Marketing

These Marketing Shifts Are Changing How Brands Do Business

May 22, 2018

5 mins

With two decades of experience under our belt, we have seen how changes in marketing trends give small and new businesses or organizations whiplash as they try to keep up.

The rise and dominance of technology has completely redefined and redesigned the landscape. The old marketing methods that were once reliable vehicles to sales and success have been traded in for more efficient, souped-up systems that integrate a whole new world of content, design, and user experience tools, leaving the old jalopy of traditional marketing puttering down the information superhighway.

The more significant changes we have observed revolve around how consumers engage in and respond to brand communication, including changes in traditional, tech, e-commerce, video, voice, design, data, and social media marketing efforts. Over the next several weeks, we hope to demystify some of these shifts with a new series that will unpack some of the more significant shifts and trends we believe are having the biggest impact on strategic and tactical outcomes in the marketing world. Here is a quick overview of what to expect from the new series:

Shifts in Video

This may be the area where we have seen the most change. Smartphone technology has made armchair directors and producers of the masses and social video is the fastest growing form of social media, with Youtube ranking as the second largest search engine. As more and more consumers grow to expect and depend on video content, how is your business or organization planning to engage with your audience? We have some ideas about that.

Shifts in Search

Alexa and Siri may be the new girls in town, but they are here to stay and plan to take their seats at the head of the class as consumers continue turning to voice search for information.

Recent reports reveal that 46% of consumers use voice search daily to find information about local businesses.

But there’s a catch—the way you optimize your content for voice search is not the same as necessary for typical typed searches. We will unpack those differences and their implications to SEO.

Shifts in Design

In Adobe’s annual survey of marketers, Adobe’s senior director of marketing said that there is a “‘creativity renaissance” occurring in the marketing world, stating that businesses and organizations who dedicate more resources to design and describe themselves as “design driven” go further to differentiate themselves from the pack and are more likely to “significantly exceed their business goals.” But to be clear—brands can’t simply expect to sit still and look pretty. Your dazzling design must first and foremost be preceded by a well-thought-out strategy, and then be interactive, dynamic, and responsive across all available platforms.

Shifts in Social Media, Particularly for Nonprofits

As we’ve said before, we work with a lot of nonprofit clients and have seen the impact social media has on their bottom lines. Online fundraising notwithstanding, nonprofits have an incredible opportunity to leverage social media audiences to expand their brand reach and influence. As these trends continue to emerge in the nonprofit world, we have some advice on how savvy nonprofits can amplify their message and stand out from the crowd.

These marketing industry shifts and trends are swift and take sharp focus to track. If you are not plugged into the research of digital trends, data, design, and user engagement/experience, you are probably feeling a bit of whiplash yourself as you try to wrap your mind around the best strategies and tools to market your business. There are major considerations to understand before investing your time and money into solutions that may (or may not) help you reach your goals. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we dive deeper into the shifts, explain what is happening, and how we can help you engage new audiences.

Cross & Crown

About Cross & Crown

Cross & Crown is a team of creatives who are passionate about solving problems through design and technology, taking what is there and making it better. Based in Chambersburg, PA, we strive to help educate, advocate, and thrive in a digital world.

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