Marketing is meant to get customers to buy things—it’s a business activity, pure and simple.
Unfortunately, many brands waste a tremendous amount of money, effort, and time into marketing tactics that just don’t work.
As marketers, we’re always looking for ways we can improve our marketing campaigns. One way to do that is to follow trends.
While marketing trends usually come and go, they can really benefit your business in the long run if you stay on top of the latest. To follow and benefit from current trends, you need to have the right resources in place to execute, so before you jump on any trends, be sure you have the right people and technology in place.
Table of Contents
The Changing Marketing Landscape
The marketing landscape changes constantly, and it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. Marketing is a competitive game, so stop sleeping so you don’t risk falling behind.
Consumers, especially millennials and Gen-Z, have come to expect more from their brands and experiences with companies, and brands have responded by offering more, faster, better.
Businesses are scrambling to keep up with the demand of these-ultra-savvy, ultra-demanding consumers. Unfortunately, this means the cost of marketing can rise, as companies will be forced to do more. They will use more media to try to reach customers, and companies will spend more money on marketing.
Let’s take a look at a few key ways you can harness the power of market trends to save money rather than throw it away.
1.Social Media Optimization
Social media marketing is big business, and it’s not going away anytime soon. The trend is clear: social media is where people go to connect, share, and shop.
People on social media are also demonstrative of new trends before they become mainstream. They’re also proud to have strong social media followings, which can lead to increased happiness levels.
So, it’s no surprise that brands are increasing their use of social media as a way to influence purchases without throwing a ton of money at digital advertising.
The Wolf Conservation Center serves as an excellent example of saving money by rocking social media. The non-profit has a fun and engaging social media presence, as you can see in the Tweet below, that gains the brand some recognition and saves them money at the same time.
Social media marketing is a very effective way to share information. It reaches people, whether they’re on your site, or they’re scrolling through their social media feed.
Those people then share that information with their followers, and so on, and so on, and so on. By optimizing your social media presence, your company can market its products, services, and brand to more eyes while saving money.
2.Content Marketing
Content marketing is a key component of SEO, and it’s critical that your business has quality, relevant, and helpful content. A business website should feature well-written, thorough content that doesn’t include spammy keywords or links.
Allagash Brewing Company does a great job of leveraging content marketing to grab attention and keep its audience coming back for more. It’s not enough to just talk about your products or services. You now need to create engaging, entertaining, and informative content to build long-lasting relationships with your audience.
As content marketers, we no longer just write blog posts: we also write and make sure that our pages get indexed by Google’s crawlers. We also create tons of other kinds of content that goes beyond the written word.
We also make sure our pages are optimized for mobile devices. Content marketing allows companies to build reputations as authorities in their industries, helping customers make better buying decisions and generating more revenue.
Content marketing isn’t new, but it’s still an incredibly effective means for companies to strengthen their online presence, attract new customers and sell more products and services.
A content marketing agency can help you create compelling and unique content, including blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, emails and more. Content marketing is a common component of successful inbound marketing campaigns, and it’s a long-term, sustainable strategy that can produce results that last for years.
3.Understand Your Market
Many people think that starting a small business is simply a matter of coming up with a great idea, then buying some inventory and opening your doors for business.
In reality, starting a business is a lot more work than that. Before you even start looking for a business, you need to first figure out where your business is going to be, who your customers are, what problems you’ll solve, and so much more.
To grow your business, you need to hone your knowledge of your market. Your job is to understand who your target customers are, what they like or dislike, and why they’re buying from you instead of your competitors.
This may sound easy, but, in reality, it’s harder than it seems. All businesses need to know their market. A solid understanding of your target market helps ensure your message for business gets to the right audience and that your message resonates with potential clients.
If you fail to understand your market before launching, you risk spending a ton of money on wasted, non-targeted marketing efforts.
4.Focus on Customer Experience
Customers expect more nowadays, and that includes faster service, more personalization, and more solutions tailored to their individual needs.
Regardless of your business, your customers will be happier and, as a result, be more loyal if you treat their needs with more attention and care.
Customers should be at the center of every business, and any interaction with a company should be positive and memorable.
One way to do this is to focus on the customer’s experience, providing an exceptional customer service experience. The better the experience, the more likely customers are to return and be loyal to the company.
As they say, it’s a lot cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to gain a new one.
5.Make Marketing Lead Generation More Effective
Lead generation is the process of attracting visitors to your website and then converting them into customers. Marketing executives often refer to it as the “holy grail” of online marketing, because generating leads online is no easy task.
However, successful lead generation is key to any successful online marketing campaign. Smarter marketers are learning what aspects of their lead generation process are working and which aren’t, and then making adjustments where necessary.
Marketing lead generation is a huge part of a business’s revenue generation. Without it, companies would not be able to get customers to buy their product. But, in order to successfully get customers to buy your product, you have to effectively market to them and generate leads.
However, leads are only as good as the quality of the lead and their actual level of interest.
Marketing lead generation is the foundation of any successful business, but making it more effective can greatly increase your profitability.
Effective lead generation starts with your website. Most people think the purpose of a website is to provide information, and while that’s true, your website also needs to convert visitors into leads.
If you optimize your digital presence to attract the right customers to the right offers, you can stand to get a ton. But, if you are just grabbing any and all leads, without an eye for targeting, you’re wasting your time with spending tons of extra time and effort passing along leads who don’t care to your sales team.
Follow Those Trends and Save Those Dollars
By staying on top of the latest trends and putting money-saving marketing tactics in place, you stand to gain big.
Content marketing, social media, and a deep understanding of the market can help you attract people to your brand and keep them around.
Don’t forget to take steps to ensure your customers are happy. Unhappy customers run for the sanctuary offered by your competitors. Happy customers, on the other hand, stick around and spend tons of money with you through the years.
Putting these things in place will help you send more qualified leads to your sale team. And they’ll thank you for it.
Usman Raza is a CEO and the co-founder of Christian Based Firm and a content marketing specialist at Church Marketing Agency, The Revolutionary insights,Tolmission.com and for Burnhambooks.com . He is devoted to helping small businesses bridge success gaps by providing in-depth, actionable advice on digital marketing, SEO, and small business growth. Follow him on Twitter @usmanintrotech.
