Have You Future-Proofed Your Marketing Strategy?
The marketing landscape is ever-evolving, perhaps more now than it ever has before. The strategies you put in place to engage and convert consumers even earlier this year are unlikely to yield the same results now. And it definitely won’t work next year.
With marketing tools and consumer expectations constantly changing, marketing teams must be ready to adapt and transform their offerings at a moment’s notice. However, don’t get swept away in the sea of change. When companies get lost in the craziness and struggle to readjust their marketing strategies, that’s the reason for failed initiatives.
But that’s not to say that adapting to change means you’re constantly treading water. Instead, companies would do well to plan and prepare for change as much as possible. This helps future-proof your business and leads to successful marketing efforts. And happy customers is what leads to a happy business.
If you need to future-proof your marketing strategy, here are some tips to follow.
Focus on why something works
If you had an ad that ran particularly well, or a social post that received record-breaking engagement, it may be tempting to make those initiatives a permanent part of your marketing handbook. However, as previously mentioned, what made those tactics successful isn’t going to hold up over time.
Marketers should focus less on what works, and instead on why it worked. When we become too wrapped up in what has worked for us in the past, it limits our potential to evolve as things change — and this can be extremely frustrating. This is why understanding the ‘why’ behind an effective campaign is so important. ‘What’ is restrictive and only relevant to that moment’s context, while ‘why’ is like a map that can help us plan out future initiatives.
Take FAQ pages versus chatbots, for example. Introducing technology that delivers fast, in-depth knowledge to consumers is now a must in the world of marketing. It’s not that your customers want chatbots over FAQ pages, it’s that they want instantaneous, user-friendly ways to discover information. And knowing that why shows you that it’s not only about chatbots, but rather the technology to look out for once chatbots become a thing of the past.
Let data drive your initiatives
Don’t let your gut be the sole driver of your marketing strategy. If you want to truly future-proof your company, you must let data influence everything you do. Data provides you with critical insight into your audience that cannot be obtained by any other means — and this data doesn’t lie.
If you build a marketing strategy on the back of data, it’s going to be pretty hard to fail. But just like the point above, you have to keep collecting and analyzing this data. Because as consumers change and marketing tools change, so will the information you gather about them.
Always diversify
Multichannel, or omnichannel, marketing is important to the success of your business. When thinking ahead to the future of your company, it’s essential to continue to actively seek out new channels that could benefit your marketing efforts. This diversification will allow you to reach new audiences, so long as your marketing team understands how to effectively build your brand on each new channel.
By following these tips, you can future-proof your marketing strategies, while also future-proofing the success of your business as well. Because, as you know, the two go hand-in-hand.