Staying ahead in an ever-evolving marketplace

marketplace, get ahead
Competition concept with many businessmen about to run and one walking ahead of them on foggy city background

Understanding marketing trends can be the driving force to a brand or company’s success. As marketing practices shift from personal to online, it’s easy to assume that modern-day marketing requires less personal input from the perspective of the company. However, it is the complete opposite.

With the introduction of the internet, we have more access to the intricate details of consumer behaviour, personality traits, and data, and competitors from all around the world are taking advantage of the ability to personalise their marketing plans and tactics to suit individual consumers.

Here are some effective tips to ensure that you are staying ahead of the curve in this ever-evolving marketplace to maximise the potential of your marketing activities.

1. Vertical videos

91 per cent of Facebook’s advertising revenue in Q2 of 2018 was from mobile devices. This means that people are scrolling through content on Facebook in portrait mode, so, unfortunately, your awkward landscape video is only taking up 1/3 of the screen – and consequently – only 1/3 of their attention.

If portrait videos are just simply out of the question, the next best alternative is square videos.

Bonus tip: Videos on Facebook autoplay without sound until they choose to unmute you. Always add captions to your video to make sure you get your point across and hook your viewers in.

2. No more B2C or B2B – just H2H (Human to Human)

Businesses need to inject personality and story into their social media – otherwise, their media isn’t social at all.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the end recipient of your product is a business (B2B) or a customer (B2C) – the entire selling process occurs between humans (H2H). That is until we get too clever about AI and the robots take over.

People don’t trust companies. However, people trust people.

3. User-generated content

User-generated content isn’t about you selling your product – it’s your customers selling your product for you.

Taking it a step further – Influencer Marketing is still going to reign supreme in 2019. It works so successfully because they incorporate:

  • Huge online followings (impressions)
  • Promoting your product for you (social proof)
  • Reaching an audience that already trusts them (trust)
  • Being a cost-effective, usually cheap option (ROI)

4. ChatBots

The three most effective ways to optimise your business are: automate, delegate and eliminate.

Chatbots let you automate your sales process by running your customers through the choose-your-own-story of digital marketing. They can sell products, answer questions or simply build rapport and nurture your audience for you.

5. Focus on Generation Z

Generation Z (born from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s) is starting to enter the workforce, which means they’re now active consumers with an income to spend.

This generation grew up with technology, as opposed to us who merely adopted it. According to a report by Response Media, Gen Z are checking on their social media an average of 100 times a day. Gen Z is expected to represent 40 per cent of all consumers by 2020 – so understanding how to connect with and communicate with this generation is of vital importance.

Although the pressure to reach mass audiences may seem overwhelming, that expectation is in place because it is entirely possible if you just know where to look. Embrace the next generation, new media over traditional, automation services and modern marketing practices – although the modernity may leave you feeling apprehensive, these key tactics are not only cost-efficient but entirely effective.

Brandon Willington, The Hybrid Minds