How CMOs Can Prep for Tomorrow’s Marketing Trends Today

To stay relevant and in tune with customers in today’s ultrafast digital world, brands need to be ready for what’s next.

Upwork’s quarterly Skills Index tracks the hottest skills in the U.S. freelance job market. Eight of the top 10 skills are new to the list, shedding light on just how quickly the market is evolving. Marketing skills like Instagram marketing account for three of the top 20 skills.

So what should you prepare for? Let’s take a look at marketing trends to gear up for now.

The future of marketing

Based on insights from “The Path to 2020,” a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit and Marketo, “5 Top Marketing Trends CMOs Should Expect by 2020” outlines priorities marketers should be focusing on.

For the past decade, marketing has been all about understanding the customer to provide greater personalization. Going forward, the focus will be on using that knowledge to drive engagement at scale.

Here are five ways businesses can better engage with customers.

1. Focus on customer experience

Customers can easily learn about your products or services on their own. As a result, customer experience (CX) is central to differentiating your brand and engaging customers in relevant and compelling ways. Whether customers interact with your brand through customer service, social media, or the Internet of Things (IoT), ensuring they have a positive experience can have a big impact on customer loyalty and your company’s bottom line.

2. Leverage “big capabilities”

Data and analytics have opened the door to “big capabilities”—deeper insights that businesses can leverage to deliver exactly what their customers are looking for. By diving into each customer’s behavior, history, and preferences, you can personalize their experience across platforms, devices, and locations.

3. Know your customer’s “best truth”

By tapping into many different data points—such as psychographics, purchase behavior, device preference, and viewed content—brands can create a single, best version of customer truth. This comprehensive view uses data, technology, and human analysis to provide an understanding of each customer and their current and potential value. You can then leverage this information to anticipate where the customer will be and how to better engage with them.

4. Be useful

What are the burning questions your customers have about your products or services? Listen to them and leverage that information to create experiences that provide value—especially when it comes to your content marketing strategy. For example, Unilever leveraged more than 11 billion global annual searches about hair care by creating targeted content for their All Things Hair video channel.

5. Speak directly to customers

Marketers will be leveraging technology and data more and more to interact directly with customers. Using this approach can help you cut through the noise and engage with customers on a deeper level.

For more insights on what lies ahead, read “5 Top Marketing Trends CMOs Should Expect by 2020.”

Gear up for 2020

With that look at the near future of marketing, how prepared is your business: Do you have the resources needed to make the most of these opportunities?

“5 Reasons Why Companies Rely on Virtual Marketing Agencies” looks at how virtual agencies can help your business find the skills you need to jump on the latest trends efficiently and cost-effectively.

As technology changes rapidly, you may find you don’t have the skills you need in-house. Freelance talent can be a great way to find the specialists with the most up-to-date skills, and for larger and more complex projects, an agency may be the ideal option for your business.

Virtual marketing agencies are groups of talented freelancers, which may include graphic designers, copywriters, web developers, or data scientists—a one-stop shop for your next marketing project.

Here are five reasons why a virtual marketing agency might be the right choice:

• One point of contact. Typically, a project manager will take the lead and be your main point of contact, communicating with the team and following the scope of work to ensure everything stays on track.
• Less administrative work. An agency has the resources to pair the right talent with your project at the right time, so you won’t need to find, engage, and pay individual freelancers yourself.
• Faster turnaround times. For complex projects, work may progress more quickly because the agency has a workflow already in place. Specialists can be brought on to tackle different parts of your project at the appropriate time.
• Higher-quality work. Agency members are accustomed to collaborating with each other, which helps foster efficiency as well as creativity and innovation. Agencies often also have their own quality assurance processes in place.
• Specialized talent. If you need specialists in a field outside of your own expertise, an agency can be especially helpful in finding the talent you need to make your project a success.

Having the right team from the start can help your project stay on time and within budget. Learn more about agencies in “5 Reasons Why Companies Rely on Virtual Marketing Agencies.”

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