stay

Video marketing has grown significantly in recent years and racked up an incredible 6.8 billion video views in 2018. This is largely thanks to the growth of online video services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube. Video content is ideal for different devices, is more shareable than images and is a more effective way to engage with consumers than written words. And when it comes to mobile video, consumers are increasingly looking for brands to create engaging experiences that help to create a sense of belonging. However, it's important to remember that video is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Brands that want to gain maximum engagement can find the right balance between longer form videos and shorter, more frequent content. As with most things, the key is to create engaging and relevant content. Consumers will respond to brands that are thoughtful and creative with video having particular potential.

AI and machine learning are taking over

AI and machine learning are revolutionizing marketing. Though still in its infancy, this technology is already helping to make a huge impact on the future of marketing. For example, AI is helping companies to analyze unstructured data, such as images and video, to create more effective content. This means that brands are better able to identify and target relevant audiences. And with this data set finding a much larger audience thanks to the growth of social media and the internet, brands are better able to build relationships and provide value both on an individual and brand level. This has led to a significant shift in the way marketing strategies are being put in place. Rather than focusing solely on brand growth, marketers are now looking to help companies create an impact on a higher level. This means organizations are starting to think beyond numbers and metrics and are instead looking at how AI and machine learning can help to achieve real business results.

VR will soon be a mainstay in marketing strategy

VR is proving to be a surprisingly powerful marketing tool. While it may be relatively new to some brands, it's already becoming a key part of many strategies. This is largely thanks to the growing number of VR headsets in the market and the huge potential for VR to benefit brands and consumers. VR allows brands to create engaging content that helps drive engagement and conversion, establish a sense of belonging and give consumers a memorable experience. And with just a few simple steps, it also allows brands to reduce consumer friction, such as improving shopping experiences and lowering costs, while helping to reduce the risk of consumer fraud. In short, VR allows brands to stand out from the crowd and offers consumers a memorable experience.

Bottom line

With so many changes taking place in the world of marketing, it can be difficult to keep up with all the latest trends. However, it's important to remember that change is inevitable, so it's important to stay on top of new developments and trends. And with all these new developments, it's important to be prepared by having a marketing strategy that's up-to-date and ready to adapt. Turn to Content-1 to help with the development and execution of your marketing strategy. We’ll help you take the best advantage of all that digital marketing has to offer in today’s quickly evolving business environment.

Strategies To Maximize Your Marketing Efforts

Digital marketing has become an essential part of any successful business strategy. In fact, according to Cisco’s Digital Marketing Analytics report, marketers will spend up to $73 billion on digital advertising by 2021. In other words, it’s not a fad—digital marketing is here to stay. Whether you have a small e-commerce business or manage a large company with multiple departments, you need to develop an effective strategy for your marketing efforts if you want them to be successful. The processes involved in creating a marketing plan are not complicated, but it does require careful thought and analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your brand, products or services as well as your target audience. Read on for strategies that can maximize your marketing efforts:

Define your marketing goals

Marketing strategies are not created in a vacuum. Every marketing plan needs to begin with the identification of marketing goals. For example, if you are launching a new product or service, your marketing goals would be to raise awareness of the product or service, demonstrate the value proposition and increase sales. If you are looking to increase customer loyalty, your marketing goals might include identifying and strengthening customer relationships or increasing customer retention rates. It’s crucial that you have a clear idea of what your marketing goals are before you start creating a digital marketing strategy. It will be much easier for you to create a strategy that meets your specific goals.

Develop a digital marketing strategy

Once you have identified your marketing goals, it’s time to develop a digital marketing strategy. This involves taking a good look at your company, your products or services and your customers. You want to consider everything from your strengths and weaknesses to your target audience’s preferences, buying habits and pain points. You also want to look at your current marketing efforts to see where improvements can be made. Are your current strategies producing the results you desire? If not, why? What can you do to improve? Your digital marketing strategy should be broken down into several key components: - Define your target audience. - Assess your brand or company. - Review your products or services. - Understand your customers’ needs and pain points. - Decide on your digital marketing channels. - Create a content marketing plan.

Know your audience and their behaviors

It’s important to know your target audience. Before you can create an effective marketing strategy, you need to understand the types of customers you are trying to reach. You also want to take a closer look at their behaviors and preferences so that you can tailor your marketing efforts to meet their needs and drive the most engagement possible. For example, let’s say you are creating an ad campaign for a new product designed to help people manage their time effectively. You could create an ad for a blog run by professionals in the business field who have a high level of influence over their readers. You could also choose to run an ad on Facebook that targets people who are interested in productivity tips. The options are endless, and the more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to choose the right option for your ad.

Decide on your advertising platforms

Advertising platforms, like Facebook or Google, are excellent tools for any marketing strategy. They can provide a wide reach, and you can even target particular demographics or locales if desired. There are many different advertising platforms you can use to market your business online. The most popular include social media advertising, online ad networks, email marketing, search engine ad-networks (e.g., Google AdWords), and content marketing campaigns. There are pros and cons to every platform, so make sure to consider your budget, the nature of your business, and your target market when choosing your preferred advertising platforms. For example, if you are launching a new clothing line, you may want to consider placing advertising on e-commerce platforms like Amazon or eBay. If you’re launching a new travel company, your best bet might be to focus on Google AdWords to target potential customers.

