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Nex Media • 2018 MARKETING TRENDS TO BE OR NOT TO BE IN SOUTH AFRICA?
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65 days as a marketer to find ways to gain an edge over your
competitors, as that is one thing that all successful marketing
professionals have in common. Marketing is changing rapidly, the
ability to master and exploit these changes into your daily operation
and short/long-term strategy is key. No time for a pause as the tempo of
change is constantly rising.
What are the 2018 marketing trends and… Are they hype or necessity?
About two years ago I already found out that some things in South Africa are
thought, however, not said out loud, I have done so anyway. Traditional, purely
above-the-line marketing is dead! And I remain with my statement.
Mass marketing is largely untargeted and focussing on the brand rather
than the customer with no other purpose for a user to buy a product is not
enough anymore. You won’t hear me say that is will never be a part of your
strategy anymore. However, by itself it is dead.
Modern marketing is developed with the vision of brand building as well
as conversions. It needs to be personal, add value for all parties and be
measurable. Marketing Automation and data are shaping the future.
The first big trend we spot is the use of
live video streaming
. Social
media and its very big influence has paved the way for live content
possibilities. Research concludes that 80 per cent of end-users prefer
watching a live video as opposed to reading a blog. Why: too much
information not enough time.
Video gives businesses a chance to interact and communicate with their
audience directly; next to this the broad spectrum of social media platforms
make it possible to get real-time feedback. Most used platforms are:
Facebook live, Youtube live, Instagram live, Twitter and Periscope. Finally,
videos and their content can be repurposed in the future.
Another trend is the rising importance of
micro influencing
. It’s all
about the focus on qualitative results instead of the quantitative aspects of
social media influence in gaining an audience. Using brand ambassadors and
social influencers has become a legitimate marketing strategy. 85 per cent
of end-users trust peer recommendations over brand advertising, 70 per cent
of end-users consult social media before making a purchase and 82 per cent
of end-users are highly likely to blindly follow the recommendation of an
influencer.
Still trending and again getting a position in the yearly trend list is
content marketing
, recurring in the list for the past few years. However,
there is proof that businesses are still not adapting to this, as it keeps coming
back as advice to implement in your strategy. Compared to other, important,
factors such as; Big Data (including market and customer insight via predictive
analytics), Mobile Marketing, CRM / Email Automation, PR and paid search
(Google AdWords & Pay Per Click), content marketing, according to business
executives, will remain in having the biggest impact on companies. Make sure
your content is relevant and has a clearly defined audience. In-line with the
cost-saving challenge we all have in marketing rather than coming up with
new marketing strategies; refine your existing ones. Content marketing is
not expensive and when properly executed will increase sales and customer
loyalty.
A new challenge is the focus from the Millennials to the
Generation Z.
Oldest trick in the book: ‘Target your end users while they are
so young you can retain them for as long as possible’. However, how to target
this new generation as they have completely different buying habits than the
generations before them? Millennials have shaped the marketing landscape
and trends for the past 10 years. It is now time though to also put some
more focus on the younger generation as well; the iGeneration, Homeland
Generation or the iGeneration born in the late 1990s to mid 2000s. The
oldest people in this generation are entering their early 20s. In other words,
graduating from college and entering the workforce and changing their habits
as their steady job results in having more buying power. No matter what
industry or size your business is, you need to do research on this generation
and find out how to target them. Don’t forget the Millennials or Generation
X, in contrast, however embrace that whole new and fresh market for you to
target.
In-line with the above, more crucial than ever in 2018 is
consumer
personalisation
, and we all know it and we all need to implement it,
however, the fact is a lot of organisations don’t focus enough on this way
of increasing engagement and sales. How can you sell to your customers if
you don’t know what they want? 75 per cent of end-users prefer suppliers or
retailers that use personalisation to improve their shopping experience. And
we are not talking using your prospect or customer’s name and surname.
Encourage people to create a customer profile on your website or
mobile application. The more data you have the more you can implement
personalisation tactics which will make it easier for you to up- and cross-sell
to your customers. It’s cheaper to target your current customers than it is to
acquire new ones.
You can also send personalised email messages to your subscribers. Email
personalisation improves your conversion rates by 10 per cent and increase
click-through rates by 14 per cent. A personalised subject line of an email,
increases your chance of the recipient opening the mail with 26 per cent.
Those of you who weren’t using personalisation in 2017 need to start doing
so in 2018. So, hopefully your 2017 focus was cleaning up your CRM database
and making sure you accumulated a lot of clean data.
Speaking of data, another very important trend is security. South Africa’s
Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act ensures the end-user’s privacy.
And let’s face it, a lot of people are rightfully worried about their privacy.
However, if you respect all the rules, regulations and stick to the guidelines
there is nothing to hide and transparency is key. Let your customers know you
are protecting and not abusing their information. Use your privacy protection
strategy as a selling point. If their information is safe with you, tell your
customers. Using data lists without permission, selling your customer’s data
or engaging with the end-user without their permission will result in your
company appearing sketchy or untrustworthy; it will be difficult for you to get
lots of sales and regain trust.
Finally, the last trend for this year is interactivity. Focus on a multi-channel
approach. No or-or strategy but an and-and.
Make a connection from print to online and integrate this into your email
marketing. Email marketing is far from dead. However, if you keep sending
out the same unpersonalised, untargeted boring emails over and over and
over and over again, no you will not get different results. Engage with
your subscribers and improve engagement via interactivity using: real-time
activities, adding surveys or reviews and using GIFs instead of pictures.
Conclusion
:
To be or not to be in South Africa is up to you. It’s a simple key to success:
staying up-to-date with the latest marketing trends. The best marketing
professionals seize opportunities from the future and look forward using
consumer behaviour.
It results in being able to identify trends and making significant though
applicable changes to your marketing strategy giving you that: ‘Edge over your
competition’!
If you’re struggling to come up with new ideas or some of the topics in the
above article, keep reading my articles and blogs the coming year. We’ll go
into the subject deeper with more explanation and practical examples.
