Most small businesses do not have the kind of capital and the staff like that of the big companies. This is why a well-thought-out and creative marketing strategy is vital. If you are a marketer with experience, you know how important it is to keep up with the future of business trends, new marketing channels, and other essential marketing factors that are beneficial for your business. With more than half of the year 2017 gone, there is a number of marketing trends that have proven to be, or are on their way to becoming, the next best thing. In this article, we are going to discuss the 10 best marketing trends for small business for 2017.
Influencer Marketing
Still better than paid advertising, word-of-mouth is the road to generating a large number of sales. A way for small businesses to make use of this is through influencer marketing. It consists of making use of influential people in your industry and community in order to spread the message about your business. Social media influencers in your niche can help you reach a targeted and primed audience that is going to trust you.
What you need to remember is that influence is based on trust, not on how many followers someone has. You’ll be looking for a micro-influencer that has a strong reputation in your niche, and a network behind him that trusts him or her and is ready to do something about it.
Video Content
It doesn’t take an expert to understand why people like inbound content-based marketing messages more than outbound ads. While ads have an interruptive nature, marketing that is based on content provides valuable information, entertainment, and value to the reader. With research showing that 80% of people will watch your video while only 20% will read your content in full, you can understand how powerful video as a medium can be. And it is only going to become more popular in 2017.
Data-Driven Marketing
By collecting, analyzing, and coming up with insights based on all the consumer data out there, you can come up with data-driven marketing decisions. There is really a lot of information that you can make use of, and your competitors are surely capitalizing on this. Data is essential for competing with other businesses, as it enables you to personalize what you are offering, boost customer support, find new opportunities, and the like.
Email Marketing
While email marketing is certainly not something new, it is certainly still here due to its relevancy. Statistics show that three-quarters of companies agree that email marketing has an “excellent” to “good” ROI. So, as old school as it is, it is a trend that is certainly worth following, even in 2017. If you hear someone claiming that email marketing doesn’t produce the desired effect, then you should know that they are probably not implementing it properly. What you need to do is provide your audience with valuable, relevant, and helpful insight.
Beacon Technology
Personalization of ads and content depends on understanding the whole buying process. Mobile beacons, developed thanks to smartphones broadcast locations, are one way of doing so and making use of that information. Mobile beacons are devices placed inside the store that detect mobile phones via Bluetooth technology in order to analyze shopping behavior in and out of the store. By doing this, it enables you to customize the buying experience.
Expert Blogging
Are you already running a blog on your website? If you are, how good is the content that you are posting? Blog content has become essential for your website ranking high on search engine result pages, and a lot of businesses are paying close attention to that. However, what remains important is the value of the content. Your users will certainly see the difference between relevant and irrelevant writing. If you don’t provide them with something that is interesting and informative to read, they certainly won’t decide to stay.
Permission Marketing
Digital marketing is changing a lot due to the fact that a large number of people are using ad blocking apps. Banner ad click-through rates are dropping, and organic reach on social media is no longer what it used to be. It has become harder for businesses to get to consumers. This is why a trend such as permission marketing is so successful. What it’s about is basically a privilege instead of a right to provide personal and relevant content to people who agree to get these ads. This is a great way to gain respect from your users.
Social Media Practices
A lot of businesses aren’t making the best out of their social media profiles. What is important about social media sites is that they are providing you with a lot of valuable information. They contribute to big data due to the fact that there is a lot of engagement going on. You are basically getting all that you need to know about how to run your business and provide the right customer experience. Collecting social media based data and active listening is advised.
Mobile-Centric Strategy
A mobile-centric strategy is essential due to the fact that there are more smartphone than desktop users today. The first step is making sure that your website is mobile responsive. If it’s not, you will be losing a lot of customers, your Google ranking will diminish, and you will receive a penalty for not providing a proper user experience. The next step is to identify mobile-centric searches in your industry. You need to know what questions are people asking when they need to take care of a problem that your business can solve.
Hyper-Local Marketing
Hyper-local marketing is more than just about mobile access, social media, and SEO. It’s basically about connecting with your users. Social media profiles, search engines, and devices are merely means for reaching the people from your community. It goes beyond someone’s geolocation – it’s about what every person needs, and how you can help them with it. It’s about building a reputation.
In Summation
It is essential for small businesses today to have quality and creative marketing strategies. In order to do this, they should follow up on current marketing trends. They can check an innovative platform to find services and products that they need for maximizing the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.
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