Now that it's 2015, brands are already preparing for the impact that consumer trends will have on their operations in the months ahead. Be it sales or customer services, the new technologies and services that consumers are embracing will change workflows for companies in a variety of ways, but none so much as marketing. Consumers are changing the way they approach their relationships with businesses and what they expect from a company.
According to the Huffington Post, there are a handful of trends that will have the most significant impact on business marketing. These trends will influence not only how businesses approach marketing, but how the relationship between brand and customer evolves and what integrity means to the consumer. Below are five of the top influencers on marketing expected to be seen in 2015:
Connectivity – Consumers are more connected than ever before with mobile devices and smart watches leading the way. This allows brands to reach out more effectively, but it also means that their marketing efforts have to be much more effective in order to reach through all the other information that consumers are accessing.
Customer recognition – Customers expect to be recognized and remembered by their favorite brands. Whether it's via targeted marketing efforts or being able to immediately pull up customer history during a support call, brands that recognize and remember their customers and act on that information will be able to enhance their relationships and induce further loyalty from consumers.
Losing trust – Many companies are also losing the trust of their customers, which affects not only their marketing success, but also sales and their reputation. Firms need to ensure they are enabling trust by focusing on the marketing methods that consumers want to see — open, ingenuous messages.
Ownership is on the outs – Fewer consumers own things. Services like ZipCar and Netflix have allowed people to enjoy content and useful belongings, such as a vehicle, without the rigors of ownership. This trend is carrying over into other markets as well, from books to IT service, and many consumers are looking for its influence in other areas of their lives. Marketing teams can leverage this for a better understanding of what their customers want and expect.
Sharing is caring – Consumers are sharing more about their personal lives than ever before. According to the news source, 46 percent of adult internet users post photos or videos online that they have created, 41 percent take photos or videos online and share them, 17 percent use Instagram and 21 percent use Pinterest. The idea of sharing content, both personal and of interest, has skyrocketed in the past few years, and it provides businesses with much more information about their customers than ever before.
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