Inbound Marketing Content 4 online marketing trends you can’t afford to ignore Nov 21st, 2014 The past few years have seen a shift towards inbound marketing techniques – creating and sharing relevant, useful content with your prospects – and this trend is set to continue… 1. A continuing shift towards inbound The past few years have seen a shift towards inbound marketing techniques – creating and sharing relevant, useful content with your prospects – and this trend is set to continue. Today’s (and tomorrow’s) consumers are too savvy to be ‘sold at’; at worst, it’s intrusive and irritating. Inbound’s the most effective marketing method for doing business online and highly cost effective compared with outbound techniques – what’s not to like? Think quality over quantity: stop blogging or posting just for the sake of it. Continue to provide real value and tangible takeaways that people want to read and share – ‘teach don’t sell’. 2. Digital marketing as more than a ‘tactic’ Create a common brand experience across every channel, whether on or offline. The focus should be on creating one smooth, integrated, end to end, customer journey rather than viewing each platform as a separate entity. This also means getting to grips with analytics and allocating resources to monitoring and regularly appraising the performance of your online marketing strategy in the same way you would measure any other marketing collateral. 3. The rise and rise of mobile data If your content isn’t mobile-friendly by now, it should be top of your to-do list. According to Tom Webster of Edison Research, “mobile serves as the unifying principle to unite offline and offline marketing”. The ubiquity of mobile devices and a shift to constant connectivity means your content needs to work effectively on all devices – this is now a necessity, not a nice-to-have. Rather than a necessary evil, you can view this as an opportunity to create inspirational mobile web experiences and apps that take full advantage of the platform. 4. Humour and humanisation The emphasis remains on building up trust and loyalty by providing relevant, authentic digital marketing experiences. Recognise the value and power of your employees as advocates for your brand and leverage this throughout every strand of your marketing strategy – they’re the ones who interact with your prospects and who add the warmth, depth and humour that customers want. Everyone knows the adage about customers telling more people about their negative experiences than happy ones – the same applies to the influence of your workforce.