by Elizabeth Hines | Dec 6, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
As content marketing continues to increase in popularity, here are six trends to consider when planning your 2019 strategy.
A recent article by Forbes on content marketing notes: “As recently as a few years ago, marketers handled content mostly as a side project. It was more of a bonus than an essential role — something you did when you had time because it took a backseat to more traditional marketing projects and responsibilities. That’s changed.”
Boy, has that changed. The content marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $400 billion by 2021.
The 2018 report from the Content Marketing Institute shows just how prevalent content marketing is, and how essential it has become to creating brand awareness, educating your audience, and building credibility and trust with your customers.
Supply chain & logistics marketers: Trends to watch
So, where is content marketing headed in 2019? Content marketing budgets are still on the rise, and supply chain and logistics companies are increasingly seeing the value in moving to an inbound marketing strategy driven by original content.
These are the six notable trends to consider when planning your 2019 content marketing strategy.
1. Video
Video is currently the most popular form of content being consumed online today, and video marketing will continue to have substantial value in 2019.
Smart supply chain marketers should start the new year by developing a visual storytelling strategy that offers consistent delivery of valuable content.
What’s your best bet? Be helpful and teach your audience something worthwhile to them.
2. Chatbots
The rise of chatbots – automated computer programs that simulate human conversation in messaging apps – is expected to continue in 2019. Business Insider recently reported that the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks!
[bctt tweet=”Business Insider recently reported that the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks!” username=”Fronetics”]
Chatbots are just one of the ways artificial intelligence will shape the content marketing landscape in 2019, but their ability to drastically increase customer engagement puts them on the short list for a major trend to watch in the coming year.
3. Voice search
Voice search is becoming an increasingly prevalent means of attaining information. Statistics vary, but it’s expected that anywhere between 30-50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. A recent report by NPR and Edison Research found that the rise of smart speakers is substantially changing consumer routines and purchasing behavior.
A good content marketing strategy for 2019 should consider how your customers might use voice search in your industry, and what you can do to maximize your content’s ability to respond.
4. Long-form content
I love this one, because it harkens back to humble beginnings of content marketing and the desire to put informative, quality content in front of a targeted interested audience.
Long form content – white papers, case studies, and lengthier blog posts e.g. – will have a resurgence of renewed appreciation in 2019. Why? Because many industries, including supply chain and logistics industries, are saturated with tons of mediocre short form content. People are increasingly looking to weed through it all for substantial quality posts from trusted sources. In addition, search engines will favor longer posts in results rankings.
Cheers to 2019 being the year of quality over quantity!
5. Brand ambassadors
We wrote about brand ambassadors as we headed into 2018, but they are worth mentioning again as we look forward to 2019. Brand ambassadors are employees that influence the B2B buying decisions of others, and they are an often-overlooked resource with more traditional marketing tactics.
Peers and colleagues are the third most influential source of information for business to business (B2B) purchasing, right behind online searches and your website! And there’s nothing more credible than a friend who speaks highly of their company’s product or service.
Definitely consider how you can help make brand ambassadors out of your employees in 2019.
6. Market Influencers
The final trend to watch in 2019 is influencer marketing, a form of marketing which focuses on influential people rather than the market as a whole.
Basically, marketers identify individuals who might have influence over potential buyers and create marketing campaigns and activities around these influencers. In many ways, this works similarly to a brand ambassador, where a single person influences their network of friends; in this case, however, the market influencer has a large network and a lot of “friends” who listen.
Influencer marketing will be a huge trend in marketing for 2019, and it would be worth considering who might be an influencer in your industry in the coming year and what your company might do reach them.
So, there you have it. As we head into 2019, these are the trends to watch and plan for in content marketing space.
The B2B buying climate is growing longer and more complex, and content marketing is so effective throughout the entire sales cycle if it’s done well. The end of the year is a great time to revisit your marketing strategy and make any necessary changes for the coming year.
Best wishes in the year ahead!
This post originally appeared on EBN Online.
