10 Future Trends in Marketing Your Business Should Invest In

Figuring out marketing for your business isn’t always an easy task. The marketing campaigns that worked last year don’t always work this year. The world and the way the world responds to your marketing messages changes rapidly. Future trends in marketing aren’t always predictable, but there are some clues you can follow that allow you to make an educated guess.

Sixty-three percent of marketers list generating traffic and getting leads as their top challenges and 40 percent list proving the return on investment (ROI) of marketing activities as a challenge. While proving ROI is difficult it isn’t impossible with the right analytics and campaign strategy.

If you want to take your business to the next level and focus on activities that will have a good ROI, here are ten future trends in marketing your business should invest in.

1. Use Test and Control Groups

One of the future trends in marketing to keep an eye on is using control and test groups to figure out how well new concepts perform with your typical target audience. Your control group should include regular customers. Using a control group is a low-cost and effective way to measure the impact of a marketing campaign which is one of its biggest benefits.

2. Add Location-Based Marketing

Location-based marketing has been around for a while, but now is the time to begin to work on this aspect of your marketing. Even if your business is global, you can personalize your offerings to people in specific areas and target them on a local level via social media and Google ads. Just make sure your marketing is specific to consumers in that area.

3. Learn About Ephemeral Content

Sites such as Snapchat and Instagram are growing in popularity. Ephemeral content lasts for a short period before disappearing, including Snapchat posts. This allows marketers to try out different ideas without committing to them full on before seeing if they work or not.

Around 60 percent of users on Snapchat and Instagram go to the site every day. The interaction involved means that users are not only engaged but engaged daily.

4. Manage the Data Explosion

Data on the Internet grows exponentially every day. Not only are there articles on websites, but videos and social media posts. Today you can find an answer to nearly any question you might have. Data is here to stay as not only our past but one of the future trends in marketing.

However, the way data gets distributed and what’s effective changes. Today’s data is best distributed as visuals, so it’s easily absorbed.

5. Don’t Overlook Traditional Forms of Marketing

The growth of people using the Internet and browsing on their mobile devices puts the focus on digital marketing, but there is still a place for traditional marketing in all its forms. Some types of advertising that aren’t likely to go away anytime soon include billboards, radio and television.

While growth was most dramatic online, these tried and true methods will continue to work into the future. People have to commute to work or go about their daily lives. While doing so, they listen to the radio or look at billboards. At the same time, if you want to capture their attention, you need a unique and attention-grabbing campaign.

6. Become More Transparent

Consumers more and more often expect transparency from companies. About 73 percent of consumers say they would pay more if a product offered complete transparency across all channels. Transparency is about both information and honesty.

One way you can be more transparent is to go ahead and point out the flaws in your products and services. Explain why it isn’t the best thing since sliced bread, but then point out what areas it does excel in. Another idea is to own up to your mistakes, apologize for them, explain how you’ll fix the issue in the future and move on.

The more honest and transparent you are, the more consumers will trust you.

7. Get on Instagram

Even though Facebook is still the largest social media platform, Instagram is growing at a crazy pace. There are more than 800 million people on Instagram, and around 500 million of them are active daily. If your business doesn’t have a place on Instagram, now is the time to get your foot in the door.

People on Instagram are more engaged than those on Facebook by 15 times. However, it is a very different medium than some of the other social media platforms. Take the time to study what other brands post on Instagram and focus on the imagery more than the message to start.

8. Invest in Social Media Customer Service

Nearly 60 percent of Americans appreciate customer service through social media and state that it makes it easier to resolve issues. When a customer has a problem with your product or service, they are likely to air their grievances online. Where you can turn a negative into a positive is by having a team who watches for mentions of your brand and immediately steps up to resolve any issues.

Treat your customers with the respect they deserve and do your best to go above and beyond to resolve any complaints. Other people are watching how you respond to your customers and basing the decision about whether or not to do business with you on how you treat current customers.

9. Remember Email Marketing

For years, experts have predicted the demise of email marketing, but it is still going strong and shows no signs of letting up. Marketing via email has changed, though. The reach of an email should grow by 4.4 percent during the next few years.

Today, email marketing is highly personalized, inboxing customers with offers built specifically for them based on their past order history and buying preferences. Segmented email lists help marketers know who to send what offers to in order to get the best results possible.

10. Create Marketing Videos

If you haven’t delved into the world of videography, now is the time to focus on how you can best highlight your videos. Consumers who view a video are 65 to 85 percent more likely to buy the product. Videos are shared more frequently on social media and add another level to your content that static pages don’t provide.

Looking Forward

What the future holds for marketers isn’t entirely as cut and dry as looking at a batch of statistics. As new technology unfolds and marketers try new creative trends, what works today and even tomorrow may not work in two years. Keep trying different methods, track the ROI of your campaigns and stay open to the ever-changing landscape of marketing.