New Marketing Srategies and Trends

Are you ready to market your business in 2014? Before you answer that question, consider the following five new marketing strategies and trends for 2014 -€“ and how you will position your company to take advantage of them.

1. Dynamic custom content

Let’s say you have three different tiers of products, each aimed at a different type of customer in the marketplace. You also have a web page geared toward each product and customer match. Right now, you have to depend on outside marketing factors to help customers reach the appropriate page. That means relying on three distinctly different print marketing, SEO, PPC, and other marketing campaigns to get the right people to the right place. New tools and continued innovations will make it possible for your site to automatically know the type of customer visiting your site and then automatically render content based on that customer type. That means less reliance on exterior factors, more control over your message, and fewer obstacles to purchase.

2. The social newsroom

A few years ago -€“ and even now, for many brands -€“ social publishers (bloggers, social media experts, etc.) were considered add-ons, extra employees or contractors who help make you relevant. Now, these people are imperative; and the plethora of critical social presences your brand needs to have has redefined the marketing spectrum to yield the social newsroom: a central place where your entire digital marketing is planned, produced, and distributed. Content truly is king, and services such as Rebel Mouse have emerged to help the social newsroom operate efficiently.

3. More stickers

Stickers might seem old-school, but sticker printing has taken on new life as digital printing technologies have made large-format, full-color sticker printing cheaper than ever. Now, even the smallest businesses can afford to print big stickers that command attention and direct customers to special sales or embed themselves in customers’ memories. For mobile marketing, stickers serve as a great way to distribute QR codes that lead to apps and websites. Moreover, a socially driven society has given rise to social media distribution: Empower and motivate your customers to plaster your stickers everywhere, and they’ll be a free marketing team for you.

4. Local and global

Recently, more focus has been given to local marketing strategies. This will continue; however, you also need to look at your global marketing strategies. Undeserved markets in the ‘€œemerging six’ countries (Brazil, Russia, China, India, Indonesia and South Korea) are creating huge opportunities for even the smallest companies. For small businesses, national marketing is tough; local and global are easy.

5. Marketing paradigm shifts

Marketing success and strategies built to foster it have always centered around sales, ROI, and profits. Marketers are concerned with motivating response and generating conversions. This isn’t going to change, but the strategies employed to affect those ends are evolving. Brands in 2014 will continue to place more emphases in sharing vs. buying and connecting vs. selling in an effort to foster communication, conversation, and connectivity with customers. Earning trust gains influence; influence fosters sales. As John Bell seems to suggest, brands will be less interested in pushing you to buy, say, the next great insurance policy and more interested in getting you to call your insurance agent twice a year to check up on your coverage. Proving you’re in partnership with your customers will be more important than ever in 2014.