By: Marie
There was a time (strange as it may seem) when attracting a user to your website tended to cost more than you would ever make from him. This was in the Dark Ages of the internet: things are very different now. Digital marketing – including online reputation management, social media and a dozen other specializations – is one of the cheapest, most effective ways of promoting your business. From Kansas to Kandahar, few businesses can even survive without a carefully constructed online presence.
This ecosystem is continuing to evolve – rapidly. What worked last year may already be obsolete. As businesses continue to fight for market share and social influence, what can we expect from the near future?
Authenticity is Essential
You can publicise your product until you’re blue in the face, but the market you’re trying to address is going to be increasingly sophisticated and well-informed. If you choose to ask a celebrity to endorse your product, make sure this tactic does not backfire. An athlete is not expected to be an expert on wine, and a chef’s opinion about running shoes is not necessarily valid. Respect your customers enough to realize that attaching a famous name to your brand might leave them feeling completely indifferent, or worse.
Social Media Celebrities Will Prosper
Instant feedback, overnight successes, mass market appeal: a small number of individuals are highly respected for no other reason than what they have to say. Youtube performers and bloggers are becoming ever more important as influencers – get them on your side if you can. This may involve nothing more than mailing them a sample of your product, so do not neglect this avenue.
AI, Robot
From chatbots providing customer service to computers qualifying sales leads, artificial intelligence is going to be the single most important change in marketing in the coming decade. Any competitive advantage large corporations possess over smaller companies will likely disappear, as marketing becomes less a matter of reputation and more about programming.
Aim for the Smallest Targets
Putting up the biggest possible billboard will no longer be enough: showing your advertising to exactly the right niche of consumers will be the key to success. There is an element of information overload to the online experience, and confused people aren’t likely to spend money on your product. In effect, instead of screaming “Laptops! Laptops! Laptops!”, try to suggest that you offer cheap laptops for college students. This will be the strategy to drive conversion in future.
Don’t Annoy People
Consumers have no need to buy from you. If you saturate their experience with pop-up ads and other kinds of spam, they will click right past you. Advertising in the future will likely be all about suggestion and persuasion – forget about high-handed tactics.
More Mobile, More Responsive
You may think that the cellular revolution has gone as far and wide as it possibly can. No, we’re actually just getting started. Consumers will likely use their mobile devices more and more, to find retailers, locate trendy spots and even purchase high-ticket items. A marketing strategy which does not take this into account, will leave you trailing behind your competitors.
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It’s a brave new world, and it’s getting braver every year. Once, SEO and using social media was all there was to online marketing. Who knows what the best practices will be by the end of 2017?
