Marketing Trends to Consider Before 2018

As an entrepreneur, you are responsible for charting the course and favorably positioning your company with regard to trends and developing technology.  Situating yourself as a trailblazer can position your company as the firm that other companies look to imitate. The key to being successful is finding the trends that will persist, rather than becoming a slave to fads. Now that we're in the 4th quarter of 2017, there's never been a better time to get a jump on upcoming hot marketing trends for 2018.  Below are three trends to keep your eye on as you head into 2018. How could you incorporate these tech advances in your business?

Social Marketing

Obviously, this trend is well underway, but there’s still time to make the most of it. Social Media reach is ever expanding and algorithms are changing.  The global marketplace offers you the opportunity to capitalize on social media marketing to reach people in almost every country, culture, and income level. Even if you pride yourself on being a local business, what's stopping you from tapping into the potential across the globe?

Video Marketing

Gone are the days when your business had to spend millions of dollars to advertise during the Super Bowl.  There's still time to create a unique "commercial" and run it on Facebook during the 2018 game.  By running a video as a Facebook ad, you can not only reach your current customers with retargeting, but also expand your audiences and customize your message.  Short video commercials are becoming an integral part of digital media, and early adopters will help revolutionize the uses of this innovative technology. 

Transparency

Businesses have found that consumers value transparency, and it can be beneficial to disclose the ugly side of your company – as you strive to do better, of course. Transparency creates trust, and you want your customers to trust you and your products or services.   You can use the first two trends, Social Marketing and Video Marketing to show your transparency seamlessly.  Post about your business's culture, post about "mistakes" and how you corrected them.  Allow customers to review your products and services (good and bad) and then use that valuable data to improve.  As risky as it may sound, even re-posting bad reviews along with your responses can be turned into a funny meme that shows you're willing to be vulnerable and cooperative at the same time.

The idea is to look forward, to anticipate which trends can benefit your business and adopt them as early as is feasible.  Positioning your company as the trendsetter, the early adopter, creates a niche for you and puts you in the position of the company people look to as the leader in your industry. 

Bean Counters Bookkeeping is a virtual bookkeeping business which strives to stay on top of trends; not only for our own benefit, but for the purpose of allowing you to focus on what is important, your business. www.thebeancountersbookkeeping.com ​

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