When developing a marketing strategy, it’s easy to fall into old patterns. Tactics you have used before. Media you like and consume yourself. But it’s important to take a step back and think about what media your consumer is using today and, just as important, what are they going to be using tomorrow. It’s not just young people, for example, who are living online.
Did you know, according to a recent study, moms in 2017 spend twice as much time with the Internet as they do with radio? Everything in media is evolving. In the last week alone, Google has announced more than ten changes to its offerings.
So what is the big news today? Here is what we are talking about:
- Attribution: For years we have battled one of the most prominent topics in marketing. How can we prove a campaign’s influence far beyond the ad that has the last touch in a customer’s sale cycle? Every client knows that it takes much more than just one Facebook ad to change a customers behavior, but how influential are all the pieces of a media plan? Today, we are closer than ever to solving that problem.
- Data-Driven TV: One of the flaws we face with TV is there is often a large amount of waste when execute a television strategy, especially when you look at reaching young adults. Today, companies like Google Fiber are making it easier to reach an individual based on a myriad of qualifications, similarly to how we implement a digital campaign. No longer is it acceptable to reach every person in a neighborhood with the same ad when they are all varying ages, different ethnicities, and have a plethora of interests.
- Walk-In Verification: Tracing a consumer’s interaction with a digital ad to an online transaction takes some effort, but it can be done. However, what happens when you run a campaign where the entire goal is to drive someone to a bricks and mortar location? In the past, that type of ROI analysis was not realistic. But the great news is that today we are testing out new platforms that allow us to show a client exactly how many people are exposed to an ad campaign, and how many of those physically walked through the door of their establishment. This technology will continue to evolve, making it much easier to connect the dots from ad spend to customer purchase.
The easiest way to stay in front of those trends is to engage someone whose job it is to monitor and learn about new tech and how it impacts consumer behaviors. Here at Kazoo, that’s a big part of our ongoing professional development. But, there are ways for you to keep informed as well. Subscribing to industry blogs and newsletters, following influencers across social media, or networking with marketing groups and associations are sure to expose you to a fair amount of new ideas.
The bottom line is if you don’t get in front of your consumer as their media consumption habits change, your competition surely will. This could leave your customer thinking you are out of touch, which almost never leads to long-term growth.