Don’t forget blogging and content marketing

Many marketers forget about blogging or simply don’t allocate enough time for it. However, blogging is one of the best ways to build your audience and establish yourself as an authority in your niche. Blogging provides you with a great opportunity to strengthen your brand, attract new prospects, and drive more engagement. You can also use blogging to create more content for your website, which will help to improve your search engine rankings. If you want to increase the value of your blog, integrate your products or services into the content. You can also write about tips and advice related to your niche or industry. You can also use blogging for more than just creating content for your website. You can use blogging to engage with your target audience and build relationships. You can also use it to create an email list for your business.

Leverage data from email marketing

Effective marketing strategies should include an email marketing strategy. Email marketing takes time to build, but it can help you to build a relationship with potential customers and clients. This strategy is particularly important if you are in a B2B environment where face-to-face meetings aren’t possible. Email marketing is a great way to provide your customers with helpful information, tips and advice related to your products or services. You can also use it to provide valuable information that can assist your customers with their problems. You can also use email marketing to offer special promotions or discounts. It’s important, however, to make sure that your emails adhere to any laws or regulations pertaining to marketing efforts, particularly those related to unsolicited email.

Conclusion

Digital marketing has become an essential part of any successful business strategy. That’s why you should see professional help developing and implementing that strategy. Content-1 is a Louisville ad agency specializing in strategizing about, developing, and implementing marketing and advertising efforts that work. Content-1 advertising works to attract, engage, and grow your key audiences resulting in new sales. Contact Content-1 today.

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The Four Steps to Creating a Compelling Brand

Creating a brand is something that many businesses struggle with. What is a brand? How do you create one? And why should you bother? If your business is like most, it probably has several components to its identity: an operating name, a logo, a tagline and perhaps some secondary branding elements like colors or fonts. These are all parts of what’s known as ‘branding’. Your brand is the set of visual and verbal identifiers that make people think of your business when they see or hear those tokens again. It’s how people recognize you, understand what you stand for, and connect with your business in a way that makes them want to keep coming back for more. Fortunately, building a brand doesn’t have to be scary or difficult. There are many ways to do it. Here are four steps that will get you there:

Step 1: Define what makes your business unique

First and foremost, you need to define what makes your business unique. What’s different about you and your product or service compared to everyone else in your market? For example, if you own a bakery and your business is special because you use only organic ingredients, that’s something that makes you unique. If you’re a mortgage broker, and you offer loans with a longer term but lower interest rate, that’s also a way to make yourself stand out. Or if you own a clothing shop and your clothing is unique and high quality but also affordable, that’s a third way to make your business stand out. What’s important to note here is that you don’t have to be the best at anything. There are plenty of companies that offer organic ingredients, loans with longer terms, high-quality clothing, and so on. What matters is that you choose one or two of those things and make them the signature characteristics of your business.

Step 2: Find the sweet spot between branding and functionality

Next, you want to find the sweet spot between branding and functionality. What do we mean by that? Well, as you’re working to create a visual identity for your company, you need to be mindful of the functionality of that visual identity. When you decide what your company name will be and what your logo will look like, you’re also making decisions about how your customers will order products and services, how employees will use their computers and phones, and so on. That’s why it’s important to think about how the visual aspects of your business will impact functionality. Will your logo confuse customers or be hard to decipher from a distance? Can your primary font easily be read on every type of device? Will your color scheme make it easy for customers to find your storefront in a crowded shopping center?

Step 3: Determine how you’ll measure success

As you’re building your brand, you should also determine how you’ll measure success. This can be as simple as tracking brand awareness or measuring the number of people who are familiar with your logo or name. For example, let’s say you own a financial planning firm. As you’re building your brand, you might want to focus on getting the word out about your business. In that case, your goal might be to reach 100,000 people or more with your brand messaging. For another example, let’s say you own a clothing shop. In that case, you might want to focus on getting more people to visit your store and make purchases. In that instance, your goal might be to double the number of people who come to your store each month.

Step 4: Commit to making it happen

Finally, make sure you commit to making it happen. This is where a lot of companies get stuck. They have the idea and the passion but they don’t have the tools or the resources to follow through. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, there is one thing you can do: Start small. Don’t try to overhaul your branding in one day or even one week. Instead, take a long-term approach. Every week, make one small change that advances your branding journey. This could be anything from choosing one new font to using one new color or image in your marketing materials. It could mean holding a meeting with your marketing or creative team to finalize your company name and logo. Whatever it is, you want to make sure you’re moving the needle every week.

Of course there is professional help to really make your brand stand out with long lasting positive results. Content-1 is here to help you build and implement the best branding and messaging possible to meet and exceed your marketing goals. Contact us today and let’s get together to strategize how to attract, engage and grow your brand audience.