5 Realizations That Will Transform Your View of Marketing in the Future
Yeah, the internet has changed the way we do lots of stuff among which is the way marketing strategies are shaped and executed. The general public never liked commercials, or generally having somebody or something "push" their product in their face. Ads were always a necessary evil of happy consumerism, something you had to sit through if you wanted to watch your favorite show or read your favorite magazine. As soon as the "skip" button became the norm, however, they utilized that option to the maximum.
Nowadays, we’re bombarded with adverts left and right to such an extent that they’ve become background noise to our life. That’s why all the creative teams have to work much harder if they want to make the sales happen. Listing the benefits of your product, making outrageous claims, or bashing your competition won’t get the job done as well as it did before.
Storytelling in Marketing
Humans tell stories to connect and to build trust. So, if people skip ads whenever they don’t see anything engaging right away, one of the most effective ways to engage them from the get-go, pull them in with a captivating story first. A little sophistication in the selling process can go a long way, meaning - you can have the best product in the world, but if you don’t present it in a right, attention-grabbing way, your inventory is going to stay “on the shelves” of your storified microstore.
In other words, if your web stories aren't up to date interesting enough, it's almost like you don’t exist. So, while we researched the influence of storytelling on the future of marketing, we realized a few "universal truths" if you will, and here they are, in no particular order:
1. Made-To-Measure Approach is Crucial
Gone are the days of the widely casted net and hopes of any catch at all were considered a valid path to success. In all honesty, those kinds of strategies are a waste of money and a waste of time. In the future, you’ll see a growing trend in research and data-collection when it comes to specific demographics. Marketing was never a one-size-fits-all kind of thing, but that will become so much more apparent in the days to come.
Knowing the basics about your target audience won’t be enough. Only those who are truly masters of their narratives and know their customers through and through will find prosperity. Besides, when you have all the data needed, product storytelling is much easier to execute. If you’re lucky, the data itself can be just the right creative kick you need to assemble a tale worthy of re-telling.
2. Honesty Above Everything Else
Today, your average customer is much more informed than an average customer 10, 20, or 50 years ago. That’s one of the reasons why generic web stories have completely lost their appeal but also the reason why you have to be truthful in your approach to customers.
People are generally much more suspicious nowadays, and with all of humanity’s knowledge at their fingertips, they will get to the truth sooner rather than later. That is why accomplished marketers of tomorrow have to stay away from empty promises and glorified statements. If you’re all talk with no receipts to back it up in your interactions and customer testimonies, you won’t stay in the flattering spotlight for long. Keep in mind that tolerance always was fakeness is extremely low, but now the internet has made everything much more transparent!
3. Are People Recommending You?
Remember that word of mouth has always been the backbone of marketing. You can dump your money, energy, and effort into large, global scale campaigns, but the fact remains: we all trust our inner circle of people the most. If your aunt that has a similar hair type recommends you a wonderful shampoo, her good word will hold much more weight than multiple anonymous reviews online (not that they are not important).
We see this “word of mouth” approach utilized by marketers when they approached celebrities in the past. Do you know who they hire today? Influencers! The bonds they create with their followers are strong and tend to be very personal. Storified ads and commercials are great for raising awareness, but the stamp of approval of trustworthy people is the best thing your brand can get. That will never change.
4. Let Your Good Deeds Do All the Talking
The thing is, if you have to convince people that you’re nice or, if your product is good, the chances are that both of those things are not as great as they're presented. Your actions, results and satisfied clients should do all the talking.
That’s why you’ll see companies diving into philanthropy and involving themselves in all kinds of charity work and social outreach programs. At the end of the day, corporations usually care about their profits and want to be the best at what they do. However, they know that getting behind charitable causes and including them as a vital part of their action plan, will establish trust worldwide.
Making their lives easier and more convenient in any which way is crucial. If a company manages to send a message of “doing things for the greater good”, however, they have a jackpot on their hands.
5. Immersive Experience
Not only that you should use all social media platforms to get your message across and get as many people to your storified landing page, but you should also smartly use your online presence. Doing research, and presenting yourself amicably is just a part of it. No matter how precisely you target your audience, how nice or noble you are, and how effective your product is, you have to know how to play your cards right.
Being active and engaging on social media, sends a message to your customers that you know what you’re doing, that you care and that you’re here to stay. Invest in quality storytelling to make a statement and to leave your mark. If done correctly, stories can change our lives as well as our future and future of marketing, nobody knows that better than Storifyme team.