Staying Ahead of the Game

31 Oct Staying Ahead of the Game

Smarter, more distracted and more sceptical than ever when it comes to advertising. These are just 3 ways to describe your modern day consumer! It’s now normal to just tune-out of advertising, leaving brands, publishers and advertisers frustrated in their search for attention. Over the coming weeks I will blogging all about digital marketing and its different components. I will be talking about how you are able to use them in your job today!

There are so many difficult challenges facing digital marketers – The ecommerce pie has now grown to 1.14 trillion euros in the last year. Everyone wants a slice but how do you get noticed in such a busy world. Inbound marketing is one such way of overcoming this. If you want to win, you need to deliver engagement and a slice of a good user experience (UX), evoke an emotion and create a memory with your content. Here are a couple of tips to stay ahead of the game with your content in this ever changing world.

1. Don’t just try and sell your product.

Any of the best content marketing successes I have been involved in are ones where we don’t go for the hard sell straight out. You need to be providing value to the customer and show you know what you are talking about before they will then convince themselves to buy. It is what Brands need to start doing to change the paradigm of “banner blindness” where there is a deliberate tuning-out of passive and low impact advertising.

Did you know that 71% of consumers will flat out reject any content that feels to them like a sales pitch? This emphasises the imperative need to have a consumer-centric focus on your content. It also needs to be image-based, fun and helpful so people are more likely to share it.

2. Be a social Butterfly

The best way to get your content out there is of course, social media. Quite a few ecommerce merchants have realised this, however there are those rare few that are missing a trick here. This is an even bigger problem now that mobile has overtaken desktop devices for internet use and social media has overtaken the search for content discovery.

Engagement on social media boils down to validating your self-image by developing your brand’s online identity. The best marketers start by tapping into these principles to build relationships with customers that empower them as brand evangelists. When a customer feels personally connected to a piece of content, there is a much higher chance of them sharing it with their friends, be it a questionnaire about #TheDress or a quiz that reveals what Disney character they are!

3. Use your Influence and Seek out Brand Evangelism

Advertising used to belong to the big budgets and people in the suits. Now we can see a shift to where smaller brands can push themselves out there in terms of publicity. Normal, everyday people can now become a journalist or an influencer with just their mobile phone, which is important for brand managers to realise and understand. It’s now a reality that the best way to get your product out there is to connect with your customers. Get creating positive reciprocal relationships where they become empowered as brand promoters.

4. It’s Time to Engage on their level

Amaze the customer, that’s it. Simple, and straightforward. You can do it on any channel; Social, broadcast or even print media so long as it is their channel. We don’t go looking for content any more. Content finds us. With just a touch of a screen we can find out nearly anything we want. Your brand needs to be there when people are searching for your product or industry. To make yourself stand out from the crowd, you need to develop strong brand identities that your potential customers want to gather around. So by engaging consumers in the best way for them you will be more memorable and meaningful in their lives.

5. Be Platform Agnostic.

Consumers are not loyal anymore; they use all types of Social Media from Snapchat to Facebook to Instagram. Make sure that your messaging is constant and consistent. It doesn’t matter if you are selling Tyres, surfboards or high heels; the first point of business is engaging with people in positive ways, as this is shown to increase the likelihood of a purchase.

Brands of all sizes must make sure they are engaging their customers on a number of social platforms, giving people the chance to find them and then be delighted by their content experiences that are platform agnostic.

So there you have it, 5 fairly simple but complex ways to stay ahead of the game in this ever changing world of digital advertising. Make sure to tweet me if you need any help!

Tris