Content, Content, Content…
Bill Gates famously wrote the essay ‘Content is King’ back in January 1996. The self-made billionaire and Microsoft founder accurately visualised the content boom way before Google, Facebook and YouTube even existed….and a decade before the mobile revolution started.
“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” Bill Gates
More than twenty years later those words are as relevant as ever with content creation shaping being one of the biggest marketing trends of 2019. Whether content is through webpages, podcasts, Infographics, YouTube or Video and in the form of case studies, opinion (thought leadership) pieces or white papers, any business, no matter the size, can reap the benefits of incorporating content marketing into their strategy.
There is a reason that Seth Godin calls content marketing “the only marketing left” – it is authentic, insightful and geared for a savvy internet generation.
If you run any type of business today you will know that marketing has changed dramatically and is almost unrecognisable to what it was a decade ago. Those tried and tested marketing activities you used to do just don’t work like they used to back then. Whether it be advertising, telemarketing, website, press or your trusted networking circles that once produced endless opportunities for you.
Keeping ahead of the curve in successful marketing is essential in today’s climate and the skill to doing this is to be “Different”.
Consumer behaviour is changing all of the time. Our customers expect a lot more now than they ever have done before. They are unforgiving in their search for perfection and impatient when they eventually find what they are looking for.
Quality is always going to be important but the advantage can be taken one step further by looking more deeply into who the intended recipients are. Understanding the audience and targeting more precisely will increase the chances of engagement which is ultimately the result we are looking for.
So we must provide content rich information consumers want, serve it to them where we know they will be and give them no reason to engage with those pesky competitors!
Chatbots
Chatbots are here to stay.
With around 258,000 chatbot units around the world, it would seem that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race is charging ahead at a great speed. In the UK alone, over 10,000 companies are currently developing chatbots with the aim to make them part of their customer support system.
Today’s consumer is impatient and expects a response almost instantly to an enquiry whether it be about a product, a sale or customer service issue. But resourcing this through live chat and one-to-one conversations is expensive and impossible for most businesses to maintain. So how can this realistically happen?
Well it can’t…by humans at least, it just isn’t feasible. But it can with Bots.
The use of Bots is an easy solution and they can deal with highly complex customer issues. Bots are virtual assistants and run through a computer program to automate certain tasks, usually by chatting with a customer through a discussion window. They give the perception of a dedicated 1:1 service experience whilst working with multiple customers at the same time.
Great customer service as we all know is essential but not everyone feels comfortable talking to a real person on the phone or has the time to converse over email. Chatbots are convenient, quick and above all pleasant at all times!
It’s up to businesses to make things as easy as possible for their customers. If your buyers want to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to communicate with you, then give it to them.
Email is getting more Personalised
Email marketing has been around for some time now but its popularity hasn’t wavered.
It is a major channel of communication for businesses with billions of people using it daily.
Email marketing is a method of marketing that is most definitely here to stay. It’s evolving and has become an integral part of any digital strategy, with a combination of automation and personalisation making it an important channel for 2019.
Email marketing is a powerful tool and done correctly consumers will engage with it positively.
When you can trigger a personalised email to a user based on their behaviour, delivering targeted messaging or even a demonstration video along buying cycle, then this method of marketing can be very effective.
Consumers are operating in congested world and are constantly being bombarded with marketing messages. Getting through the noise is imperative if you are to communicate effectively with your audience.
Incorporating the personal touch will make your brand more human and enable you to connect emotionally with your customers.
Providing consumers with something “different” that holds their attention might just get you over the line ahead of someone else. One great way to give consumers what they want is through storytelling. This could be a simple as sharing your Brand story or a customer experience or for a double whammy, both!
Allow your customer to get to know your brand in a personal way by being transparent about who you are as a business and what you do.
Customers these days are spending less time talking to salespeople and more time pushing themselves through the sales funnel. Customers aren’t just seeking out information on your product when they interact with your brand, they are looking for that personalised experience.
Sending more than just a sales pitch by incorporating informative content in a personalised way will give them that experience.
Voice Interaction on the rise
Talking is the new search!
Thanks to Siri, Google Keep, Cortana, Alexa and several other voice interaction devices, verbal interaction is on the rise.
Talking really does seem to be the preferred way of interacting when searching for something online. And the ‘machines’ are notching it up a gear by understanding the way people want to search, shop and find new things.
However, as you would expect this presents some clear challenges. Searching online is straight forward, you put in your two or three words in by typing your request into Google’s search bar and the screen provides one page of results at a time. However, when conducting a voice search it is somewhat different as it may only provide a few choices or at best one choice.
This means that putting together voice searches will require a different approach but it’s an area that shouldn’t be excluded from your digital marketing strategy because consumers are using it more and more.