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by Fronetics | Nov 26, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Here’s how content can help support sales during the seven stages of the sales cycle, including personalization and building last relationships.
The sales process is often an uphill journey with lots of unexpected bumps along the way. Sales teams are all too familiar with these obstacles, but they don’t have to face these challenges alone.
Arm your sales rep with content to educate prospects during specific points in the purchasing process, and it will build his or her reputation as a knowledge source. That can be the difference in getting a foot in the door, advancing through the final stages of a purchasers’ decision, or closing a deal.
[bctt tweet=”Sales and marketing can work together to create a better understanding of the buyer’s journey, make updates on buyers insights, and brainstorm solutions to bottlenecks in the sales funnel.” username=”Fronetics”]
Strong communication between sales and marketing can help achieve big-picture goals when it comes to creating content. These teams can work together to create a better understanding of the buyer’s journey, make updates on buyers insights, and brainstorm solutions to bottlenecks in the sales funnel.
You need to take a close look at your sales process and be strategic about the times when content would be helpful — as well as the types of content that will successfully assist sales reps in educating and informing prospects. Here’s how content can support sales in each of the 7 stages in the sales cycle:
Video: 7 Stages in the Sales Cycle Content Can Help
Takeaway
Don’t forget how important it is for sales teams to be armed with informative, relevant content to support the sales cycle. It’s not enough to just produce content, sales teams need to be ready to provide this content to potential customers at every point of contact.
Want help identifying what content your supply chain and logistics company can provide to your sales team? Let us help.
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by Fronetics | Nov 12, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Social platforms create an opportunity to connect with prospects but only if your efforts align with customer preferences. Here’s how brands can focus on creating content that customers actually want.
In 2018 social media platforms have made a concerted effort to keep their platforms, well, social. User experience is the top priority, and many brands and businesses feel like they’ve been pushed to the back burner.
Businesses aiming to increase brand awareness must think long-term when it comes to social media. Social media marketers need to engage with users, not simply disrupt the user’s experience. This means that content shared by a brand needs to be relevant, useful, and let’s face it, visually engaging.
The overlap between brands and users
In the 2018 Social Sprout Index, researchers found that 61% of marketers create posts that teach readers something. But that’s not all, 59% of consumers reported wanting to read posts that teach something. The connection is obvious.
[bctt tweet=”In the 2018 Social Sprout Index, researchers found that 61% of marketers create posts that teach readers something. But that’s not all, 59% of consumers reported wanting to read posts that teach something. The connection is obvious.” username=”Fronetics”]
Businesses looking to increase user engagement on social platforms need to focus on providing users with what they want. Users want you to teach them. So, showcase why your brand is a leader in your industry or highlight how your products or services can be the solution to a problem.
Most social media users are still using platforms to connect with friends and family, so it’s imperative for businesses to focus on authentic engagement. This can only be accomplished by connecting readers to useful and informative information.
“The most enlightened social marketing strategy integrates awareness and consideration stage content — opening the door with entertainment and inspiration, then carrying audiences across the threshold with education, information about new product offerings and discounts and sales.” Social Sprout Index 2018
And while 80% of marketers report increasing brand awareness as their primary social media goal, it’s not always easy to know how to get started creating relevant content that will resonate with users. Here is Kettie Laky, Social Media Director, to explain how businesses can be helpful to users on social platforms.
Video: How businesses can be helpful on social platforms
Takeaway: Focus on what’s important
It’s time for marketers to stop wasting time and resources on content that doesn’t resonate with users. Aligning priorities between what users want and what marketers are producing is key to creating long-lasting relationships with prospects. Brands who are actually helpful, not intrusive, will reap the benefits of their hard work.
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by Fronetics | Oct 29, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
What’s more important: prioritizing conversions or building traffic? The simple answer is both. Here’s why you need to balance your efforts for the best results.
