The last decade has upended how marketing gets done.
From direct mail to email newsletters, from commercials to content, from telemarketing to social media, the shift from mainly traditional marketing to more digital channels has completely changed how companies make a connection with target markets.
The next decade may be no different.
As 2020 keeps rolling, there are trends emerging that will again offer new ways to engage with leads, so that customers feel more confident in their buying decisions. Here are two of the trends shaping how consumers learn about companies and their products:
Innovative technologies in automation are broadly associated with production, but look for new options available for automating your marketing processes.
Marketing automation not only replaces manual marketing tasks, but also consolidates the activities of disparate platforms. For instance, it may combine the insights from customer relationship management (CRM) software with email automation and social media planning to create a cohesive and consistent campaign that follows a contact through the buying cycle.
There are some clear advantages to utilizing marketing automation. It provides efficiency and cost savings benefits to enterprises, while also streamlining the lead generation and nurturing phases of the customer journey.
Automation also comes with a few potential drawbacks if you don’t have a strategy.
First, it’s not a quick flip-of-the-switch kind of technology implementation. It requires time and a strategic approach to implement it properly.
Second, with any automation there’s a risk that your audience will detect a trace of inauthenticity to your communications, which may be reason enough for them to opt to buy with your competitor. You have to be intentional about the content you are creating to avoid this.
As cyber security concerns loom large in the mind of every digital marketer, blockchain provides the promise of reassurance, along with potential for new marketing opportunities.
Blockchain contains cryptocurrencies in a decentralized ledger, making it impossible to modify the transaction. Its original application is for protecting data in transactions, but it has marketing professionals examining how it might be used to create new tracking and data applications to create highly personalized and unique customer experiences.
Blockchain may also play an important role as consumers claim more control over when, how, and where their information is used. Blockchain offers new levels of transparency, as well as clear tracking information about how data is accessed.
If you are considering marketing automation or wondering how new marketing tools may introduce new benefits to your efforts to connect with your target market, contact us at DirectMail.io for more information.