Marketing has developing in ways that make it accessible to every kind of company, from the homebased start-up to the multi-million pound corporation. The key to success in 2018 will be how you bring factors such as data exploitation and customer personalisation together to help sell your products and services to your chosen audience.
Analytics Are Getting Intense
With the continuing growth of the Internet of Things and the explosion of big data, there’s going to be a lot more information out there which can be used to inform a whole range of marketing strategies. This development has the power to change everything but if you’re a little bit confused by it, you’re not alone.
Many businesses and marketing departments are currently struggling with the concept of data management and 2018 will be a crucial period when this area starts to come together. The good news is that all the big tech giants are investing in a big way in analytics to create exciting new business insights across a whole range of industries.
Have You Got a Micro-Moment?
How often do you reach for your mobile phone each day? These micro-moments are becoming key focus points for marketers to improve how businesses leverage their potential. These are the multiple daily moments when customers expect certain brands to cater to their needs and provide the information they are looking for.
Anticipating these micro-moments is important and providing one touch access to the answers in your particular industry is the next big challenge if you want to build loyalty and trust.
Visual Becomes More Important
It’s already an intrinsic part of marketing but visual media, including video, is going to have ever greater impact. People are starting to watch channels like YouTube more than they’re watching traditional TV and this trend is set to continue into 2018. Platforms like Facebook are seeing some 8 billion videos watched every day. Consumers relate at a deeper level to video content so, if you’re business doesn’t have any, it will be missing out in a big way.
The Rise and Rise of Native Advertising
Native ads look like the ordinary content on a person’s timeline and therefore are more likely to be read and the message digested. They’re already a popular form of marketing on sites such as Facebook but we can expect to see their use expanded over the next 12 to 18 months. Click Through Rates are certainly higher for native advertising and, combined with better analytics, you can reach out to your customer base in a highly targeted and influential way.
How to Personalise in 2018
Personalisation is also continuing to be a big thing in marketing. So much so, that consumers actually expect it nowadays. This means ensuring you cater perfectly to a particular customer’s needs and deliver the content and products they are looking for. Standard messages for new customers and personalised pages for existing ones will be the minimum that you are required to provide if you want to stand out from the crowd.
The Impact of AI
While you may think that concept products like Alexa and Siri are a passing fad, the impact of AI on businesses going into 2018 will be huge. Everything from customer service help lines and social media engagement to new product announcements are going to have some aspect of robotics influencing them. For businesses, cheaper and faster automation will help take the edge off a lot of time consuming processes and improve productivity across the board. The problem, as always with AI, is making it look natural.