9 Disruptive Marketing Trends for 2017 Marketers should know

As brands attempt to penetrate consumers minds with their products and solutions, we see a paradigm shift from the producer led era of advertising/marketing to a more consumer led one. The consumers will dictate which content gets viewed and shared, and they also have a bigger say in how each product is formed. We see this everyday when consumers choose one product over the other simply because of one feature or option and the other products must incorporate that feature or risk losing their market altogether. Now, the consumer is in charge and old traditional marketing will no longer work on this newer, more aware consumer persona.

1. Mobile will be the next upcoming platform for marketers and dominate every other platform

We, as people, are spending increasing amounts of time on our phone/mobile devices. As soon as the TV goes to commercials (or even during the show!) we pull out our phone and check the latest happenings on Twitter or Instagram. Brands are realizing and seeing that old school advertisements and marketing tactics are no longer working. They are slowly transitioning to pushing marketing campaigns on our phones, as we can see as ads whenever we watch a youtube or facebook video, or an ad during our spotify jam session. As devices get smarter, this will allow marketers to get a more personalized relationship with customers.

2. Transparency in business-customer relationships is mandatory in order to generate brand loyalty and successful sales

As we progress from a producer led paradigm of marketing to a more consumer led paradigm, we see brands unable to continue just pushing messages onto people and expect them to trust the brand. People now are skeptical of everything and are able to research anything thanks to increasing access to information, so trust is mandatory between a brand and a customer. The customer must wholly trust the brand and their mission in order to feel justified purchasing their product.

Customers appreciate honesty and reward the truth. Brands who err can rectify the mistake by publicly airing an apology or replying to customers who have been wronged. This ability to talk to customers on any platform allows customers to visibly “see and interact” with the brand, feeling as if the brand truly cares for them and their relationship. This in turn leads to positive brand perception and breeds brand loyalists who now fully trust the brand.

3. Content is the new currency

Brands must provide value to customers before customers will even give them the time of day. Society has progressed to “what have you done for me for me to buy your product?”. This is where content comes into play.

By providing valuable content, the brand is seen as a credible source of information and provides value to customers by offering help in certain niches.

If a brand does not push out helpful or creative content, the consumer will go to another brand who will and they will have birthed a loyal customer.

4. User-generated content will be the most disruptive marketing trend

User generated content will become more powerful than any content brands can produce. With the power to create becoming easier and easier for consumers, through various platforms such as youtube, social media, blogs, vlogging tools, consumers are able to talk about any issue and get a response from the community within hours.

With this proliferation of user generated content, it is vital that brands hold a positive perception in customers minds as consumers may post negative feedback about a product/service festering a negative brand perception which may be difficult to recover form.

5. Social networks will become a bigger ecosystem than the Internet itself

Social networks within themselves are growing day by day. Facebook has over 2 billion views monthly, Instagram at 700 million monthly users, and the other platforms not too far behind.

Brands are starting to realize that people are hanging out more on social media than any other website and are slowly transitioning their advertising and marketing efforts to the social media platforms their target markets frequent. With social media platforms gaining immense data from its users, its data analytics and insights into their users grows more powerful by the day, and this is a huge benefit to brands who wish to understand patterns in their target market and introduce products/services at the perfect time in their customer’s lifecycle.

6. Brands will act as their own multimedia

As brands grow and engage with their audiences more, they will in turn generate irrationally loyal customers. These people become brand advocates and loyalists who promote the brand through their daily normal activities.

Think about the person who waits overnight for an iPhone. He loves the iPhone so much he’s willing to wait the whole night and the whole day just to be one of the first 100 to buy the new phone. This is an example of brand loyalty generated by customer engagement.

Branding and marketing is slowly propelling towards planting a seed within a consumer’s mind and having them talk about the product for the brand. By owning a certain position as the perfect product/service for their problem, brands enjoy recurring sales. One way for brands to fully seed their target markets minds with that idea is by creating a brand community and culture with them. This then allows the customers and brand to work side-by-side, creating a meaningful relationship where the customer feels valued and wants to advocate for the brand.

7. Brands that focus on Generation Z will have an immense advantage

Gen Z is the demographic which grew up entirely with technology and a mobile smartphone since elementary school. Their ability to scope out promotional content is enhanced and brands must realize this as they shift their marketing strategy from millennials to Gen Z. They have to focus on creating content which is valuable and actually focus on something other than just selling a product/service.

These brands must mean something, and become symbolic of something in the minds of Gen Z. Gen Z is also the generation with the shortest attention span: 8 seconds. Brands have to be able to explain what content they are pushing out, why it helps Gen Z, etc in less than 8 seconds or it will not campaign well. This is because as Gen Z has grown up side by side with technology, they know that if they can’t get valuable solutions to their problems from one source, there is always a second and third and 80th source from which they can get their question answered.

8. Personalized, data-driven disruptive marketing will become the norm

Current marketing tactics involve the traditional salesman approach — interrupting people’s daily activities in order to introduce a product which brands believe is the best fit for the consumer. However, brands engaging in data driven disruptive marketing are reaping major benefits.

Personalized disruptive marketing is relationship oriented, where content is the key to a consumer’s heart. Through valuable content, customers and the brand are able to build a strong relationship and develop trust which leads to successful sales. Marketers who focus on developing relationships with their customers and building enduring trust will see more sales and a better ROI.

9. Tracking metrics will become more accurate

Traditional (hollow) metrics included impressions, Daily Effective Circulation (DEC), and recently retweets, page likes, followers, etc. As we progress through a disruptive marketing era, we will see powerful analytics tool arise, which will allow us to actually measure engagement levels with the customer, on an emotional, spiritual, and even cultural level. We will be better able to measure ROI through these newer and more specific metrics.

As brands see declining successful sales through the traditional salesman approach, they will be forced to approach marketing in a manner appropriate for their target market. Customers are in charge now and it’s time brands realize that.

By engaging with customers and developing long term relationships with them, brands are setting themselves up for long term success because customers enjoy being invited into the scene as a decision maker. This invitation prompts them to become loyalists and advocates of the brand leading to increasing sales.

source: https://blog.markgrowth.com/9-disruptive-marketing-trends-for-2017-marketers-should-know-267b796ad0a5