The way in which businesses run and analyse their marketing efforts has drastically changed in the past decade.
No matter the discipline, operations that have to attract the eye are continuing to shift their efforts to digital means and this has seen a raft of trends emerge in the past few years.
Here we will examine some of the key business marketing trends that are occurring in 2018.
Not every strategy will necessarily suit your agenda, but they do signal a collective change to the overall approach of broadcasting a brand message out there to the people.
Reviews
In an age of the shared economy, consumers trust fellow consumers more than they do businesses. Who could blame them? Examining how an enterprise is rated out of 5 stars or from a factor of 10 on Google, Facebook and niche-specific websites is a pathway to many positives. It provides a boost to the search engine ranking and offers a qualitative guide to external enquiries and online traffic.
In-House Media Properties
The penny dropped for tech companies and sporting bodies a long time ago: if you’re unhappy or unsatisfied with your treatment within the media, why not craft your own media? From in-house interviews to web videos, subscriber newsletters and much more, brands now realize that they cater their own unique message devoid of any external influence. A cynical ploy in some cases, yet it certainly guarantees results.
Engagement-Driven Advertisements
Advertisements on social media are becoming far more common place as platforms such as Facebook and Instagram attempt to diversify their business models. This has consequently boosted the need of organisations to utilise the same pay-per click (PPC) philosophy to social media whereby engagements with likes, shares impressions are beginning to be monetised. Companies now invest in visibility, a phenomenon that is a direct extension of the in-house media practice.
Mobile
Smartphones have completed altered the marketing game. Never before has there been one outlet so prevalent whereby brands could broadcast to a community in such a direct nature, overtaking the likes of television, radio and newspapers as the media of choice.
With an estimated 20 million domestic mobile users in Australia by 2019, the most efficient and direct mode of communication to the marketplace is catering campaigns that suits the habits of this community. Studies have illustrated that mobile users are more active than their desktop counterparts and the need to have information on the go is vital to businesses who are able to take advantage of this societal change.