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Post written by Kalin Kassabov
Kalin Kassabov is a founder and CEO of ProTexting.com, a fast-growing enterprise level text message suite of services.
As another new year approaches, it’s a good time to start planning your marketing strategy for 2018 and beyond. Whether you’re reading this before the holiday rush or after New Years, it’s important to realize that the world of marketing is rapidly advancing. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you can’t keep doing things the same way. What may have worked well a few years ago isn’t necessarily going to help you succeed in the future. Here are some of the biggest trends to help you make the coming year successful.
Enhance The Customer Experience
The term user experience or UX is often used in the context of web design, with the idea that features must be designed with the end user in mind. Customer experience or CX includes UX but also encompasses every touchpoint that customers have with your business. There are many ways to enhance CX, such as:
• Making sure your employees are trained to put the customer first. This includes a warm and friendly attitude as well as conveying the right information.
• Including chatbots on your website to guide visitors to the right place and answer common questions. At the same time, remember that automated tools don’t replace live customer support.
• Asking for feedback. Customer surveys, whether on your website or handed out in your store, are important for tracking satisfaction. Use these regularly and update them with new questions, such as how people feel about new products, features and policies.
• Engaging actively on social media. Most businesses have a social media presence such as a Facebook page and Twitter account. What really counts, though, is that you monitor these accounts and communicate with your followers.
Use Location-Based Marketing
One of the capabilities I’m increasingly focusing on in my own mobile marketing business is geolocation or location-based marketing. This is simply the ability to target customers based on their current location using GPS tracking. Customers, of course, must give their permission for this. This allows you to send people extremely relevant messages when they’re close to your business or even that of a competitor. You might also alert people to a special sale or promotion when they’re in your store. As mobile technology gets ever more popular, location-based marketing will become increasingly powerful.
Add Livestream Video
While video has been getting bigger on the internet for years, the big news right now is livestreaming. Facebook Live and other services such as Twitter Live (formerly Periscope), YouTube Live and Instagram Live are transforming the way people watch videos. There’s a certain excitement generated from live videos that you can take advantage of for marketing purposes. It helps you generate buzz around new products and promotions. In addition, you can interact with your audience in real time and answer questions. Livestreaming is a powerful branding tool that helps you engage with your audience.
Use Micro-Marketing
As marketing gets more expensive and competitive, it’s increasingly important to target your audience and identify your customers’ unique needs. It’s also essential to segment your customers into appropriate categories. If you have an email list, you can separate it into several lists based on preferences and buying patterns. Use a similar approach with paid advertising. Don’t simply advertise to huge groups (macro) but to specific audiences (micro). For example, rather than having a huge sale on every item in your store (or website), focus on a specific line or type of product and target those customers who are most likely to buy these products.
Collect More Data
“Big data” has been a marketing buzzword for some time. While there are many uses for data, nothing is more useful than compiling information about your customers. Small businesses need data as much as their larger counterparts. Whether your business is web-based or brick and mortar, there are now more ways than ever to learn all about your customers — who they are, where they live and what they need. The best way to get information from people is to ask them for it. Not everyone will fill out your surveys but many people will, especially if you give them an incentive such as entering them into a contest.
All of these trends are likely to explode in 2018 and beyond. At the same time, different methods are more appropriate for some businesses than others, so don’t implement something just because it’s popular. On the other hand, you may find that one or more of these strategies is just what you need to take your business to the next level in the coming year.