I know that half of my advertising is money thrown away. I just don't know which half. Henry Ford
Every year... budget planning is pending. Marketing managers and decision makers are wondering whether they should continue to rely on the old, well-known measures, or whether, against the backdrop of rapid digital development, they should increasingly test and establish new channels? Particularly sustainable companies that rely on green marketing should take the most important trends under the luoe more closely
The end of loyalty
As an entrepreneur, strategist and founder, you fight every day to attract the attention of your customers. However, you know from your own experience that this attention is a scarce valuable asset. There are simply too many advertising messages pouring down on us and, like most people, we are fighting to protect our privacy and only consume relevant information. In this context, relevance means that a product or service helps me “my” goals to reach or “my” wishes to fulfill.
When you're thinking about marketing your brand, you should always ask yourself an important question. “Can this type of marketing really be relevant and important for my customer? Can my marketing help my customer”
The entry barrier to creating web-based content is now almost zero. Every smartphone user is a potential publisher. Over the last few years, this has led to an explosion of arbitrary content. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to get our product through to the customer.
- Ads are sorted out by ad blockers
- The opening rates of our email newsletters are falling while the prices for Adwords and paid advertising are rising at the same time.
- Many people feel overwhelmed by the flood of information and generally block advertising
In order to reach our customers, we must adapt to the circumstances. We are forced to act and be relevant.
Advertisement sucks
First, ask yourself whether your communication really offers added value to your target customers. Do you offer a real solution to a customer problem, or do you just want to “stay in touch” or increase your level of awareness. From the point of view of your customers, it is important to block irrelevant attention thieves and pursue your own problems and goals. Everything else is consistently hidden
What is important for green marketing
After a lot of budget has been redirected from Google towards Facebook in recent years, there are some new features that you should keep an eye on. Today we are presenting our 5 favorites.
Marketing along the customer journey.
The term “customer journey” probably has a good chance of getting the title of the buzzword. During the relevant marketing conferences, hardly any speaker could do without this term. The word describes a simple fact. Visitors to a website are not the same but are at different stages of their specific customer journey. For example, there are “cold” first-time visitors and “warm” prospects who already know your product or service. However, you have the greatest chances of success with “hot” regular customers who have already bought your product. Did you know that a very low percentage of visitors to your website (approx. 8%) are responsible for 90% of your sales. That is exactly why you should tailor your marketing measures specifically to the different customer needs of this trip.
Storytelling for sustainable brands
When it comes to talking about your business, many sustainable entrepreneurs are so close to their own business that they don't know where to start. Good storytelling helps people tell their story in a way that potential customers also listen. We all know how difficult it is to communicate clearly and easily. If you simplify your company statement, your website will work better, your team will find it easier to sell your products and, in the best case, your story will spread.
Audio instead of interruption
Siri, Alexa or Cortana, voice interaction is one of the big topics of the future. But it is not only active voice use that is on the rise, podcasts are also experiencing an upsurge. But what distinguishes podcasts (audio content) from written word or video content. The big difference lies in a simple fact that audio content can be consumed passively. While driving or doing any other activity, it is pleasant and easy to follow well-made audio content (that's why radio is still so successful) Video and/or written content, on the other hand, requires our total concentration and therefore our valuable time. Think about whether they can create audio content specific to your business that can be helpful and valuable for your customers. The technical implementation has become very easy and availability has increased massively due to the intensive use of smartphones.
Brand as a media house
A good product alone is usually not enough. Our target customers must know that we exist. That is why we need the attention of our target customers. Since far too many brands and products are vying for our attention, it is usually not the brand that delivers the best product that wins, but the one that is most successful in gaining this attention. The recipe for success is therefore: Good product + ability to attract attention = success
That's why we need to understand what our customers are really interested in. (Sustainable brands have a big advantage here because so many people are interested in green topics and sustainability.)
We should create our content based on these interests. (Many companies don't understand this simple fact. You assume that consumers are interested in the brand) Based on the interests of customers, she should create content and distribute it via various channels (media). Media houses have become very successful in creating and distributing content (content) over many years. The tools used by media professionals to create this content have become affordable for everyone in recent years. From a television studio, to a radio station or to a publisher. All of these channels are now available to everyone via smartphones and computers.
Chatbots and marketing via messengers
When we think about attention, we should also look at where our users spend their time (and therefore their attention). In digital times, these preferences change very frequently. Until a few years ago, email was the dominant channel. This was followed by social media platforms such as Facebook. If you look around any subway today, you'll notice it. People spend a great deal of time in so-called messenger apps such as Whats app or Facebook Messenger. Against this background, emails have become more of a secondary issue. Responding takes significantly longer and is much more complex than fast 1-to-1 communication. If you're wondering how you can add Messenger to your marketing mix, you should take a look at Wechat from China. The popular messenger service anticipates our future and allows users to shop directly via Messenger, reserve restaurants and much more. In this article, you can download an overview of how to use Wechat. So-called chatbots are another phenomenon. With the advent of AI systems (artificial intelligence), these text-based dialogue systems are becoming more and more powerful. The assignments as a help desk and service bot are particularly promising. If you are now wondering whether this is not a long way off, you should check out the free Chatbot named Kit look at. Kit is available free of charge to operators of Shopify e-commerce stores. As a virtual employee, Kit connects to various areas of your online shop and recommends measures to you via messenger that should generate sales for you. Kit creates Facebook ads and fixes broken links, recommends and creates Facebook updates when a customer leaves a positive review
Regardless of what measures you are planning for the coming year, keep an eye on your customers and their wishes. Only then will your message get through and be successful.
