Technology will continue to deliver new ways for brands and customers to engage with each other, but customer preferences can change just as quickly. “This purpose resonates with an audience seeking deeper connections with brands.” At our core, humans are social animals that are literally “wired to connect.” The success of digital marketing tools like social media, marketing hubs and blogs are evidence of this thirst for human connection. To encourage customers to connect with your brand, you must first gain and demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s needs, wants and challenges. These are key to developing digital marketing content that engages customers: it’s about knowing what your customer needs and delivering it in ways that are both convenient and compelling. Yet for many brands, making true connections on digital media is challenging to say the least. Particularly on social media, customers seek to feel connected to a real person behind your digital marketing. In 2017, seek ways to engage your people in your digital marketing efforts; often they are your best evangelists. What that means for your digital marketing is that even if you offer the best content, if it’s not packaged visually for easy consumption, customers won’t engage with it. In 2017, find ways to deliver your digital marketing content more visually. Whether your marketing efforts include content marketing, inbound, social media, pay-per-click, affiliate arrangements, eCommerce, or other tactics, these rules will ensure that you are able to get more results from your digital marketing efforts.
As the year draws to a close, digital marketers everywhere are
taking a hard look forward to 2017 and the fresh opportunities the
year will bring. Technology will continue to deliver new ways for
brands and customers to engage with each other, but customer
preferences can change just as quickly. Digital marketers need an
analytical approach and a commitment to staying current with
technology to ensure results. Yet it’s also important not to lose
sight of the human side.
Because of these challenges, planning for the future in digital
marketing is not easy. But if you keep these five rules in mind,
your 2017 digital marketing efforts will be more successful:
Digital marketing is about connection
Digital marketing – like most marketing – isn’t just about selling
more stuff. At least, it shouldn’t be. “An effective digital
marketing strategy can broadcast a brand’s purpose, or their
“why”,” says Adam Fridman, founder of digital marketing agency, Mabbly. “This
purpose resonates with an audience seeking deeper connections with
brands.” At our core, humans are social animals that are literally
“wired
to connect.” The success of digital marketing tools like social
media, marketing hubs and blogs are evidence of this thirst for
human connection.
To encourage customers to connect with your brand, you must
first gain and demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s
needs, wants and challenges. This allows you to develop digital
marketing that is personal, personalized, and knowledge-based, as
well as social. IBM’s THINK Marketing
media hub is exemplifies this strategy, delivering useful and
relevant content based on customized content suggestions from IBM’s
Watson artificial intelligence platform.
Of course, not every brand has technology like Watson at their
disposal. But you can still gain a deeper understanding of your
customer and improve your ability to deliver what they need in 2017
by further developing your customer journey and
personas. These are key to developing digital marketing content
that engages customers: it’s about knowing what your customer needs
and delivering it in ways that are both convenient and
compelling.
Engage your people
The nature of digital is social, because the nature of people
is…
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