Explore Some Interesting Marketing Trends for Your Business in 2018

Published on: 01 August 2018 Last Updated on: 01 August 2024

How effective is your business marketing strategy? Have you been successful in staying abreast with the latest marketing trends? Have you been implementing effective strategies for measuring your success? If the answers to the above questions are no, do not lose heart. You are certainly not alone on this count. Several small businesses and SMEs do not even bother to find out if at all their business marketing tactics are working successfully. Here we would be examining some of the latest business marketing trends that are dominating the scenario today. You are advised to follow these strategies for gaining incredible business success.

Tune Your Market Strategy :

A small segment of business owners is aware when their market strategies are tanking. This could happen due to lack of planning, poor planning, haphazard attempts at success and no foresight. Successful digital marketers know that a large portion of their budget must go into content marketing on blogs, social media, and emails and so on. Good content must be created and promoted so that the business is noticed and can take off.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Less than 40% of businesses have effective content marketing strategies in place. Some fail due to poor quality content, others because they don’t target their audience properly. A good marketer always tracks activity through each stage of the funnel and ensure that the strategy is fine-tuned when things go wrong.

Tracking & Measuring :

How to gain marketing success digitally for your SMEs could still seem to be a mystery for many of you. A huge percentage of small business entrepreneurs, as much as 46 percent to be precise, actually do not have any idea if the marketing strategies for their businesses are effectively working or not.

Thanks to the present cutting-edge technologies, you are in a position to keep on tracking all your marketing returns, expenses, and debt. For example, you could today find out exactly how much it would be costing your business for acquiring a new customer. You must consider all dollars diverted toward various areas of marketing including social media, website, blog writing, trade shows, direct mail, paid social, etc. you must consider factoring in all you have already spent on all these important marketing elements and then divide the amount by the number of new clients you acquire every month. Moreover, you must find out from exactly which marketing channel you are able to get new clients and more inquiries. It is imperative to consistently track ROI.

Social Media Marketing Is Currently the Rage :

As per a recent study, it has been predicted that 2018 is surely going to be the year of intense social media promotion and marketing. Among the SMEs, an impressive 71 percent is expected to gain new clients by using social media platforms effectively for marketing their brands. This present marketing trend must be given a lot of importance and most entrepreneurs are appreciating and understanding the effectiveness of social media marketing. Social media is certainly one of the hottest business marketing trends.

Facebook is obviously the prime choice for small businesses as 79% of entrepreneurs would be using Facebook in all their marketing endeavors. Will your business be benefitted if you incorporate the social media marketing plans into your business strategy?

According to some Facebook exponents, Facebook success is all about going mobile. If you wish to maximize the impact of Facebook in the marketing and promotion of your business, you must dedicate all your efforts at generating and delivering everything mobile-friendly.

Virtual Reality Is Common :

Virtual reality is gaining importance by the day and is, therefore, becoming a common marketing tool for both small and big brands. The actual challenge would be to utilize Virtual Reality or VR in such an effective way that it really makes sense for both your target audience and brand messaging in general. VR marketing actually is an emerging trend and now is the right time for exploring the options that are available to you and getting well ahead of the competition.

Pinterest :

Pinterest is actually regarded as a niche social networking site. However, it is forecasted to be a huge success. The best way of grabbing marketing attention is by utilizing Pinterest Lens and its versatility and functionality for engaging effectively with consumers and showcasing your mind-blowing style, products, and services.

Artificial Intelligence :

Early exponents of AI or Artificial Intelligence have categorically realized the efficacy of AI in boosting user engagement. However, incorporating AI into any site’s chatbox such as the Facebook messenger could be creating more creativity and it also helps you to understand clearly the target market of the brand. Artificial intelligence would be addressing consumer needs and issues with perfection and the same degree of efficacy as a human agent. Remember it would be quite effective and helpful if the artificial intelligence experience absolutely delights your customers in basically lighthearted and fun ways.

Conclusion :

This year marketing trends have focused on honesty and authenticity. The latest marketing trend is to focus on stark reality or brutal honesty and this marketing trend is winning a lot of acclaim and appreciation. Marketers could discuss their products and explain clearly how advantageous those products or services are. They must, at the same time, tell their target audience the scope for improvement and the flaws that may still exist. All these statements could be supported by truly objective customer reviews. Authenticity for brands is the hottest marketing trend today. Around 86 percent of the customers feel authenticity is of utmost importance while deciding and evaluating the brands. Around 60 percent of consumers believe that user-generated content is the best form of authentic content.

