How to stay competitive? How to earn the customers’ trust and respect? How to gain new clients and keep the existing ones coming back for more? These must be the questions each marketer and business owner is willing to get the answer for, especially at the beginning of a new period. The latest tendencies recognized by experts as most important for the new 2016 year are going to point out the most promising directions and innovative ways of achieving your marketing goals.
Buying and searching through social networks
Facebook reportedly is working on its own search engine, plus buying products via its messenger is going to become reality this year. It will make a kind of a revolution for marketers who still underestimate the importance of social media marketing.
Imagine, instant purchases and order notifications through a messenger will be possible for customers who are checking their profile, without the need to use the search engine or visit an online store outside the network. It will surely spur product commenting, sharing the buying and unwrapping experiences in social networks and do a big favour to companies’ visibility.
The rise of video marketing
Videos have been steadily growing more popular to engage with customers, and 2016 will be no exception. The number of users who choose YouTube over conventional television is increasing and marketers need to catch this opportunity to deliver their message with video as a mediator. Moreover, with apps like Snapchat, allowing to take pictures or videos and send them to a specific contact, it is becoming easier. One more peculiarity of this app is that content sent can expire, so it can be a way to engage with customers by creating exclusive campaigns and offers that “live” for a few minutes. This might turn out the secret ingredient your customers will love.
Customers = Marketers
Marketers have long been dwelling on the idea that great service is the best advertisement. To be more exact, loyal clients who share their positive purchasing experience are trusted a lot more than ads. So why not use it to your company's benefit?
The key to success would be to work on identifying the most influential clients and turning them into brand advocates. It means building a trustworthy relationship with your clients by not only ensuring the top level of service but also exceeding their expectations and providing value that totally corresponds to their interests. Not easy, but totally worth it.
It will definitely lead to a multiplied return on your investments. By creating your own incentive program to encourage your brand promotion, and offering multiple means of such activity via social media and apps like Snapchat, Periscope, Blab your base of loyal clients will feature a steady growth without any special efforts on your side.
Marketing automation
The tendency in marketing to automate what can be automated in order to focus on activities that require persistence and creativity is getting stronger. The number of tools that help a marketer with routine tasks grows daily as well. They range from free apps/software that perform one specific function to enterprise-level integrated marketing automation platforms with the potential to cover most of the marketing activities, like email scheduling, customer segmentation, data collection and analysis, social media marketing, etc.
If you don’t want to be stuck in a routine, set your feet towards the solutions that fit you in cost and functionality to maximize productivity and get outstanding results without too much strenuous work.
Applications as website alternatives
There are two major factors contributing to the growing number and popularity of dedicated apps. First of all, they serve the same purpose as the website does, but are more convenient to use on various types of portable devices (some are created for desktops, too), and present another way of selling and marketing directly to a customer. Another reason is Google launching app indexation and ranking, which act as a strong incentive for each business to have their app developed. So, consider this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate your care for customers and be there for them literally anywhere anytime.
Mobile marketing
The tendency for mobile devices to overtake desktop computers is no doubt going to continue in 2016. It is also powered by Google’s recent algorithm update that ensures better ranking for mobile-optimized websites to the extent that you’re ok if you have just a mobile-ready website, without the desktop version, not vice versa. So, if your mobile strategy is lagging behind, for now, get ready to give it serious consideration and shift your focus to mobile marketing.
Data-driven marketing
It is not only your CEO who demands objective data as the solid foundation to start your new campaign and wants numbers to measure its success. With the new technology allowing us to take a deeper than ever insight into customers’ behavior, and preferences in connection to their personal details - age, gender, location, etc you can provide them with a more personalized and relevant experience. However, it boils down not only to collecting all possible information about your prospects but also to being able to analyze it adequately, make conclusions, and out them to use.
Conclusion
The things described above might make you impatient to start working on achieving your goals in view of the latest tendencies. However, you might have noticed that they aren’t just appearing out of nowhere. On the opposite, these trends are the result of the previous developments that are about to get more influential in 2016. All in all, they help keep pace with the time while crucial components of success remain the same - ensuring great customer experience, being trustworthy, transparent, and focused on delivering value to your clients.
What’s your view on this account? Do you think there’s something important that is missing? Then, feel free to leave your comments below and share your opinion!
Read more about marketing
Check the newest info in our blog!
