No one can predict with certainty which strategy will effectively connect with investors in the shifting sands of marketing. As soon as marketers are convinced they understand their target, a breakthrough technology, a rising trend or even a completely new audience can change everything.
Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon marketers to reflect on the past and pay close attention to rising trends that have the potential to influence 2019 results. To that end, we offer the following 5 trends that bear watching as 2018 comes to a close.
Artificial Intelligence
The growth of AI’s role in marketing continues to expand, largely because it makes data analysis extremely efficient, easily performing tasks with which humans struggle, making it possible to target potential leads quickly—ideally ahead of the competition.
Marketing the Firm’s Privacy and Data Security
Investors are keenly aware of the importance of privacy and the hazards of data breaches. Savvy marketers will be well served to address this concern with potential investors head-on. Frank discussions with potential investors regarding your firm’s security protocols to prevent hacking, leaks and thefts are essential to gaining their trust. Demonstrating that you take security seriously and. that your preventive measures are superior to your competitor’s, can provide a marketing advantage that should not be overlooked.
Content is Crucial
Content has the potential to inspire, provoke action, excite, and appeal to investors on an emotional level. Moreover, content is not limited to text. It can include video and graphics. The ultimate value of quality content is to establish your firm as a thought leader…experts in your field, authoritative figures that can be trusted and relied upon as a partner. Content has always been regarded as a premier marketing tool, but it has taken on even greater significance in the era of social media.
Influencer Marketing
Establishing your firm as a thought leader has the distinct advantage of eliminating or, at the very least, reducing dependence on influencers, which are, for the lack of a better word, celebrities, to convince investors that your firm is to be trusted and is worthy of consideration.
If your firm, through thoughtful content marketing, succeeds in establishing itself as a thought leader, then it becomes the influencer. This is important because, increasingly, the trend in influencer marketing has been away from so-called celebrity endorsement and toward endorsement from real-world people. Establishing yourself as a thought leader gives you the credibility of an expert and the impact of a real-world person—the best of both worlds.
Refining the Marketing Funnel
In the past, the marketing funnel was designed to attract a broad spectrum of potential investors and then assess their value to the firm. This is a highly inefficient approach, which explains the trend of using content to target the audience the firm is looking for in the first place.
Reaching out to investors who are most likely to have an interest in your firm’s strategies and objectives is efficient, cost-effective and much less time consuming. More to the point, this approach avoids the alienation of investors that might become members of your target niche in the future.
As marketing becomes increasingly complex, it is just best practice for marketers to keep a close eye on emerging technologies, methods and patterns.
