The rise of social media has opened new avenues for businesses, making it easier to reach customers on a personal level. However, along with all its benefits comes increased competition and scams or false information that can be hard to spot.
Businesses now need many strategies to stay ahead of their competitors while staying true to themselves. There are other ways technology shapes how companies market themselves—from personalized adverts on phones and tablets, through online reviews and rating systems, right down to chatbots that can help answer customer queries in real time.
It can be hard to keep up with all the changes in marketing technology, but ignoring even one of these trends could mean falling behind your competitors. So here are five key marketing tech trends that you should pay attention to.
Data Analytics
Data analytics is the process of examining data collected to understand patterns, relationships, and anomalies to make better business decisions. The data may be in the form of numbers or text.
Data analytics is used for many purposes. For example, it can improve decision-making by exploring the drivers behind customer behavior and how much change should be implemented in response to that behavior. It also helps monitor fraud detection, marketing attribution modeling, fraud prevention, market segmentation, and customer relationship management.
Many tools can help with data analytics tasks. For example, descriptive statistics can be accessed through Excel, including calculating mean, median, and mode. Inferential statistics are often calculated using SPSS. It can be tested whether two variables are related and see if the relationship is significant. For example, does one variable increase when another increases? If so, it may be a strong correlation.
Advanced analytics tools include machine learning and deep learning. This refers to the development of computer programs that help make predictions using algorithms that evolve based on data such as customer behavior patterns or transactions records.
Marketing automation (MA) enables organizations to implement efficient, effective marketing workflows and processes. It has been shown that MA systems will generate up to 41 times return on investment for companies with an already existing marketing team.
Social Media Optimization
With so many people using social media, it’s no surprise that businesses are increasingly turning to social media as a way to reach out to customers. A study by Sprout Social found that 92% of small businesses use social media for marketing.
But simply having a social media account isn’t enough. You need to make sure you’re using it effectively. This means using the right mix of content, scheduling posts, so they don’t go out at awkward times, responding to customer questions or complaints, and measuring how effective your social media marketing efforts are.
Personalization
Personalization is one of the biggest trends in marketing right now. This means tailoring your promotional messages to appeal to individuals rather than using a single message for everyone. It can be done through techniques like personalized email subject lines or ads on social media that show different products based on previous behavior, such as pages people have liked or products they’ve already bought.
You must also customize your website. If you own an insurance agency, you can show different products to different people based on their location, age, or other interests with a responsive insurance website design.
Customers appreciate this personal touch, and it has been shown to increase click-through rates by more than 300% compared with sending generic messages, according to Adobe. However, personalization can be tricky to get right. It can come across as creepy or spammy if you get it wrong.
Mobile Marketing
With more and more people using their smartphones to access the internet, it’s no surprise that businesses are increasingly turning to mobile marketing to reach their customers. This can involve anything from creating a mobile-friendly website or using SMS or push notifications to send promotional messages to developing apps for your business. The important thing is to make sure your website and content are optimized for mobile devices, as this is where most people now do their browsing.
Chatbots
Chatbots are computer programs that can mimic human conversation, and they’re becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to interact with customers. Not only can they answer simple questions or provide information, but they’re also suitable for carrying out customer service tasks that would previously have required a human representative. This frees up employees who can focus on higher-value work while the chatbots take care of the simpler things.
Also, since they run in real time, chatbots can give customers what they need immediately—something that wouldn’t be possible with human representatives who generally have to wait until someone is available before responding.
Plus, chatbots are cost-effective because they don’t require paying salaries or benefits to humans who aren’t working at the moment. However, they are not yet infallible, so you will still want to have humans on hand to deal with more complex queries.
These are just a few of the key marketing tech trends you should know. Keep an eye on them and make sure you’re using them to your advantage, and you’ll be well on your way to success in the digital age.
