2018 is almost halfway done. But with only six months left in the year, have you kept up on the latest news and trends in marketing? It’s not too late to revamp your marketing strategy. And no matter what time of the year it is, it’s never too late to attract more clients and candidates. Let’s take a look at what’s been hot this year and what will continue to make waves in marketing.
Content. “Content” doesn’t mean “writing” anymore. Think bigger. Experiment. Change to match your followers’ preferences. Your blog isn’t the only place you have content, writes Neil Patel. You also have video, design, audio, advertising, branding, analytics, and distribution to think about. All of that is content. And you need a strategy to pull it all together.
Honesty. When you support a charity or a cause with your business, you know how that looks to people today? “Desperate.” People don’t trust your business to tell the truth; instead, they go to friends for information about you. So when transparency is vital, the only way to make your business look good is to make sure your service is excellent.
Live Video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a live video is worth, what, ten thousand? According to some stats from Neil Patel, 82% of people would rather watch a live video than read a blog post, and 82% of people would rather watch a live video than read social media posts. But “while approximately 60% of marketers are investing in video right now, only about 14% have committed to using live video.” Here’s your opportunity to stand out.
Personalization. You know what this is. It’s when a business sends you an email with your name in it, or when you see ads for your favorite store in your browser. Personalization for consumers works—and it works for businesses, too. Business-to-business companies need to personalize clients’ experiences. “Effectiveness of content personalization strategy is resoundingly high for [businesses that] have adopted it,” advises Entrepreneur.com.
Voice. You can now speak into a device to order a pizza, check on the weather, or look up the definition of xeric. “Nobody expected the smart speaker industry to blow up the way it did in 2017,” writes Forbes.com. “By 2022, smart speakers are expected to be a staple part of more than 55 percent of US households.” Can clients find you if they do a voice search? Can candidates submit their resumes with their voices?
These five trends have been hot this year and will continue to grow. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to reach your audience in the ways they want to be reached. Need some help creating a marketing strategy? Talk to ASJ today.
