New Marketing Strategies for 2014
Happy New Year to you all, and welcome to my first blog post of 2014, and my first ever blog post.
I hope you all have had a great time with you families over the festive period, whilst managing to rest and rejuvenate yourselves ready for the new business year!! It’s amazing that we have reached 2014 already; I still can’t believe 2013 has gone – it went so quick.
It’s always that first week back to the office, and you realize that you have a whole new year in front of you – I don’t know about you but I always like the first week back. You have a clean slate; and you know that you have some time to breath (even if it is only a week)! If you feel like this it’s always good to take a step back and wonder if there is something you can do different with your marketing this year – almost an early Spring Clean!!
Starting the spring cleaning
So you think you want to do something different but your not really sure where to start…. We have all been there. It sounds obvious but start with your customers! Who are they? What do they want? How do they like to be communicated with? The time you have to communicate with your customers is getting shorter. One of the biggest trends for 2014 is personalisation and relevance of communication to customers’. A one-size-fits all approach to marketing will not win over your customers. Relationship marketing is vital, make your customers feel special and they will become loyal.
I know what the next thing that comes into mind – I don’t have a big marketing budget so how & what can I change?
This is the case for most businesses, but it shouldn’t be a concern. Content marketing will generate leads for your business through simply communicating valuable, engaging content for a specific audience. Content marketing is going to become bigger and bolder in 2014 and with a possible increase of 7.8% in sales with this strategy there is no surprise why.
Content Marketing
Content marketing allows you to communicate constantly with your customers without selling to them! Through creating and distributing content, which makes your customers more knowledgeable, they will reward you with their business and loyalty. This links nice back to the relationship marketing I have just mentioned!! The beauty of content marketing is that it will fit seamlessly into aspects of your digital marketing strategy. Through using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube; as well as blogging weekly. The more customers that follow you the more they will feel enriched by the value added service you are supplying them.
If you’re a small business, it might be worth reading this article by Adrienne Smith on “How Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses is Dying Fast” She explains how Facebook are changing how the advertising works and the effects this will have on small businesses. It’s certainly worth taking 5 minutes to read it whilst you’re having that second cup of tea! Click here to read more.
Google+ could have an interesting role to play in social media for 2014. Where do your customers look for your services…Google! With that in mind, having a presence on Google+ can only be beneficial in the long run. In addition Google now rank companies with Google+ pages higher in the SEO scoring. So if you already have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pin interest account, it won’t take much just to add Google+ to the list – remember you have to be in it to win it!!
What else is on the horizon for marketing in 2014?
The marketing world is expecting to see the coming together of retail and digital. Retailers will be working harder to connect the customer to the online store and offers. Alongside this they will be developing an in-store mobile connection that will put the fun back into shopping allowing customers to buy in-store or online with free home delivery.
In addition, look out for the further development of 3D printing; location based marketing; and more viral videos. Overall, 2014 is looking set for a fun year!
Time to share
Please don’t forget to share my blog with your friends and family, or share through the various social media links. I would love to hear your thoughts on my post, what you are planning for 2014? Tell me about your experience of content marketing, blogging, social media etc.
