As marketers, we are always looking for a way to get an edge over the competition. It’s our job to analyze the trends and determine which ones have the best chance of providing companies successful results. Here are some trends we think you should be aware of and include when reviewing your marketing plan:
- Video – social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Periscope have pretty much paved the way for the live video streaming trend. Currently, streaming video accounts for 2/3rds of all internet traffic and that number will continue to grow. When your business uses live video, it gives you the opportunity to interact with your potential customer directly in real time. Also, you can save your videos and repurpose the content.
- Artificial Intelligence – AI tools are used to analyze consumer behavior and make decisions on how the information is used. AI robots allow your sales team to spend more time on projects that require actual human insight. An example of popular AI is the use of Chatbots. You have probably been to a website that has a customer service representative pop-up with an instant messaging feature that uses Chatbots. Determine if the use of AI will help you improve different areas of your business.
- Personalization – the best way to increase engagement and sales is to give customers a personalized shopping experience. Research shows that 75% of consumers have a preference for retailers that use personalization. In order to enhance this experience, you need to encourage people to create a customer profile on your website/mobile applications so you can monitor their browsing habits and prior purchases. Another method is to send personalized email messages to your subscribers. If you personalize the subject line of your emails, you can increase your open rate by 26%.
- Privacy issues – Last year millions were affected by security breaches. Consumers are highly concerned about their privacy while shopping online. You need to make sure your website states that you have privacy protection in place by including security badges, adding testimonials and making sure your site is easy to navigate with fast loading pages as well as the checkout pages are all secure.
It is important to stay up to date with the latest marketing trends and look toward the future to predict consumer behavior. If you can identify and use trends to your current marketing strategy, you will definitely have an edge over your competition.
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