By Alyssa Rinetti
It is no secret whatsoever that the marketing industry has evolved tremendously over the years! From pamphlets, mailing flyers, newspapers, magazines to the world-wide-web; businesses have various ways to promote their products to consumers around the world.
Technology has chosen to not stop there because, within recent years, the advent of digital marketing has been the ultimate game changer! Most of the world's companies are online these days and have carried their advertising to the online climate, as a result.
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic decided to hit internationally in 2020, the digital marketing industry was flipped on its head...
New Investments to Put Your Money Toward
The concept of "marketing" altogether may change given the recent circumstances, more so sooner than later. Instead of studying media choices and pivoting ad dollars from medium to medium, maybe the modifications that brands make from here on out are not media investments, but putting money toward the product, customer service, and the customer experience itself.
Based on this new marketing tactic, some companies may choose to invest their marketing bucks in the improvement of product distribution strategies, and their e-commerce platforms, websites, and apps!
In this case, let's take a few steps back and divert to why the customer service experience should be a primary focus when relating it to analyzing these new marketing efforts.
Customers Expect More from You - Way More
Customers are concerned solely with acquiring what they want and when they want it! To put it bluntly, they demand that nothing gets in their way.
Forming these extraordinary experiences that one will continue to utilize requires companies to place technology and data at the core of their association. This presumably means structuring some degree of machine learning and/or artificial brilliance into the mix. Why? Because data allows us to curate more suitable experiences that consumers will resonate and want to come back to time and time again!
Relationships Are Absolutely Everything
The core foundation to building relationships with customers is trust. Advertising and hype around a particular product, make a brand guarantee the usage, performance, or service of the product, and then falls lastly on the customer experience to deliver on that commitment.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 has placed new stress on these relationships. Faced with virtual sales surroundings, some teams with existing connections have been able to preserve their earnings, capitalizing on the strength of their previous bonds.
In contrast, probing for new consumers has required a grown set of talents concentrated on selling solutions, rather than products!
A Businesses Brand Should Stand Behind Great Values - Not Just Great Products
The pandemic truly questioned brand loyalty. It is estimated that up to 60% of customers, depending on one's monetary classification, were reported to become inclined to consider a white label product or switch name brands completely.
Such a dynamic correlated with rising consumer awareness and activism during the social turmoil of 2020 should make brands very concentrated on the values they express.
In point, while quality, convenience, and cost still matter to consumer choice, aspects like sustainability, trust, moral sourcing, and social accountability are increasingly crucial to how customers select their products and services.
The Art That is Marketing
Marketers are tasked with a continued combination of craft and science. One must achieve the immaculate balance of human emotions and automation to open a future of more useful analytics. Marketers must utilize data as the power tool yet respect the art of storytelling at the same time, to push meaningful human relationships!