The 3 Top Marketing Trends for Growing Your Business
Nature is not the most robust species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones who are most able to adapt to changing conditions. That is the law of natural selection at work, and it is evident working in the business world also.
As an entrepreneur, you have to be able to accept and adjust to change in order to survive and thrive. Technological advancements, changes in the desires and needs of your clients and even changes in the nature of your business rivals all have the potential to wipe you out if you're not careful. Instead of trying to avoid changes, you should be aware of the changes when it happens and adjust to it.
Now is a great opportunity to create a company on your knowledge
Every industry has consumers who look for data to aid them with a particular problem or attain a particular result. This creates a tremendous possibility for those who want to pack their hard-won knowledge and expertise into products, programs, and other services that could be made into a profit.
In order to put this in perspective In 2017, the world market for online courses (e-learning) reached an enormous $255 billion ( World Economic Forum). This doesn't even include the cost invested in coaching, consulting and professional guidance, as well as non-fiction publications.
If you're an writer, speaker, trainer, coach, consultant, online course creator, or a service company, there's something new that you need to be aware of as you develop your company.
Over the past several years, an enormous amount of cheap and free information is available online. A few of the information is excellent (and certain of it is less so) However, the fact is that information has lost any value in the way it once did. In many fields the information is now an item of trade, meaning selling information has become increasingly difficult.
Your clients probably don't require any more details. There's plenty readily available. The only thing they require is someone who can help them use the correct information in the right order,to solve their problem or get the outcome they desire. What they need is a change.
The start of Transformation Age
I'm not sure who's responsible for defining the current era however, if it were mine to decide, I wouldn't be calling this period one of the Information Age anymore. I'd call it"the Transformation Age.
In the transition between an Information Age to the Transformation Age and beyond, there are a few patterns you must be aware of so you can adjust your company, grow faster, and make significant changes in the lives of others with your knowledge and expertise.
Trend 1: Building Community
The way of the past:Build a massive audience
For whatever reason, the rise of social media has led many entrepreneurs to forget on the most important things. Instead of working on developing amazing products and services to their customers, they started focusing on vanity metrics including the number of followers, likes, comments, shares and shares that they see on their social media profiles.
Entrepreneurs don't require millions of people to recognize you in order to establish your business to be successful, and you certainly don't need to become famous. If you're not building a worldwide name (think Coca-Cola, Apple, Disney and so on.) you don't need the entire globe to know who you are.
The new method:Become the leader of the community
Instead of attempting to create a huge audience, change your attention to being an authority within a particular area of expertise. Define your ideal clients and create a space that allows them to communicate with one another, share ideas, support others and connect with them directly.
Facebook leads the way in building online communities. The year before, Mark Zuckerberg announced a significant change in how they display posts in the News Feed. Going forward, Facebook will be severely restricting the organic reach of articles from Facebook Pages. Instead, they are instead encouraging publishers to create meaningful interactions and create communities.
Related:
"Those companies that have solid tribes, and who have built an actual community are likely to shine, and those that don't will have to catch up fast."
- Scott Oldford
Trend #2 The trend is Premium Pricing
The way it was done in the past: Start with inexpensive products, then upsell your customers
The past couple of years, we've witnessed many entrepreneurs in the early stages struggling to develop what's frequently referred to an "Ascension Model" of services and products.
With an Ascension Model, you start by offering something cheap (like books or a short course) Then, you upsell your customers to higher-end items and services like coaching, consulting, or live events. This is what it could look like:
It's not working if you try to market a product or service when what they really want is private coaching. Or trying to sell private coaching to someone who is looking for you to take on all the work on their behalf and trying to sell a ticket for a conference for someone who would like to join a mastermind group.
Every single one of these varieties of products and programs appeals to a different type of client with different needs and financial budgets. So while upselling sounds great on paper, some consumers are aware of what they need, which in many situations doesn't mean it's the most expensive option.
The new way:Start with high-touch offers with premium prices
The marketplace is shifting from demand for information to the desire for transformation. Customers need help achieving results and will pay a premium to receive the support they require.
To keep this in mind We recommend against trying to market your clients the least expensive product at first in the hopes of promoting them a more expensive item or service later on at some point in the future.
Particularly if you're at the early stages of building your own business that is specialized We recommend that you offer a service that is high-touch (coaching or consulting, a done-for-you service, etc.) prior to when you can begin selling information products that are less costly including books and classes. Once you reach your capacity for working with people one-on-one begin to create products to help more people.
What early-stage entrepreneurs often do not realize is that it's extremely difficult to market inexpensive books and online classes to a huge number of customers profitably. If you've only just recently launched your business, focus on selling the more expensive high-touch offers first, and later, use the money from those sales to fund the development and promotion of your less expensive offerings.
Trend 3: Customer Experience
The old way:Acquire as many customers as you can
A lot of entrepreneurs commit the error of focusing the majority of their efforts on acquiring new customers, at cost of offering a pleasant experience for the clients. Therefore, a large portion of their customers never buy from them and never refer others to them. This creates an endless (and cost-intensive!) cycle of having to constantly find new customers in order to stay in the game.
As competition in your industry is increasing, as do the expectations of your intended customers, failing to provide your customers with a satisfying customer experience before and after the purchase will have a detrimental impact on the profitability and the sustainability of your company.
The newest approach:Help your customers achieve their goals
There is a specific end-product that your customers want and will appreciate. To your customers, your service or product is only a tool to achieve the goal, but it is likely only one of the many solutions that can help attain the same goal.
Thus, while getting new customers is important helping your clients will be more important, and vital for the success and growth of your business. If you do not help your customers get what they desire from your service or product you offer, they're likely to not remain your customer for very long.
The most successful entrepreneurs of today focus on understanding the specific challenges and desired results of their customers, and creating unique experiences that aid their customers to overcome their challenges and achieve their desired results. They're putting a premium on the customer experience as well as their success..
Related:
"We're not here solely to convince people to purchase our items. We want them see the change and the effects and to create success stories ."
- Nick Unsworth
Discover the strategies to help you adapt to these new trends
There's never been better time to build an organization through sharing your expertise to others. All of the , platforms and sources you could ever need for establishing a successful business are at your disposal, and there is a huge market of people who can profit from your knowledge and experience and willing to be willing to pay.
As thousands of industry experts and entrepreneurs work to develop their businesses in the coming years, those that establish a name for having successful customers will be at an elite position in their field. If you are willing to embrace and adjust to the latest trends discussed that we've discussed in this post We are sure that you'll soon be among the few!