Hot Marketing Trends that Could Explode Your Business in 2020
As a business owner or manager, it’s critical to your success that you are riding the current marketing trends. For many years marketing was fairly stagnant, but the digital world has changed all that and if you aren’t staying abreast of what’s hot, you are not going to be hot.
Here are a few to help you get started:
Content for education and not just SEO – most people have heard the saying that, in regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), content is king. Many marketers spent last year producing content purely to improve organic search rankings for their site(s). One of the hot trends this year is to produce content that is actually beneficial to those who read it. Use content on your blog and other sites to educate your customers and potential customers. Use it to create a following of people who are interested in hearing what you have to say, because it’s valuable to them. You can still work with your SEO expert to make sure that these articles are also assisting with the goal of ranking your page high on the search engines for your keywords, but expand your vision to educating followers.
Don’t just build your brand, build relationships – Again, many businesses spent all 2015 building their brand. There’s nothing wrong with that, but in 2016 it’s going to be hot to build relationships. These might be strategic partnerships with other businesses that market to your same target personas. Definitely it will be building a strong relationship with your customers, even if they are only going to buy from you once. Why? Two powerful reasons. First, they can either say nice things about you or they can bad mouth you all over social media. Second, if they are happy with you and you ask, they will refer others to your business. You can build strong relationships by actually talking with your customers either in-person or by phone. Get to know them. Find out what else they are looking for and see if you can’t direct them. Gather birthday and anniversary dates and send out cards (yes, real cards that you mail). Send written thank you notes or cards when they meet with you, buy from you, or refer someone to you. Stay in touch via phone, mail, email and text. Let them know that you care.
Stop selling and add value – everyone is selling, selling, selling. Set yourself apart and stop all the selling. Start adding value. Take a look at what you are offering your customers. When they look at it and then see the price, do they say to themselves, “wow that is more valuable than the price?” Work with your staff to make sure they are under promising and over performing. Deliver earlier when you can. Include extra value items with their orders. Educate them (see #1). Keep them informed with behind the scenes information. Make them feel special, like they are your only and best customer. One of the best way to add value, without additional cost is by providing no-cost information pieces – white papers, articles, e-books – that offer real educational value and increase the overall value of your sales proposition. Remember the infomercials – but wait, there’s more! The more value the add, the harder it is for them to say “no” and the less you have to sell.
Okay, now you’ve got a good start on the year. Make sure you devote some of your own research time to find other hot marketing or business trends, so that you can become the trend setter in your industry.