Read Also :

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

The Importance Of Storytelling In Social Media Marketing

Stories are everywhere; look around you, and wherever you are, there is a story. They are no longer just in the movies and books; stories have gone beyond such confines. Think about a tale that captivated you last; maybe it was in a blog post and that grabbed your attention and made you emotional. Despite anything else going around you, it had your full attention. That tells you how powerful a tool it is and why it’s indispensable in your marketing strategies. The best platform to tell stories and win visitors is through social media marketing. Importance of Storytelling in Social Media Marketing: Continue reading and see how you can revolutionize your marketing approach. Showcase your Uniqueness Beyond the headshot and some catchy slogans, people want something that is interesting. Audiences do not want photos and videos that every other company uses to woo visitors. They want something that is captivating. For instance, on an ordinary day, you could take a few snapshots of your work area and probably share a few tips on what motivates you. Such mini stories will tell people how serious and how dedicated you are to productivity. Whatever industry you are in, you need to showcase what you have and how skilled and creative you are. Take Advantage of Visuals Videos and, generally, visuals are powerful tools that you can rely on for social media success and storytelling. Having such content makes your posts stand out while adding another layer to your narrative. According to research, visuals could increase visitors’ willingness to read by more than 80%. In fact, big brands believe that visuals are crucial to how the company’s brand story is relayed. Put Yourself in the Shoes of the Reader You have your post ready for posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media. Why don’t you spice it up with some story surrounding it? This will resonate with your followers, and many will find a reason to invest in your product. Look at the issues that your customers have and let your tailored PR team do mini stories that focus on their needs for you. Ensure that the stories are solution-based. Again, you need to look into how you can add some emotion and intrigue to the pedestrian posts. Most importantly, you must ensure that all your stories have the consumer at the center of it all. Get creative with the story, and this will improve the engagement. If, for instance, you are playing a pitch, the creativity in it will tell whether you are the best fit or not. Make it Personal Research shows that personal marketing is on the rise. This is because people are likely to trust another person more than they trust a faceless brand. People want to hear the story from family and friends rather than from a mere advertisement. A story ensures that you create a personal brand that resonates with your audience. A story is incredibly important in that it shows people the face behind the posts. In every one of your posts, ensure that you’ve some captivating story that will keep your social media audience glued and yearning for more. Get a good PR company or hire a leading social media agency to help you generate stories that will make a difference in your marketing. Social Media & Emotional Quotient – How To Increase Engagement Want to build a stronger connection with your audience on social media? It all starts with understanding the emotional quotient (EQ) and how to tap into it. People are emotional beings! So, you need to play into someone's EQ. So, when you can resonate with those emotions, your engagement skyrockets. Let’s dive into how you can use emotional intelligence to increase engagement on your social platforms. Start with Empathy The first step is simple: put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What are they feeling? What problems are they facing? When you show genuine care for their concerns, your audience feels heard. Create content that speaks to their struggles or desires, offering solutions or inspiration. Whether you're writing a caption or posting a video, make sure your message connects with them on a human level. It’s not just about selling; it’s about building relationships. Add a Personal Touch Secondly, don’t be afraid to get personal! Share your story, your challenges, or even a behind-the-scenes look at your business. People want to interact with real people, not faceless companies. When you show vulnerability or authenticity, your audience will relate to you on a deeper level. In fact, they’ll trust you more and are likely to engage with your content because they feel like they know you. Simple posts like, “Here’s how we overcame this challenge,” can go a long way. Use Emotion in Your Visuals Visuals are a powerful tool for stirring emotions. A single image or video can evoke joy, nostalgia, or even empathy. When you create social media content, think about what emotion you want your audience to feel. Is it exciting about a new product launch? Or comfort knowing that your service solves a major problem? You have to carefully choose visuals that align with these emotions. Research even shows that posts with emotional visuals get more likes, comments, and shares. Create Engaging Stories People love stories! Whether you’re posting on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, crafting a narrative keeps your audience hooked. A well-told story pulls at the heartstrings and helps your followers see themselves in the plot. Use storytelling to make your message more engaging! For example, if you’re selling a product, tell a success story of someone who used it and saw real results. Incorporating EQ into your social media strategy is truly a game-changer. When you understand and cater to your audience's emotions, you’ll see deeper connections and increased engagement. Read Also: 5 Types Of Digital Marketing How To Start Social Media Agency In India? What Is The Future Of Digital Marketing In Regards To Shaping Up Small And Large Businesses?

