What Marketers Need to Know in 2018
It's always fun (and useful!) to start the year looking ahead to what trends may be coming that we need to understand and decide whether to use. Will technology be bringing something new? Making our jobs easier? How can we best reach our target customers, and deliver something that will not only catch their attention, but their hearts as well? Here are some trends we see coming in 2018:
Multi-Message Marketing: Following on with the trend of more personalised ad campaigns, multi-message marketing will see simultaneous campaigns aimed at different target groups all running at the same time but with different messages, depending on the target's interests and trigger points. The aim is to have messages that resonate more strongly with each different targetted small group. These still all need to be on-brand.
Revenue-Generating Marketing: Tired of the bosses not approving your Marketing budget? Consider making Marketing a department that can generate revenue! Can you host an event that people would be willing to pay for? If you're a restaurant, maybe host a tasting event, or if you're a fashion retailer, maybe run a style seminar. There are several ways that market need not just be about buying ad space in traditional media channels. Let your imagination be your guide!
Data-Driven Attribution: Marketing has always had the problem of proving its involvement in the sales process. Over recent years, though, it's become easier to track consumers' involvement with the touchpoints that are at each stage of the marketing and sales funnel. We can now see if consumers did a Google Search that led to our blog post, then our website, then a sale. Or whether they left their items in their shopping cart until after they saw a retargetting ad and came back to complete their purchase. Data-Driven Attribution can better show which of our efforts have driven results, so we can put more resources behind those in the future.
Smarter Digital Marketing: Is social media marketing paying off for you? Is LinkedIn advertising getting better at reaching people in 2018? It Twitter still connecting you to the people you want to reach? Is Facebook improving how it reaches the audiences you want to reach? Got video you want to put out on YouTube and cross-promote on other channels?
In 2018, we're trying a new approach incorporating more Google Display Ads, as well as advertising on specific platforms like Peatix and Meetup. So far, it's had a good ROI for us. Don't be afraid to mix up what you're doing online, as audiences shift a lot, and social networks constantly change what they're doing, which sometimes makes it easier for Marketers, and sometimes not. Whatever the case, please keep your eye on the analytics so you can quickly change what you're doing if it isn't reaching the audiences you want.
Want to understand how to use digital marketing better? Attend a workshop, like our talk about Instagram & Influencers, coming up later in January. Click here for more details: Influencer & Instagram Talk 2018
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