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5 Marketing Trends Your Business Hasn’t Used (and It Shows)

There’s knowing about marketing trends—and then there’s, well, knowing. It’s one thing to know about the latest online marketing trends. It’s another to USE those marketing trends to draft a marketing plan that connects with a target audience and yields, ultimately, more customers and sales.

If small businesses aren’t incorporating those marketing trends, they are falling behind their competition. They aren’t getting found online by local users or converting them to customers. They aren’t earning as many sales as they could.

But this article isn’t about blame. It’s about bringing local businesses up-to-date on trends that bring a solid return-on-investment.

Voice Search

Voice search is not a new marketing trend, but it’s one that’s not slowing down anytime soon. With the rise of voice search comes opportunity, and unfortunately many businesses are missing out on capitalizing on this consumer behavior.

So how can businesses “cash in” on this rising opportunity? The answer isn’t a simple singular application, but it should be reflected in the tone and structure of future online marketing projects. Every digital marketing project should be structured for search engines and consumer browsing. Marketing channels should have fast upload speeds and a conversational tone with phrases used by visitors.

Videos

Videos are also a marketing trend that’s not going anywhere—and small businesses need to make this a regular part of their marketing efforts. The good news is that producing a marketing video doesn’t require as much effort as it used to, thanks to easy-to-use video editors and high-quality mobile devices.

The list of ideas for marketing videos is long. Small businesses can produce videos with tips, product and service demos, or about customer experiences. For live videos, businesses can record behind-the-scenes footage or give insight into a unique part of the business. Videos should be promoted as part of a strategic marketing plan.

Optimized Content

Customer search intent should be the core of every piece of digital content produced, and marketing trends suggest the production process should go a step further. In addition to utilizing a conversational tone for voice search, content should also be crafted specifically for the target audience. In the past this meant incorporating keywords (and this is still an important content marketing practice), but the effort should also utilize recent search trends.

If the process sounds incredibly complicated, it’s time to bring in the experts to combine all the essential elements into content drafted specifically for the target audience. The online world has become incredibly crowded, and utilizing the latest information (directly from the source or from marketing professionals) gives businesses an edge over the competition.

Online Customer Experience

In the past, business’ online customer experience has been incredibly one-sided. It’s time for businesses to create an online presence that focuses on the customer. Statistics have repeatedly shown that customers turn to businesses that not only solve their problems, but make it a positive experience.

In practical terms, this means that every aspect of the experience should be easy-to-use. It should be easy to find information, easy to contact the business, easy to communicate with the business, and easy to buy. The whole process should be focused on the customer, and should involve many staff members. Small businesses need to be prepared to provide prompt customer service on a channel that the customer prefers.

Automation

Automation is making the whole marketing process more efficient, giving businesses the keys to get more from every minute of their marketing efforts. This process can make getting online reviews easier for businesses, especially with systems that can monitor online reviews and give customers more chances to leave positive reviews. This automated system is definitely worth the effort; statistics have repeatedly proven that customers are basing their purchases off of positive reviews left by other customers. Review automation is only one marketing solution; the future of automation is looking bright for businesses willing to embrace these marketing trends.

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