First quarter is a buzz with activity showcasing a myriad of products within a variety of media vehicles. Just recall this past Super Bowl, with its deluge of brands that advertised within it.
However, marketers sitting in boardrooms across America are trying to figure out how to tackle their next conundrum—which trends would have the most impact on their business objectives. Many small business owners take their cues from the larger advertisers to discern some of the best practices and trends to mimic. Here’s a few that are top of mind for many marketers:
- Creating the best experience for consumers that are relevant and organic to the environments most frequent
- Personalization of messages to consumer segments and sub-segments to gain the most impact
- Social engagement strategies that can be quantified to drive business objectives
- Optimizing consumer content in real time
Since the most valuable approach to solving many marketing problems today involves data-heavy analytics, many businesses are typically ill equipped to manage the process let alone having the proper staffing to make sense of such data. Plus, one must factor in the infrastructure needed to accomplish the task at hand.
Just pick a news source and the hot topic is how businesses are speaking about re-organization of staff and developing creative workflow processes. In this digital age, there must be cross-team collaboration to ensure optimal customer experience and customer retention. Even customer billing has an important role to play in the customer experience. These team members need a clear line of sight on customer goals just as much as those in marketing or sales. After all, it would be counterproductive if marketing brings in the business and customer billing loses it.
As you continue to review your communication plans, make sure you test and review what works and what didn’t. Even in failure, valuable insights can be gleaned to help develop a better plan for the next occasion. Invest in the necessary resources (technology, people, etc.) and make certain your business motto places the consumer first.
Adele Lassere is a marketing/advertising consultant with 20+ years experience, freelance writer and author of “Elements of Buying” (a self-help advertising guide), available at Amazon.com. Adele was listed as Black Enterprise’s 2011 Top Execs in Marketing & Advertising and Black Enterprise’s 2013 Top Women Executives in Advertising & Marketing. Contact: [email protected]
