It’s a new year – and as is typically the case, the marketing landscape is entirely new, as well. Concepts like social media marketing and content marketing are no longer cutting-edge options; they’re merely standard marketing tools that advertisers should already be utilizing. To really succeed in 2019, a new outlook is required; one that incorporates everything modern consumers desire, executed in a way that maximizes revenues for businesses.
There’s also this not-so-pleasant fact. Every day you delay in implementing these strategies is another day in which the competition has the ability to beat you to the punch. It’s a good idea to get in on the ground floor before your competition does. After all, you want your customers to think of your business as progressive and innovative, not as mere second-rate imitators.
The Collection of Data
Digital marketing has made it easier than ever for marketers to collect and analyze the habits of their customers. Despite this, there are still many businesses that don’t use this data to its fullest potential.
Admittedly, it can be difficult for a business that’s new to data collection to wrap its head around exactly what to do with all of this information. This can lead to a paralysis-by-analysis situation where nothing gets done and the status quo remains. This is the exact scenario you want to avoid in 2019.
Instead, focus your energy on the main customer decision points, such as when they sign up for your email list or make a purchase.
Identify what prompts individuals to take these actions, and then expand your data mining to cover other stops along the typical path to purchase. Before long, you’ll be able to not only track a given consumer along their journey, but you’ll know exactly how your marketing influences that person. Better yet, you’ll be able to use that data for a variety of other purposes.
A Prioritized Customer Experience
Customer experience has long been on the list of emerging marketing trends. So, then, why is it so important in 2019?
The data you collect about your customers doesn’t just enable you to predict activity and tailor advertising to unique groups of prospects. Customer data also lets you optimize the experience of each customer.
We’ve already seen an early example of how the customer experience can leave people raving with glee in 2019. Consider the “Bandersnatch” episode of Black Mirror, which quickly became a viral phenomenon on Netflix. This “choose your adventure” concept isn’t just a hearkening back to our childhood; it also sheds light on the future of marketing, and of society as a whole. People simply just want a good experience. They want to be wowed, and they want to feel like the choices they make matter.
Good customer experience does all of this, and more. When you log onto Amazon, you’re greeted by a list of suggested items based on your past purchases and browsing activity. The same is true for Spotify, Netflix, and countless other services. This helps people move beyond the myriad options available to them and instead zero in on what they’d most enjoy. Your business should do the same.
Omnichannel Marketing
Of course, there’s more to marketing than just tracking the products that people look at on your site. Marketing comprises several different platforms – digital, offline, print and in-store marketing are all just as important as what happens online.
Increasingly, it’s become practical for marketers to combine all of these different mediums and create one profile for each consumer as they interact with all of these touchpoints. It’s now possible for a business to track someone as they see a product in-store, conduct research online and eventually make a purchase. This is known as omnichannel marketing, and it’s changing the way in which marketing is conducted. And it’s impossible without constant vigilance in the areas of data collection and enhancing the customer experience.
In other words, it’s not enough for marketers to simply collect data. Marketers must also make it worth the customer’s while to provide that information. The consumer must be so impressed that they want to log in, to sign up and to give permission for the company to track them across multiple platforms. Without these pieces in place, omnichannel marketing – and effective marketing in 2019 as a whole – is impossible.
Video Marketing
We’ve seen video rise to prominence in marketing in recent years, but it bears repeating as a cornerstone of your 2019 marketing strategy. If you’re not using video in your marketing, what are you waiting for?
Video is quickly moving beyond being the wave of the future and is firmly entrenched as the preferred medium of the present. That’s not just because it’s a flashy new trend – it’s because video works. The consumption of video content now comprises a third of all Internet activity, particularly in the case of the coveted millennial demographic.
Even better, video is considered to be the advertising medium that provides the best ROI, and video content on social media gets shared 12 times more often than photos and text updates combined. In other words, if your video marketing is lagging in any way, now is the time to get things right. It just might be your last chance before your competitors start stealing away market share.
Make a marketing resolution in 2019 – take a smart approach to collect data, then use that data to improve the customer experience in all of your forward-facing platforms. If you need help getting started, drop us a line today.
