The Biggest Trends in Marketing Right Now

Ever since the emergence of the Internet and smart devices, the marketing and advertising field has increasingly morphed into a digital industry. Today, marketers have access to myriad consumer touch points such as websites, social media, blog posts, online videos, texts and other available marketing channels. Additionally, modern marketers can refine their practices by leveraging powerful big data systems.

Contemporary marketers know that remaining competitive has nothing to do with keeping up, and everything to do with staying ahead of the pack. Resultantly, they create engaging content that maximizes returns while consistently developing new and innovative ways to capture consumer attention.

Influencer Marketing and Celebrity Ambassadors

In the modern marketplace, corporate-athlete partnerships are revenue and influence game changers. Collaborations, such as the partnership between Adidas and Olympic great Lionel Messi, for instance, have created global movements that inspire fans as well as athletes.

Puma’s Faster Forever collaboration with Usain Bolt was another powerful and influential marketing campaign supported by Olympic celebrity endorsement. The campaign recognized well-known celebrities as individuals and stellar athletes. Another partnership between Nike and LeBron James generated $340 million in revenue in 2014.

Since Michael Jordan’s 1984 Nike deal, the professional marriage between athletes and corporations has proven increasingly lucrative. These kinds of high-profile partnerships create brand revenue and recognition and create a market for new consumer products, as well as a profound impact on the sports profession, culture and society.

Athletes are the most sought-after and influential celebrities in the world. Press releases and vast media coverage can send fans to sports retailers with a whole burning through their pockets and their ears buzzing.

Developing Advertising to Positively Create a Story

Most people like to think that they are logical when it comes to decision-making. This might remain perpetually true for computers. Humans, however, most often ultimately succumb to their emotions.

Stories can help marketers communicate highly specific, emotional and impactful brand messages. Extraordinary stories provide potential consumers with remarkable, identifiable memories and long-lasting sentiments, and research shows that it’s highly effective for marketing.

The art of storytelling is an essential part of any effective marketing campaign, but it’s best to leave this select task to experts. For most, stories resonate powerfully. This has made storytelling an indispensable part of modern marketing. Advertising executives who effectively use storytelling set themselves apart from competitors and give consumers a reason to trust and invest in brands.

Advocating for a Cause and Taking a Stand

Marketing isn’t solely about product promotions and sales. Enterprises are adopting new practices and techniques to capture consumer attention. These companies use their influence to change the status quo while confronting important societal issues and promoting positive change.

Many of today’s socially conscious business leaders, for example, take a stand on current events while confronting social injustices. Gender equality, for example, is a current hot topic.

Research has revealed that enterprises led by female executives perform twice as well as those led by men and generate 60-percent more value for investors. Unfortunately, the gatekeepers who hold the reins of power in business frequently overlook this fact, despite the extensive evidence.

Additionally, women entrepreneurs still find more difficulty securing funding to back to business ventures compared to men. In 2016, only $1.46 billion of $58 billion went to women held enterprises.

Furthermore, female enterprise owners must commonly contend with a lack of education. Minimal business experience and few easily accessible training opportunities are among the top obstacles faced by female business leaders. They also commonly, and unfortunately, must endure a lack of institutional and familial support.

Video, Live Streams and Instant Content

Part of effective marketing involves connecting with audiences and keeping them engaged as well as entertained. Consumer engagement is essential in the modern marketplace.

To accomplish this, marketers use technologies such as social media to stay closely connected with their target audience by pushing instant stories and content into the digital universe through social media channels such as Instagram and Snapchat. As an example, video links and content are prominent across leading social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, social media vendors are making it remarkably simple for users to launch and broadcast live videos.

As a result, video content is everywhere, making it essential for today’s marketers to leverage the medium effectively in the current visually enthralled consumer marketplace. Video content gives viewers insight to brands, projects, specific topics or any other content that marketers think might be valuable to share, and it empowers marketers with the ability to engage viewers in real-time, making it the ideal channel to respond directly to audience inquiries.

Professional marketers love innovation. While exceptional marketers are always attuned as to what’s hot—or not—in their field, they balance their excitement with practical and actionable activities.

Still, industry innovations promise to promote considerable improvements in marketing over the next few years. In today’s exciting marketing climate, it will be exciting to see the outcome of future events.