Enterprise Content Management Solutions – How They Help You Optimize Your Business Efficiency

Enterprise content management is a great way to organize unstructured data and information of an organization. Many factors impact the functioning of ECM systems and determine their effectiveness. When managing your enterprise content solutions, you should define their processes accurately. Several service providers offer enterprise content management consulting services. These service providers understand the needs and requirements of companies in terms of managing data. Thus, can advise business owners with the right solutions. Proper ECM helps organizations to create, enrich, manage as well as deliver data and information. Business owners should identify their requirements and determine the solutions of the right enterprise management systems that will cater to those requirements. There are several solutions that such systems may include, such as management of documents, managing website content, document imaging, management of records, and management of digital assets as well as managing your business data and providing support for collaboration and management of business processes. Managing content is one of the most important tasks that organizations need to take care of. It is important to preserve data so that it can be reused for other purposes later. Preservation of data in a systematic order also ensures that it can be searched and found easily whenever required. There are a number of factors that affect the choice of a proper enterprise content management system. Some of the factors which affect the choice include, the number of people and the processes involved in the organization, technology involved, budget and so on. Keeping in mind all the required elements and choosing the right content management system will help an organization to share and edit content efficiently and in an orderly manner. Top features of enterprise content management (ECM) systems: Central Repository Document Scanning Secure Email Files Client Portal Document Retrieval Mobile Accessibility Easy Integration Automated Workflow Manager Advanced Analytics Cloud-based Accessibility Top benefits of enterprise content management (ECM) systems: Keep Track of All Your Information Reduce Operating Costs Save time Improve Customer Service Minimize Risk Document Version Control Picture an executive rushing from one client office to the next, updating the minutes of the feedback he received at the previous office on the official sheet using his iPhone or Android phone. The entries made by the executive are further accessed by employees sitting in the head office who use the details to generate reports for further information processing. This is possible with the advanced enterprise content management solutions provided by consultants who help businesses optimize their internal documents, datasheet, and content sharing capabilities. Are you aware of the latest techniques and tools being used to perfect enterprise content management? To begin with, the most important advantage of using professionally generated enterprise content management solutions is that you can be assured that the system will work at its optimum for long. What are the common types of solutions that these enterprise content management consultants use to give you highly advanced data access? Here is the list of the commonly used content sharing systems that are being used in enterprise content management these days. Content Sharing Systems that are used in ECM: 1. Drupal: The ideal content sharing system that is known for its robust page building capacities can be used to develop both internal and external websites. Professionals using this CMS for enterprise content sharing and management excel with the in-built options provided by Drupal. The best part of using this CMS is that it is an open-source system that allows the ideas of thousands of users and developers to flow into the building of your enterprise content management systems. 2. Ektron: This leading provider of content management products allows businesses to use the solutions to manage multi-websites. The framework can also be extended to allow customs control during component development by the professionals. Ektron has been used to design websites of many leading companies like Pfizer, Intel, Dove, Kellog's, Adidas, and many more. You could use the customizable features of this CMS provider to enrich the user experience of your enterprise content sharing portals. 3. MS Share Point: The software that helps streamline business processing amidst dynamic environments; MS Share Point is definitely the answer for low-cost enterprise content development services using the latest tools and features. The main advantage of using MS Share Point is that you get to leverage content to improve web traffic flow to your website and increase collaboration amongst users. Thus, in order to stay ahead of market competition, one needs to use the most recent tools and techniques through professionally generated enterprise content management solutions that will help you optimize enterprise performance. Read Also: A Guide to Choosing an Enterprise Document Management Solution Start-up Business Management: How to Reduce Risk and Guarantee Success

