Next year’s marketing trends for every startup out there

With New Year just around the corner, it’s time to start creating the plan for promoting your startup. 

Here are some tips on how to improve your marketing strategy, as well as some predictions about the new marketing trends in 2017. Even if your current marketing strategy was effective in 2016, you should still think of ways you can improve upon it even further next year.

Personalization

Customizing products to fit the needs and wants of each individual customer will continue to grow in popularity in 2017. Of course, every company won’t be able to print a customer’s name across their product a la Coca-Cola, but you should still brainstorm ways you can make your products or services more personal. If you can’t cater to each individual customer, work with your wholesale distributors to determine how you can personalize your product offering for each market or store.

Native advertising

As consumers continue to be skeptical of traditional forms of advertising, native advertising will grow larger and larger. But, if you choose to use this form of advertising, it’s important to make it seem as authentic as possible. If customers can tell it’s promotional, they will immediately begin to distrust your brand—as well as the website—because they will feel duped. In 2014, Netflix wrote a piece for The New York Times on why reform is needed in women’s prisons. The piece was intended to promote Orange is the New Black, but the series was only mentioned once in the entire lengthy article. This is a great way to engage with your audience on a relevant topic, and then subtly promote your brand within the content.

Including new marketing tricks when preparing the new marketing strategy for your startup will help you get better results. (Source)

Chat bots

Consumers love convenience, so it’s no surprise that chat bots are expected to be a huge part of marketing in 2017. Imagine visiting an airline’s website to check the status of your flight. Instead of having to enter the flight number, the city you’re leaving, and city you’re traveling to, all you have to do is engage with a chat bot on the website and ask when your flight is scheduled to depart. This makes it much easier for consumers to find the information they’re looking for, which is why people are so drawn to this feature. If you want to make your startup’s website more user-friendly and unique, consider the addition of a chat bot.

Right-time marketing

When the power went out during Superbowl XXVII, Oreo seized the opportunity by tweeting that people could still dunk their Oreos in the dark. This tweet that made headlines everywhere showed the value of right-time marketing, which is expected to be a big part of marketing strategies in 2017. Unfortunately, this trend means you must be on 24/7 to look for opportunities to join the conversation and promote your brand. To simplify it, only look for local opportunities that may arise instead of trying to monitor everything that’s trending in the country.

Now that you know these predictions for the New Year, how will you incorporate each of them into your marketing strategy? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.