How to Update Your Marketing Game | Marketing is an industry that by definition changes with the times. Cultural trends and expectations come and go, and technology is a major driver of new innovations and new challenges in the world of marketing, especially for startup companies just beginning to break into the market. Unfortunately, a lot of people in the sales industry fail to adapt and because of that they start to lose their edge. Here are a few strategies that you can use to stay relevant and bring in the new customers you need.
- Focus on Digital Marketing
Digital marketing tools represent the vanguard of the sales industry. Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing business analytics as a whole, as processing power and advanced algorithms make modeling the outcomes of business decisions in an accurate manner possible. Customer relationship management (CRM) software builds on this new technology by leveraging the power of data processing to manage relationships with potential and current customers. Having a winning digital marketing platform is all about learning how to combine these online tools into a campaign that fits your company’s plan for the future.
- Fight Back Against Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue, also known as ego depletion, is a problem unique to the information age. The theory behind this phenomenon is that as we’re forced to make more and more choices, we become less capable of making them effectively. In terms of marketing, people who are overloaded on choices tend to become impulse buyers. This may sound good for business, but it’s not, because if you have a quality product that isn’t the first to get noticed, potential customers might just give up and go with the lesser choice! This is why strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) and niche branding (also called narrow branding) are so vital. In a world of fleeting trends, you have to be memorable to last.
- Build Your Website With Science
Everyone has a website. Not everyone has the kind of website that holds someone’s attention and projects an impression of legitimacy. Thankfully, there’s a scientific methodology for doing this that anyone can use. For example, using blue and green on a website tends to convey professionalism and stability respectively. This psychological science extends to layout, too. Most people read in a Z or F-pattern, a fact which should inform the way that you place both your logos and your text on your site. Learning more about how the human mind works will give you far greater understanding for the thought processes of the people who make up your market.
- Create a Unique Vision
The vision for your company goes well beyond the dry business plan or mission statement that you wrote up for the bank in the beginning. In fact, a vision statement is quite different from those and far more idealistic. That’s good. The world needs idealism, and consumers overwhelmingly prefer to buy from companies that go out of their way to prove that they’re about something more than making money. This is called the “noble edge” phenomenon. Shoppers are more apt to choose a product from a company that they know to be charitable, perceiving a mark of quality in the business.
- Brand Yourself Locally
The notion of branding a business locally has been building for some time now. According to a Groupon survey taken during the holiday season in 2017, two-thirds of Americans said that they prefer to shop locally. That statistic is easy to explain: in a globalizing world where tradition and certainty are hard to come by, people are hungry for authenticity. Most consumers tend to define authenticity in terms of dependability and honesty. Local shoppers are also driven by a desire for unique product selection, and this is something that can only be had from a business that’s focused on being unique.
When it comes to advertising and marketing, technology is leading the way in giving salespeople and business owners a wider array of tools than ever before. Leveraging them is just a matter of learning what works and what doesn’t in this data-rich age. By keeping these tips in mind, you’ll move your marketing game into the future.
