Growing businesses depend on the latest, greatest marketing trends to increase brand awareness, build their brand’s reputation, and entice new customers.
Staying abreast of the latest marketing strategies helps you effectively connect with your audience AND stay ahead of your competition. But just staying on top of the new trends might not be enough to give your business the boost it deserves – you’ve also got to know which trends to avoid.
Marketing tactics change all the time, and many businesses are eager to jump on the bandwagon of emerging trends. That’s okay – as long as you know how to recognize when a trend is played out. If you keep clinging to tired tactics, it makes your brand look out of date, and that is NOT the image you want to project!
If you want to keep your marketing fresh, here are 5 trends to retire in the new year:
- Prioritizing Quantity Over Quality
Yes, content is king, and social media demands a LOT of it, but if you’re just rolling out junk content to keep your brand visible, you’re not doing yourself any favors.
The whole purpose of social media marketing is to develop relationships, build trust, and inspire loyalty. That’s not going to happen if you’re wasting your audience’s time with clickbait.
Concentrate on producing high-quality, informative content that is truly valuable to your customers. If you’re struggling to create engaging posts, try using a content calendar to brainstorm topics and keep you posting consistently. - Going for the Hard Sell
Your marketing end goal is simple – you’re here to make money, and that means you’ve got to make sales. But you can’t be too pushy, or you’ll alienate potential customers.
I’ve already told you that you need to concentrate on building relationships, right? Well, think of it like this; if you meet a new person and they immediately start trying to sell you something, how are you going to react?
You probably won’t be reaching for your wallet! Concentrate on introducing your business to a wider audience and educating them on what makes it great. Don’t push them to buy right away. Focus on the connection and the conversions will follow. - Focusing on the Wrong Features
What are you selling?
If you answered with a product or service, you’re wrong!! Okay, sure, you ARE selling a product or service, but that’s not how you should market it. You’re selling solutions to your customers’ problems, and that’s what your marketing message should reflect.
Instead of focusing on features, focus on how your business makes your customers’ lives better. How do you help them do more? Worry less? How does your brand make each day easier?
Show your customers that you understand them by speaking to their pain points and offering a solution. - Ignoring SEO
Seriously, if you haven’t added SEO to your marketing strategy, what are you waiting for?? SEO is not going anywhere! In fact, it’s becoming increasingly more important for developing brand awareness and expanding your audience.
If you’re not optimizing your content to improve your search engine results, your business is going to fall behind the competition. You don’t have to do it by yourself. Choose an SEO expert to help you develop a top-notch optimization strategy. - Avoiding Mobile Optimization
More than half of your audience is viewing your content on a mobile device – is your website keeping up?
Sites that are glitchy, slow to load, or hard to view on mobile devices have no place in an increasingly mobile world. If you have not updated your site and content for mobile traffic, that should be priority #1.
Consult with a web developer to create premium web design and give your customers a first-rate mobile user experience.
If you want more ideas and strategies to upgrade your marketing efforts in the new year, we can help! Drop us a line at https://resonetrics.com/contact
