Marketing strategies for 2017 – Are you all set to hit the ‘refresh button’?
- Satuti Aggarwal
- Apr 23, 2017
- 3 min read
If you start at the right spot, it is most likely that you will travel a long way! We are well into 2017 and by now businesses should have devised and planned all marketing strategies. It’s important to analyze last year’s trends to plan strategies for the coming year. With direct marketing having emerged as the most affordable and convenient means of marketing, trends in 2017 might have surprises in store for retailers, marketers, and large & small enterprises.
Tips on how marketers should prepare for 2017:
Invest in analytics Gone are the days where businesses were run on assumptions. In the current markets, huge amounts of investments go into marketing, and it’s completely justified to get the inputs paid off. So strategies have to be laid down after a complete and extensive study of the market trends.Delve deeply into the insights of 2016 to plan ahead for 2017. Study social media trends that worked and lead to conversions. Direct marketing allows brands to analyze their business performance at close quarters. Use social media to reach out to consumers and keep recording and analyzing data
Prepare your work team Team members have a vital contribution to the progress of the business. With the start of the New Year, evaluate your team members’ performance. See which of them have performed up to the mark and who are underperforming. Make changes in your team and add people who can be productive. Provide the lucrative team members with higher responsibilities and optimize their skills for direct marketing techniques. Sit down and have an open discussion with team members to understand their needs, their issues and concerns. Together with your team members, strive towards removing minor hurdles to achieve the goals of the organization.
Get up close and personal with the consumer In 2017, brands will invest in personalization strategies. The user experience will be tapped further and efforts will be channelized towards improving and retaining consumer ties. Direct marketing will once again be predominant where companies will focus on building long-term relationships with customers.
Social media marketing It’s getting bigger and is expected to expand even more in 2017. Social media marketing is a means of direct marketing which allows brands to connect with consumers personally. And with data that can be compiled and studied, it becomes easier for brands to understand audience inclination, behavior, preferences etc. Consumers can express their likes, concerns, and disapproval directly to the companies. Companies, on their part, can work towards problem-solving and provide better services. Optimize your SEO and jump on to the social media marketing bandwagon, if you still haven’t.
Content marketing Is the value of quality content diminishing? Well not quite. With new technologies and trends emerging, content marketing will be more challenging than ever. While good content will still reins, while other factors like Google search, social media, emails, etc., will come into the preview. A switch will be from general to niche; formatting and creativity will score all the points. Direct digital marketing will outshine traditional marketing in a big way.
Videos Another direct marketing method of engagement with the audience is videos. Videos will become hugely popular in 2017 and as estimated, about 74% of the traffic will be through videos. Videos will increase online presence on Facebook and will also increase rankings in SEO. Google owns Youtube and gives preference to videos uploaded on Youtube. So marketers, focus more on videos as a direct marketing campaign in 2017.
Engagement By now you must have already heard the ‘engagement’ jargon around social media marketing. Yes, it’s not just about posting content which will serve as a direct marketing technique. Engagement with consumers is pivotal. It includes a complete Pandora box of creativity in your content, innovation and interesting posts using videos, images, questionnaires, discussions on a more personal level. Brands will have to identify audience demographics and specific interests of the people.
Direct marketing is focused on keeping the consumer happy. This also means that companies have to use the ‘refresh button’ from time to time. Revise your marketing policies and services/products to re-establish the connection with your audience. Keeping probing into their preferences, likes, and dislikes, to understand what incentives will work best for them. 2017 could be challenging for marketers, but if you plan wisely and plunge ahead with the correct moves, you would be well ahead of your competitors!
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