In today’s fast-moving world of social media, having a “presence” is simply not good enough anymore. What you need to do is engage your customers and prospects online in such a way that they get a benefit out of spending their online time with you.
Tags: online marketing, social marketing, social media marketing, Web 2.0
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Imagine for a moment it’s the early 1950s and you’re the CMO (or senior-most marketing executive of the day) at Colgate-Palmolive Company. You’re about to invest tens of thousands (millions in inflation-adjusted dollars) in the sponsorship of a radio or television program. While you would have faced challenges in the process, the one challenge you would not have had to face was that of a Challenger Brand trying to do something similar. Smaller, less affluent competitors could not afford to produce and broadcast such programs. Fast-forward to the second decade of the next millennium, and that same CMO would be faced with a multitude of challenges from Challenger Brands.
It’s hard to believe that the “New Millennium” has been underway for 10 years. It has been a time of great change, challenge and also possibilities. So, what are the “next big things” we as marketers need to be aware of? Following are five trends and predictions that we need to think about.
1) My Internet
The Internet will continue offering users more and more options for obtaining the information, services and products they need. Websites will transform into collections of web services and web applications that are easy to export, allowing users to use all the services they need at one central location (email, online collaborative platform, Twitter, etc). For brands, the key is to give consumers the ability to find and get information, products and services when they are most relevant.
2) “Go green” and mean it
Not so long ago, implementing the green attribute into your business and communication strategies gave you a premium product or competitive advantage. Good intentions are no longer good enough. Being green will become the new price of doing business.
3) “Exclusivity” is the new gold
What is your brand doing to offer customers “exclusivity”? If you don’t know, you’d better start thinking about an answer. In 2010, it will be about offering people new ways to experience their lives, as well as sustainable, authentic products that have a story. Products that are merely expensive will be meaningless (and embarrassing) unless they are backed by substantive “specialness.”
4) Tough consumers
Consumers will be more demanding, and their expectations will only rise. Brands will have to anticipate consumer expectations and start to build from these in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Are you thinking about how your customers are living today? How are you evolving to accommodate their needs more effectively? Is your website accessible on their smart phones? Are you contactable 24/7? How will you service these customers in the way they’ve become accustomed to in other parts of their lives?
5) Consumers are talking. Get in the conversation.
The amount of discussion in the online social space will continue to increase dramatically. You will not be able to control this. But you will be expected to participate via reputation management and social-media monitoring tools. With these tools, brands will have the possibility to measure their own online activity and identify patterns between online activity and sales. “Social-media ROI” will be one of the strong online marketing terms of 2010 and beyond.
From the Gumas Family to yours, here’s wishing you a very prosperous New Year filled with great branding campaigns and increased sales!!
Until next month…
It’s hard to believe that the “New Millennium” has been underway for 10 years. It has been a time of great change, challenge and also possibilities. So, what are the “next big things” we as marketers need to be aware of? Following are five trends and predictions that we need to think about.
Having a marketing program that includes interactive strategies is critical for today’s marketers. As such, your goal should be to try to convert your marketing monologue into a marketing dialogue whenever possible. One of the most cost-effective ways to make this happen is through a blog.
In addition to being the largest depository of videos, did you know that YouTube is now the second-largest search engine in the world?
Social marketing is hard to ignore as it steadily gains popularity as an effective marketing tool. According to Forrester Research, 75% of Internet users participate in some form of social media, up from 56% in 2007. Now that’s the kind of fast-track mainstream adoption you can watch from the sidelines or you can choose to get in on.
Most everyone is aware of SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay-per-click). Hopefully your agency has developed a good SEO and PPC strategy that has increased your natural search rankings and your website traffic.
So you want to create the perfect website, a website that says all the right things and has that information placed in the perfect spot?
A recent study tried to do just that by utilizing state-of-the-art eye-tracking technology. This study used a combination of complex hardware and data analysis to map a viewer’s eye movements across the computer screen to determine the amount of mental strain exerted at any given moment while viewing various website home pages.