The argument for building traffic or optimizing for conversions has no end. Like we stated in our earlier post, it’s a chicken-and-egg style debate. If you don’t optimize for conversions, what is the point of directing traffic to your site? On the flip side, if you don’t build traffic, who is visiting (and converting) on your site?
The problem is countless variables affect which of these goals you prioritize and when. Determining what you should be investing more energy into is dependent on your business, your strategy, and your target audience. Make sure you’re considering all factors when determining what makes the most sense for your brand and its online presence.
Why focus on conversions?
There are three main arguments for prioritizing conversion optimization:
- Low investment, high yield: The return on investment is significant, especially given the low cost of entry and easy process.
- Traffic optimization: while you may not increase traffic, by focusing on conversions you can increase the value of visitors to your website.
- Reinvestment potential: conversions will help generate funds to reinvest in your marketing effort.
All of these arguments focus on quality over quantity. By prioritizing conversions, every visitor becomes more valuable. Even with lower numbers of visitors to your website, if your conversion rates are high, you still realize a substantial return on your investment. The low cost of conversion optimization also makes it easy to implement without breaking the bank. We’ve even done some of the work for you, giving you tips when creating your landing pages.
Why focus on building traffic?
If you aren’t getting visitors to your website, there’s no point in worrying about conversions, right? But that’s not the only reason building traffic should be a priority. A few benefits of focusing on traffic include:
- Brand recognition: visitors will become familiar with your brand and content
- Momentum: concentrating on traffic is a long-term strategy and committing to the long-term gives your marketing efforts time to build momentum.
- Optimizing for value: there are a lot of metrics affiliated with building traffic, this allows you to collect and analyze data to see how you’re doing and to constantly improve.
By increasing traffic to your website and familiarizing new audiences with your brand, you have more opportunities to generate leads and those leads can turn into sales.
Why balance is the answer
[bctt tweet=”The most important thing to remember is that your content marketing strategy is a work in progress that is continually being tweaked. You’ll need to spend time and money prioritizing both building traffic and optimizing for conversions. ” username=”Fronetics”]
The most important thing to remember is that your content marketing strategy is a work in progress that is continually being tweaked. You’ll need to spend time and money prioritizing both building traffic and optimizing for conversions. Here’s Jennifer Hart Yim, Director of Strategy at Fronetics, to explain why we think you need to focus on both to maximize your efforts.
Video: Focus on Conversions or Building Traffic First?
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by Fronetics | Oct 8, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Social media’s ability to exponentially grow brand awareness and introduce your content to unseen audiences can’t always be measured in dollars.
One of the hardest parts about implementing a social media strategy is struggling to measure its success. While most B2B marketing professionals agree that a social media presence is crucial to any content marketing strategy, it can be hard to justify the investment when you can’t quantify the results.
“Social media is not just a spoke on the wheel of marketing. It’s becoming the way entire bicycles are built,” says Ryan Lilly, author.
This doesn’t mean that your business shouldn’t be diving — head first — into social media. With over 3.1 billion people using social media, businesses have to recognize the importance of social media as a part of a robust marketing strategy.
[bctt tweet=” With over 3.1 billion people using social media, businesses have to recognize the importance of social media as a part of a robust marketing strategy.” username=”Fronetics”]
Marketers need to start thinking about social media success in terms of potential, instead of immediate dollars.
Social media: the reach
One of the most valuable aspects of social media is the ability to engage with new audiences, all the time. That means you not only have access to a new customer base, but to their connections as well.
When your followers engage with your brand on social media, they also engage with their own personal network. This organic reach is one of the most beneficial aspects of social media — and it’s not easy to put a dollar amount on. The potential to nurture leads and ultimately impact sales are huge, but it won’t happen overnight.
Here’s Kettie Laky, Social Media Director at Fronetics, to share why you need to frame social media success in terms of potential, and not just dollars.
Video: Measure social media success in terms of potential, not just dollars.
It’s time we start thinking about social media success in this new way: in terms of potential and expanding value, rather than just immediate dollar amounts. How have you worked to measure the success of your social media strategy?
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