The Year of the Rat, the year in which business owners can thrive
If you’ve been a keen observer of your clientele and have tried to listen to what they want this year, you will most likely thrive successfully in the year of the Rat. But whether you believe in Chinese Horoscope or not, as a branding and marketing strategist, this is what I know that will hold true in 2020:
Tell your story. A brand story or brand storytelling has been around for quite some time now. It has just become more popular in recent years because of, perhaps, social media.
Your brand is best remembered by people through your story. In the same manner, your brand story is the most effective way to establish trust. People will buy from you because of your story.
Don’t just tell any story though.
Your brand story must be able to inspire people. What was the history behind your brand? What inspired you to create your business? What problem did you want to solve? Who did you have in mind when you started creating your business? What core values do you believe in? What is that part of your brand story that you can turn into a compelling and engaging content?
Think about it.
Choose the right influencer. We have seen how influencers could make or break a business. Moving forward, should influencer marketing continue to thrive, people (i.e. businesses and consumers alike) will expect more from those who make a living out of this kind of marketing. They will need to be more than just product endorsers or brand ambassadors, or online personalities with huge following.
It will be more than just vanity metrics in the long run.
As businesses expect for conversion in the long run, influencers will have to be more credible when influencing their followers to purchase a brand. That being said, businesses should carefully choose the influencers and not just pick anyone to review and endorse any type of product (or service) under the sun.
As digital consumers get smarter everyday, they have ways to tell which influencer truly believes in a brand and which one is just in it for the gig.
The face-to-face connection. Social media profiles, business pages and online communities will need to be backed up by offline events. Whether it’s in the form of a meetup, a networking event, or a conference, people will need to see the face behind those businesses they stumble upon online. Rather than treat this as an additional task in your marketing to-do list, treat it as an opportunity to spread your brand awareness. It is, after all, cost-effective if you think about it. When done correctly, relationships can be easily established and these people that you meet at the events – whether you attended or organised – could be the same people who can spread awareness about your brand. That’s just free marketing for you.
And if you get lucky, they can even be your customers.
Write a book. Whether it’s an e-book or a printed book, free or paid, being an author of a book that talks about your field of expertise spells out a lot of difference. In today’s digital landscape, writing a book puts you on the map. It helps you a great deal when it comes to standing out from the competition.
What experiences (in relation to your business) do you think you can share with your target audience that will make them trust you? What kind of value can you give your readers through your book? What’s your goal for writing a book?
These are just some of the questions that can serve as your guide when developing your content.
Stay in touch with your humanness and authenticity. In the recent years, authenticity has been established as an essential element in any marketing strategy. A brand can generate that “authentic feeling” by being raw and transparent. Such an emotion can easily establish trust with a target audience.
In the same manner, as digital consumers are constantly preoccupied with their devices (i.e. social media accounts), there is a growing need for online human connection.
At the end of the day, people would rather deal with people than companies or businesses. By being authentic and staying in touch with our humanness, as business owners, we gain that advantage of easily building relationships with our target clients.
And yes, the operative word is “easily” as the approach is relatively the same as everyday human interaction – like talking to a friend.
Regardless if you’re doing tips number 1 through 4, or just some of them, number 5 will have to be present in each.
I wish you all the best in 2020!