Content Marketing: Tips For Better Results

Content marketing has been around for quite a long time, and it is the go-to marketing strategy for many businesses nowadays. But everybody uses it, and the results they get are more or less along the same lines…in terms of the time they take to materialize. What if you’re looking to get better results from your content marketing endeavors? What if you want to do some smart work rather than hard work? In this post, let’s take a look at some answers to this question. What Is Content Marketing? Content marketing is basically defined as the type of marketing that involves creating and publishing/distributing content to a certain audience. The purpose of distributing this type of content is to increase awareness of the product/services so that they can be sold more. While “content,” in this context, refers to the content of all types, mostly written stuff is utilized for marketing purposes. This type of marketing takes different shapes and forms. Some people can engage in content marketing by writing and publishing blogs regularly. Others can utilize their product pages as a medium to engage in marketing, i.e., by making the descriptions and the visuals, etc., appealing and attractive. Actually, instead of mentioning them here somewhat haphazardly, let’s look at some of the content marketing methods in detail before moving on to the tips. What Are Some Common Methods Of Content Marketing? Here are a few of the common ways in which content marketing is employed. Blogs: Blogs, especially when created by a professional writing service, have a key role that goes beyond just advertising products or services. Their main goal is to educate and engage readers. This approach helps grow a brand's readership and audience. By providing valuable and informative content, the brand naturally attracts more people. This isn't just a marketing strategy; it's about genuinely helping readers. As more people find the blogs helpful, they start to trust and follow the brand, leading to increased business opportunities. With the help of a blog writing agency such as Compose.ly, brands can consistently deliver high-quality content that connects with their audience. Emails: Email marketing is technically a marketing strategy on its own, but since it almost always utilizes content of some sort, it can also be mentioned in content marketing. In an email marketing campaign, individuals are reached out separately by the brand. These emails can either inform the recipient about some sort of new product release, a sale or a special discount, etc. Newsletters: Newsletters are technically emails, but they are not like other messages that are typically used and sent in an email marketing campaign. While the latter, for the most part, directly promote the offerings of a brand, newsletters are geared toward educating the readers. You can think about them to be a type of hybrid between a blog and a typical email marketing message. E-books: While this one is a more elaborate step than what brands usually do, it is a good way to engage in content marketing. Now, with all that out of the way, let’s take a look at some tips that you can follow to get better results from your content marketing endeavors. Tips For Getting Better Results From Content Marketing As we mentioned earlier, while content of all types can be employed in content marketing, written content is the most common…and perhaps the toughest to create. That is why our tips will be geared towards it in particular. Don’t Write Like A Robot, And Don’t Write For Robots In that rather wordsmith-is line, we’ve summed up one of the most important principles of writing online content. Firstly, when you write content for marketing purposes, be it of whatever type and kind, you should make sure that your tone is friendly, communicative, and human-like. Mind you, there are exceptional cases where a totally opposite tone would be more suitable, but we are talking about the common cases here. This is what we mean by not writing like a robot. Here is what you can do to make your writing tone fall into this criterion. Of course, depending on the situation at hand, some of these tips may not be very applicable. Try and refer to the reader as “you” and yourself as “I” or “we.” This is one of the basic and simplest ways to make your tone look more natural and human-like. Since you have to make your written content look more like a conversation than a piece of written text, you should reduce your overall use of passive voice. People hardly use passive voice when they speak. I mean, I could have just said, “The passive voice is hardly used by people when they speak,” but I did just make my point. Keep sentences short. Keeping your sentences short can also give a natural touch to your writing and make it more reader-friendly. The second part of our tip was Don’t write for robots. We should actually clear this up a little before moving on. Nowadays, a lot of content marketing is done via search engines. When people write blogs, they channel them to their readers via search engines. The same goes for a lot of other types of content, like product descriptions and e-books, etc. Now, in a bid to make their content look nice to the search engines, a lot of people can end up making it look too mechanical, erratic, and awkward for human taste. Consider the following example: We offer the best ramen in Tokyo. Our quality ramen store in Tokyo is very good. Buy quality ramen near me in Tokyo. (Note the atrocious keyword usage) Good content? For the search engine, maybe. For the reader? It’s just gibberish. You have to avoid doing this sort of stuff when writing content for your audience. You should strike a balance between making the content appealing for SEs as well as your human readers. Do Proper Research…And Use It When it comes to content marketing materials such as blogs and newsletters, your aim should be to provide reliable and educative content to your audience. This can only be done if you do proper research and then utilize it when writing the content itself. In this part, let’s look at how you can do research properly and what benefits you can get from it. Here are some things that you can do for effective research: Look for popular and reliable sources on the internet. Before you start gleaning information from anywhere, you should establish its reliability first. Once done, be sure to find out relevant facts and figures to add to your content. This tip is, of course, subjective. In some types of content, adding facts and figures may not be very suitable. However, it can be a good idea in things like blog posts, emails, and the like. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to use some material from a source verbatim in its actual form. (More important than implementing theoretical and conceptual information is the utilization of the data you get from audience research. In other words, you should conduct audience research and then use the details that you find to adjust your content as per the needs of the audience. When we say “audience research,” we basically refer to using analytical tools to find out necessary information and details about your audience, such as the details about their age, gender, location, and so on.) Now let’s look at what benefits you can get by doing and incorporating research into your work. Authority: When your content is backed with research, it comes off as authoritative. For example, when you present a stat for a certain situation or occurrence, it looks more grounded as compared to an opinionated guess. Up-to-date information: Conducting research can also get you in touch with up-to-date information. By not researching your material before writing it, you can get stuck with old, outdated information that can neither help you nor your readers. Value: When your content is based on research, it provides value to your readers. For problems, it can provide solutions. For choices, it can provide expert opinions. This sort of content is a lot more potent in building a better readership and for growing your brand. Aim For Content Perfection Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi It’s a bit of a dramatic way to start off this heading, but it does make the point that we want. No content is perfect because perfection (least of all in written content) is not achievable. But if you aim for the bullseye, you can land somewhere close to it. That is why you should make all the effort possible to remove all types of imperfections from your content. Grammar errors: Grammar errors are by far the most common and most harmful errors that you can make in your content. You should be proactive about avoiding such errors during the writing phase. And once you do write the content, you should take steps like proofreading the content and using an online grammar checker to weed out the remaining ones. Clunky readability issues: Readability issues, such as confusing words, long-winded sentences, and weird phrase choices, can also adversely affect the quality of content. you can remove these types of imperfections from your content by using an online AI-driven paraphrasing tool. A good AI paraphraser can improve the readability of the provided content during the rephrasing process. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is like the diamondback of content imperfections. You can’t spot it quickly enough, and it can kill the quality of your write-up without you realizing it. Removing this imperfection is necessary and tricky at the same time. The best way to go about it is to use an online plagiarism checker and then analyze the results to take the steps you need. Conclusion A lot of brands do content marketing nowadays. But, to bring yourself a cut above the others, you have to follow some best practices. We’ve outlined a few of those in the post above. Read Also : How To Monitor The SEO Health Of Your Website Best SEO Tools For Ranking The Website Get A Return On Investment With Your SEO

