Chinese New Year falls on Friday February 16 this year and we leave the rooster and move into the year of the dog. But alongside this traditional celebration, the Chinese calendar is now filling up with new events that are designed to entice consumers into shopping and spending. Elspeth Cheung identifies the best digital & events marketing strategies for festivals new and old.
For brands aiming to target consumers via social media, the tone they use for their message is vital. Fresh research is explored here by Andrew Watts, who discusses content marketing methods and shows which social media sales triggers work best – and why.
Victoria Greene says voice assistants and chatbots are much more than just the latest gadgets, they are changing the way we consume – and that’s an issue those who are currently evaluating their e-commerce strategy need to be aware of especially. Here, she takes a look at the latest trends affecting those who are selling online and offers her own strategies for success in the year ahead.
Sweet and charming or cheesy and sickly – whatever your view of Valentine’s Day and the hype surrounding it, many businesses do well to leverage events marketing tactics and make the most of the first of the year’s gifting events. Valentines data shows what couples are likely to be spending their money on in 2018:
Are marketers equipped and resourced to deal with major challenges ahead? How will the marketing landscape pan out this year? What’s at the top of a marketer’s wishlist for 2018? What did they get right last year and can build on in the months ahead? Robert Howells checks out the major annual research report from Winterberry (hindsight and predictions) and compares it with comments from Marketo’s community of marketing practitioners. Here’s what he found:
In this digital age, modern buyers have often already made their decision before they reach the salesperson. How do companies stay ahead of that trend? Marketers will need to be more involved post-sale, AI-powered solutions must gain traction, marketing content should improve and the traditional B2B salesperson must change, says Andy MacMillan – citing this year as the tipping point in the digitisation of B2B customer relationships.
Zheng Zhang explores the evolution of the ad tech ecosystem and outlines key features of this programmatic era. He highlights the challenges many advertisers currently face when aiming to achieve secure and efficient ‘easy advertising’ and advises that specific, emerging technologies can be leveraged, to advance solutions and diversify the user experience in a highly saturated market.
Digital innovation has led to countless changes in our modern world but, sometimes, accepting the challenge of change can be difficult. Authors Alison and Scott Stratten warn entrepreneurs and marketers not to be over-enthusiastic when it comes to harnessing the latest technology, because not everyone is quite ready to wholeheartedly embrace this ‘age of disruption’. The Strattens’ message is to look before you leap: analyse your data carefully, focus on loyalty and know your market first.
Marketing automation is being used increasingly to allow the social media team to focus on the quality of the marketing creative, targeted at the right audience, says Jeremy Wood, who champions end-to-end management as the ideal social ladder to reach the dizzy heights of customer engagement and insight.
If you are thinking of starting up on your own, here’s the advice you need for start-up success. Four sages – their fingers firmly on the pulse of the business world – share with us their thoughts on key things to bear in mind in order to successfully build and grow a business this year.