Have you thought about your marketing plan for the year ahead yet? It’s time to look ahead and think about where the world of marketing may take us, so we can be prepared to stride into the rest of the year ready to boost our businesses!
Here are some top marketing tips that will set you up for success…
1. Use a multi-channel approach
There’s a good reason why the idiom ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ has been around, in some form or another, since the 17th Century. It’s sage advice that can be applied to many different situations. And one of them is definitely your marketing strategy!
While it can feel cost- or time-effective to focus your efforts on one marketing channel, it’s never a good idea. And this is becoming increasingly the case as our connections with prospects occur online more and more.
First and foremost, by limiting the number of places your organisation has a presence, you restrict the possible ways and touchpoints through which potential clients can encounter your brand.
Secondly, you’re relying on the marketing landscape to stay the same. And that’s not going to happen, is it?! As marketers, we rely heavily on ever-developing digital marketing platforms.
And just pause to give this scenario some thought… we hear more and more about businesses getting locked out of social media accounts and losing access to the followers they’ve spent years building up. If you use a one-channel approach and this happens to you, you have to start from scratch, as you don’t have any claim over the data of the people following you.
It’s important to point out here that we’re not saying you should be using every marketing channel available. Choose a few that fit your marketing objectives, making sure they’re varied enough to avoid the potential pitfalls mentioned above. And review your choices regularly using analytics, measuring factors that are relevant to you and your KPIs, such as sales, inbound queries, leads, reach, interactions and so on.
2. Champion social responsibility
As marketing has increasingly moved online, the volume of digital messaging we’re bombarded with each day has become staggering. We see a mind-boggling 6,000 to 10,000 adverts every single day. With so much information to consume, we’ve become adept at sifting out the bits we want to see, and completely blurring out the rest.
So, how can you cut through the noise? One of the most effective ways is to champion social responsibility and let the humanity in your company’s ethos shine through.
By letting your customers and prospects know what you stand for and believe in, you help them make purchasing decisions that align with their own values or missions. This will make them loyal to your brand and create a really strong following.
A company that does this really well is the Greencore Group. You can see some fantastic examples on their Twitter account.
3. Make the most of your email marketing
Email marketing is making a comeback! In fact, it never really went away, it just fell out of favour. A combination of what feels like thousands of emails landing in everyone’s inbox each day, the nightmare that was the launch of GDPR, and the rise of newer, shinier tech has meant that many companies started to overlook email marketing.
But the fact is, email marketing should form a cornerstone of every business’s marketing strategy. It consistently has the highest ROI of any marketing channel – over £42 for every £1 spent. What’s more, you actually own the customers’ data, so don’t run the risk of suddenly losing access to it like with social media marketing.
While simply sending out emails will get you so far, there are a number of ways you can boost your results further. For example, cleverly repurposing and segmenting your existing content means you’re making the absolute most out of each piece of content you create. And the results can be phenomenal – marketers report up to a 760% increase in revenue when they implement segmented promotions.
Email marketing is a direct line to your customers’ inboxes. A way to directly converse with them as individuals. And that’s not to be sniffed at!
4. Use automation to personalise your customers’ journey
Automation has already been playing a pivotal role in digital marketing over the last few years, and this trend is set to continue.
One of the reasons we regard automation so highly here at Mushroom Marketing & PR is that, when used well, it makes it easier and quicker to build a relationship with your customers. You get to provide them with a seamless experience from start to finish, while reducing the strain on your marketing and sales teams.
The other reason is that automation software gives you a wealth of useful information that can be used to bolster your sales funnel, and ultimately improve the customer journey.
Many companies are already using automation to schedule their social posts or to welcome subscribers to their email marketing lists. But this is just scratching the surface of what automation can do. Why not try using it to personalise each customer’s sales experience, delivering content that is related to their previous interactions with your brand? Software can now send out a specific email depending on a prospect’s last action. Or, why not install a bot on your website so that your prospects’ queries can be answered 24/7, instead of being limited to your contact centre opening times?
The possibilities automation offers seem endless at the moment, and we’ll be sure to see new and innovative ways it can enhance marketing as we progress through 2022.
5. Go live!
Live video on social media has been building momentum ever since Facebook launched the function and other platforms rapidly followed suit. And it will continue to reign!
Live videos are a fantastic way to build strong connections with your audience, as they enable you to show your human side (quite literally) and answer any questions they may have in real time.
The live function on each platform is continually being developed. Facebook has introduced the ability for you to notify your followers of when you will be going live in advance. This is a great way to build anticipation for a product launch or other announcement, and helps you maximise the number of people who are there to interact with.
Plus, if the thought of doing a live video to your Facebook followers makes you uneasy, there are now ways around it that still enable you to harness the benefits of the feature. You could pre-record your video and share it via live streaming software, leaving you free to interact with your audience in the chat section.
As each of the social platforms seems to be investing in the development of their live video function, it’s going to be interesting to see how the use of live video in marketing evolves throughout the next year.
6. Partner with ‘influencers’ or other companies
Many people have lost trust in the high-profile celebrities and social media influencers who try to tout them products. An increasing awareness of how the industry works, combined with a few widely reported events (we’re looking at you Fyre Festival!), has eroded consumer confidence.
But that’s not to say that influencer marketing is dead. In fact, in a recent survey, 46% of marketers who already use influencer marketing said they plan to increase their investments.
Companies who are able to partner with smaller, niche influencers, whose values match those of their brand, will be able to successfully use this method to expand their audience base and gain credibility with their potential customers. These small influencers are often experts in their field or have a respected, industry-specific blog, which could be leveraged to support your brand.
You can also create promotional partnerships with other businesses. These could take the form of guest blogs, live interviews or exclusive customer discounts. The most effective partnerships of this type are mutually beneficial for both companies.
The key to success when using influencers or business partnerships to promote your brand or products is to aim to create relationships that feel authentic.
Regardless of what’s in store for us over the next 12 months, the combination of effectively using innovative technology and connecting with people in a genuine, human way – as outlined in these marketing tips – will boost your results and see your business soar!
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