Top 5 Marketing Tips You Can’t Ignore in 2019

Have you planned your marketing efforts for 2019 yet? Freshen up your strategy and give your brand visibility a leg up with these tips:

1. Turn Data Into Results

With a lot of buzz around automation lately, one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is to personalize your marketing content. Data analytics tools are essential to your organization’s marketing budget and can be used to predict customer behavior, maximize programmatic advertising, and ultimately spell R-O-I. Data can tell you how customers find your website, what they find most helpful, and how they communicate – all information you can use to deliver custom content that caters to their needs. The more you use data-driven personalization to tailor content to your audience, the more your audience sticks around for what you have to say. FinancesOnline is a great resource on the top analytics tools on the market and how to use them to your advantage.

2. Build a Culture of Storytelling

Because most consumers remember stories as opposed to facts, storytelling is one of your easiest tools to earn and build trust in your brand. Good content marketing can transform your brand’s thought-leadership and convert in ways traditional methods can’t. It’s the perfect way to get people bonding with your brand on an emotional level, which is proven to be three times more effective as advertising that doesn’t pull at customers’ heartstrings. But what makes for a compelling story?

• Be authentic: Authenticity is still the reigning champ. Want to tell a great story? Tell it in your unique voice. Be genuine, showcase your brand’s heart and personality, maybe even allow yourself to get silly or vulnerable. Many businesses assume they have to choose between being authentic and being professional, but some of the most successful brands are those that master the balance between the two. Try weaving storytelling into your company culture by planning regular meetings with your team to gather ideas and images for future content, then post them to your website, social accounts, or include in your next newsletter.

• Don’t forget conflict: You already know the most basic components of a good story: hero, conflict, resolution. But many businesses gloss over the most important part: the conflict. Sharing some of the obstacles or challenges your organization had to face and overcome along the way can make for a more compelling story and create opportunities for consumers to bond with your brand on an emotional level, turning them into advocates.

• Be helpful: With an estimated 30% of all Internet users expected to be using ad blockers this year, your traditional ads may not even reach nearly a third of your target audience. That means you’ve got to get creative by delivering more of what your customer REALLY wants: value. By being helpful in your advertising, you add value for your customer while ensuring your message doesn’t get tuned out.

If you can balance these three things and regularly incorporate them into your content, you’ll boost conversion power with newcomers and increase loyalty among your brand’s existing consumers.

3. Video Killed the Newspaper Star.

You already know this one. Here’s a staggering statistic: Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.

What’s more, video will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic this year. Bonus: 15% of that is estimated to be cat-related. What this means for you, apart from the fact that you probably ought to be recording every mildly amusing thing Snickers does, is that video is unmatched when it comes to engaging your audience.

And a video doesn’t need to be lengthy or directed by Scorsese to make an impact. A well-organized, memorable video has the power to make lasting connections in as few as fifteen seconds. Plus, as opposed to its cousin the 30-second spot, short-form video is well suited to an evolving attention span, and can accommodate more modest budgets without compromising results.

4. Experience is Everything

Don’t underestimate the power of FOMO. A sure-fire way to build consumer relationships with your brand is to create value-added experiences. Consider going live on Facebook at a conference or outreach event, starting a behind-the-scenes series on social media, or offering an exclusive inside look at your organization in a blog post. Once followers begin connecting with your message on an experiential level, they psychologically feel more included in your story and are more likely to participate in it, share it, and start talking about it. And, since customers are still 3 times more likely to believe other customers than the brand itself, you might find the result surprisingly effective.

5. Meet Your Customers Where They Are

… by producing content that is portable. Audio, that is. Audio enables consumers to listen to you at the gym, in the car, or on a walk at lunch. It’s a unique way to deliver long-form content while adding value and convenience for your customer. By creating a more intimate experience for the listener, you’re building their emotional connection with your brand. Try starting a regular podcast series and uploading it to your website. You don’t need to be Ira Glass or have a journalism degree to do it, and you might just catch yourself having fun in the process!

That’s our starter kit for a great 2019 – time to hit the ground running!