Nine marketing themes for 2012

Marketing your business is an ever-evolving challenge that will be vastly different in 2012 than it was last year. With new channels to choose from and changes in consumer behaviour, businesses are advised to keep their eye on the ball. Here are nine marketing themes for 2012.

Mobile commerce

Consumers want to shop via their mobile phone, which will prompt a greater number of businesses to get up to speed this year.

Proof comes from a survey released by online payment firm PayPal last year, which pointed to a dramatic jump in the number of online transactions being made via mobile phones in Australia.

The report showed that Australians spent $155 million online via their mobile phone last year, with that figure expected to grow sharply in the coming years as smartphones cannibalise sales of all other mobile phones.

Karson Stimson, founder of digital agency WeAreDigital, says the evidence shows that there will be a significant investment to mobilise their offering this year.

“Expect to see large quantities of transactions being made over mobile and also the emergence of the mobile being used in the physical world as a wallet using bump technologies and NFC (near field communication),” Stimson says.

Tribalism

The tribalism trend is emerging as a new marketing trend for the year, giving businesses a new way to consider their approach to marketing.

Heather Rowland, senior consultant at brand and communications agency Fuller, explains that businesses keen to embrace the concept can expect a loyal following from their customers.

Brand tribalism goes beyond brand development; it refers to the creation of a micro-culture for your brand. “When you create a brand tribe, you’re creating much more than a customer. What happens is that these people become advocates and ambassadors of your brand,” Rowland says.

Tribalism can be achieved both through traditional ad campaigns and social media or any other marketing medium.

Also, be sure to avoid corporate jargon and display empathy, humour and even express your flaws.

“To attract members to your tribe, your ‘tribal culture’ needs to be genuine and aligned with the type of customer you’re looking to attract. Essentially, it’s less about what you say, and more about how you make people feel.

“The end result of whatever you do needs to be ‘this brand doesn’t just get me, it is me’.”

Blogging

Businesses are starting to grasp the power that blogging can give a business.

Blogging, which is best described as a frequently updated publication of personal thoughts uploaded to the web, can help a business stamp its authority on a particular industry and has the genuine ability to influence, change opinions and drive word-of-mouth. And it costs nothing but time.

The Blog Designer’s Michael Halligan says businesses need to understand that blogging isn’t about building sales, but is about supporting the overall brand and improving connections with customers.

So it’s not surprising that it’s of growing importance to businesses. The recently released Australian Women and Social Media 2011 Survey found that half of all Australian women online now have a blog, and a staggering 92% of females are reading blogs.

It also found that 75% of women spend more than an hour on Facebook a day and 38% spend more than three hours on Facebook daily.

Conducted by Brand Meets Blog and Mum PR, the online survey polled more than 700 Australian women during December.

“This year is likely to see the emergence of a host of new business blogs as women in business strive not to get left behind in the new ways of marketing,” Kellie O’Brien, Mum PR director says.

“Blogging is a great tool to reach buyers directly and has been known to really transform some businesses when done right.”

Public relations

While PR has been around since the dark ages, it’s becoming an increasingly popular marketing tool, particularly among retailers hoping to bolster sales in the current gloomy economic environment.

Sydney’s Believe Advertising launched a decade ago, but has shifted its focus to PR in the past couple of years as SMEs look for cheaper marketing options.

“We found that businesses just don’t have the marketing budgets that they used to have, particularly retailers in recent times. PR can give a business a huge boost with little cost. Don’t get me wrong, traditional advertising is great – if you’ve got the budget for it.”

According to The PR Report, the most important trend in PR at the moment is the importance of understanding the narrative, saying that PR is about corporate storytelling.

PR should focus on the big picture and not get bogged down by the daily news cycle, weekly opportunities or monthly schedules, the report says.

Do-it-yourself Facebook

Social media tools like Twitter and Facebook are increasingly important to SMEs that understand the value of being able to connect directly with their audience.

Will Ockenden of PR, social media and events agency Lucre Sydney predicts that 2012 will hail a mass adoption of Facebook fan pages by SMEs. This will be driven by “off the shelf” applications now becoming mainstream, he says.

“The issue with Facebook has been that fancy pages or being able to run a competition has meant that businesses have had to involve a web developer due to its complexity,” Ockenden says.

But the emergence of “off the shelf” products like PageModo and Wildfire gives SMEs the ability to do it all themselves, he says.

But don’t jump in without a solid strategy. While social media is cheap, the upkeep and constant updates to your status do take time and need careful consideration.

Return on investment

No matter what sort of marketing you undertake, proving return on investment will be paramount this year.

Ockenden says the year has started with another round of budget constraints and continued slow-down in consumer spending, prompting businesses to want to see concrete ROI from their marketing activity.

As such, the often intangible marketing mediums of PR and social media will be particularly under the spotlight, he says.

“The beauty of social media is that everything is measurable, be it ‘Likes’, web traffic referrals, video views, app downloads, online sentiment shift, whatever it is,” Ockenden says.

To avoid hours of wasted time, businesses should be clear about what they want to accomplish from the start, he says.

“You need to know if you want to increase brand awareness, drive online buzz, increase web traffic or build a member community, for example.”

Quality content

While content marketing has been around for a long time, there are indications that 2012 will herald an increasing focus on better quality.

Content marketing refers to businesses providing content like blogs, whitepapers, eBooks and the like to demonstrate expertise and educate prospective customers.

Although it’s a great tool for a business, quality has been below par in many cases.

Steven Lewis is an online marketing consultant who helps businesses with their online presence. He says social media is great, but only if you have content to share.

“Companies don’t understand that sticking a ‘share this on Twitter’ button on a page is useless unless that page is worth sharing. Why would I share a brochure with my friends online?”

If you need further motivation to pick up the quality and perhaps even hire a professional to help craft your words, consider the fact that an update released by search king Google last year was designed to diminish a site’s search ranking if it is providing low quality content; in turn rewarding publishers of high quality, unique content.

Crowdsourcing

In today’s digital, socially networked world, businesses are turning to crowdsourcing to solve a diverse range of needs, including marketing.

Crowdsourcing enables a brand to post a creative brief online, often with a crowdsourcing partner, as an open call for creative entries. Participants respond by submitting their work and the brand awards winners based on specific selection criteria.

Melbourne’s 88 Continents buildings websites and digital campaigns, but has turned to graphic design site 99designs to outsource creative development, enabling them to focus on backend creation. This enables 88 Continents to gather fresh marketing ideas and tap into a large talent pool.

Another example of crowdsourcing sites that can help businesses with marketing include iStockphoto, where businesses can source cheap stock photography.

Also check out group buying site LilBirdie, which encourages anyone that buys media space or products to sign up as a member to receive regular communications about deals from a range of providers.

Collaboration

As businesses seek out new and cheap marketing tools, the prospect of working with other businesses is expected to be a far less daunting concept this year.

Finding non-competing businesses that are willing to also support your business is the key, explains marketing strategist Franziska Iseli-Hall, who founded Basic Bananas – Small Business Marketing Made Simple.

“Consider forming a joint venture and help each other out. It’s about thinking outside the square.”

This might be a neighbouring business willing to make coffees and deliver to your clients while in your store, businesses that enable you to extend their discounts to your clients or pooling office resources to save money.

Also, consider joining your industry organisation to learn new tips, which will also encourage you to hold your business to a higher standard, she says.