If you care about your company’s future, it’s important to pay attention to emerging trends and get a head start on the next big marketing craze.
In the evolving world of content marketing, change is good.
So good in fact that according to research by the Content Marketing Institute this year, 93% of B2B (Business to Business) marketers and 90% of B2C (Business to Customer) marketers use content marketing.
Those stats mean that a large majority of businesses have narrowed their target audience and have tailored their content (website, blogs, pictures, videos etc) to appeal to their ideal audience.
Business who were the first to use the Internet, social media and other online tools for marketing gained huge advantages within their fast-paced industries (it will be a while before companies such as Netflix, Amazon, or Google will be knocked from their top spots in their industries).
The way people use the Internet changes with time, and it affects other forms of media and marketing. Content marketing isn’t the only trend that businesses big or small should be paying attention to.
Why are smartphones important?
A recent study from Nielsen showed that an average American spent 7 hours more per month using smartphone browsers in the first quarter of 2014 than they did in the same period last year. Besides being communication devices, gaming platforms, and cameras, mobile phones are now also being used as tools for payments and coupons.
With mobile phones now able to access and do (nearly) anything a computer can whilst at the tips of your fingers, it’s incredibly important that your website is responsive; so when your targeted audience view your website at their fingertips, they don’t want to be scrolling sideways to read your carefully written content.
When you consider the fact that you have less than 10 seconds to leave a lasting impression on your audience before they go elsewhere, you don’t want them to waste their time getting frustrated with your website’s navigation.
Learn from others
No matter what your industry, pay attention to what other companies (including competitors) are up to and how they reinvent themselves in this new technology-driven world.
Five years ago, the idea of ordering online from a restaurant (other than a pizza chain) seemed ludicrous. Now many restaurants use apps to offer faster service. Learn and explore ways how to use technology and trends to your advantage, instead of letting the evolution of technology cut you out.
Things will change and marketers will need to learn new tactics, but each of these trends point to new and exciting ways for business owners to connect with their target audience.
Internet marketing is about targeted campaigns that reach the right people out of the billions of users. Watching trends gives marketers new ways to zero in and deliver a powerful message in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Olden is Golden
However, keep in mind that many of the “old” tactics still have a great deal of value and have strong track records. For example: email marketing.
When it comes to social media and marketing campaigns, email marketing doesn’t have the glitz factor, but there are many good reasons for business owners to consider the strategy instead of ditching it for the next big thing. It’s been noted that that the demand for email marketing amongst marketers decreased by 12% in 2013. The fact that some marketers have already began to pull back on email marketing means that there is more room for small business owners to make an impact with their target audience.
Your audience should always ‘opt in’ to receive emails with offers and through them doing this, you already know that they’re interested in what you have to offer. This is where you must learn to optimise this opportunity and feed them what you’d think they’d want to read and hear.
The world is never stood still at any given moment and nor is the world of marketing. There will always be particular trends at a particular time (look at the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or the Harlem Shake for an example) and it’s always worth knowing how businesses optimise themselves by taking advantage of trends, staying relevant and keeping their brand out there. If, like most businesses, you don’t have the time to constantly keep yourself updated with marketing trends then sign up to our free emailing list and we can do the research and keep you updated!