Explore Some Interesting Marketing Trends for Your Business in 2018

Tune Your Market Strategy :

Plan, Plan, Plan

Tracking & Measuring :

Social Media Marketing Is Currently the Rage :

Virtual Reality Is Common :

More Dependence on Interactive Content :

Pinterest :

Artificial Intelligence :

Conclusion :

Tips on Selecting a Storage Solution for Your Growing Business

How To Choose The Best Broker For You

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Technologies For Creating A Startup Idea

How to Download Facebook Videos on Android?

7 Rules of Effective Ecommerce Web Design

The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

Follow Us

Recent

Carbon Steel vs Stainless Steel: The Difference

How Long Does Pre Workout Last? – Best Ways to Maximize It

How Many Exercises Per Workout You Must Do? – Let’s Find Out

How to Perform Workout Splits? – A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Related

The Importance Of Storytelling In Social Media Marketing

Enterprise Content Management Solutions – How They Help You Optimize Your Business Efficiency

Content Marketing: Tips For Better Results

Explore Some Interesting Marketing Trends for Your Business in 2018

Tune Your Market Strategy :

Plan, Plan, Plan

Tracking & Measuring :

Social Media Marketing Is Currently the Rage :

Virtual Reality Is Common :

More Dependence on Interactive Content :

Pinterest :

Artificial Intelligence :

Conclusion :

Share this Article

Tips on Selecting a Storage Solution for Your Growing Business

How To Choose The Best Broker For You

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related