All business owners understand the importance of marketing and know that good marketing is invaluable. However, it’s not enough to merely have marketing initiatives in place. Your efforts need to be timely, actionable, on-brand, and on-trend.
Corey Shader is an experienced entrepreneur, consultant, and business leader. Read as we explore his top five current trends in the world of small business marketing.
Content Marketing – Creating a blog or “News Page” for your business’s website helps customers interact with your brand in a new way. Helpful articles that reflect core elements of your brand, educate customers and provide actionable suggestions, help engage your audience and build brand loyalty.
Social media marketing – Most businesses are present on multiple social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. But, it’s important to recognize how consumers use each platform and publish content that meets customers where they are. Instagram focuses on engaging visuals, which makes it perfect for showcasing your product and brand persona, while Twitter’s fast-paced nature caters to real-time business updates and news articles. YouTube is a viable platform for businesses, as videos are one of the most engaging content forms and are unique in that they deliver the most amount of information in the shortest time period.
Location-based marketing – It has become increasingly popular to push marketing content to customers based on where they spend their time. According to Quickbooks, 80% of businesses use location data to target their customers and most reported increases in their customer base because of this practice.
Voice and virtual assistant strategy – A majority of customers already use artificial intelligence and smart assistant technologies like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, and Apple’s HomePod. They use these smart speakers to do everything from order groceries to search for a place to get dinner. The most important part of building your voice strategy is outlining both short and long-tail keywords that are common in voice commands, and apply directly to your business.
Co-creation marketing – Consumers have begun to play a significant role in how businesses engage with their audience and develop products. Companies like LEGO now have platforms that allow customers to submit concepts for new products. In doing so, brands can actualize their customer’s ideas. The beauty of co-creation is that it ensures customers will like and buy their products because the customers are the ones creating it.
About: Corey Shader is an independent business consultant. Driven by his passion for helping others achieve their goals, he takes pride in bringing out the best in others. Based in Florida, this professional is well known for his involvement with startup companies helping with customer acquisition, streamlining processes, and maximizing their overall bottom line.
