I don't need to tell you that the business landscape is constantly changing.
Facebook has gone through many changes, as has Googe and other large platforms. What your clients are looking for may have changed as well.
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There's so many ways you can market your Business online and offline right now, we thought we'd ask top marketers the following question:
“What, in your opinion, will be the most important factor in marketing in 2018”
Here's what they said:
#1 – Pat Flynn
“As the space gets crowded and as platforms continue to control and throttle reach, it's more important now, more than ever, to figure out how to be remembered.
Building true fans will separate you from the lost pack.”
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#2 – James Schramko
“The most important factor in Marketing in any year is staying focused on the leverage points such as focusing on your ideal audience, developing your high performing products / services and getting results for your customers.
As more marketers turn to chatbots and automation there will be a increasing yield for high touch communications such as real face to face connections. ”
Link | James's New Book
#3 – Frank Kern
“The ability to turn advertising into profit through campaigns that generate goodwill while selling at the same time.”
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#4 – Chris Ducker
“The most important thing for any marketer to do will be to inject more of them self into their marketing. People want to do business with other people, at the end of the day.
Not machines, or bots, or even big brands. Getting more personal will be the differentiator for businesses going forward.”
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#5 – Maurice W. Evans
“Every year around this time people seek “predictions” for “marketing trends”. In 2018, will the focus be on ai, ml, ar, vr or maybe a focus on viral, tribes, re-targeting, possibly shift offline, or worse, even revert back to straight html for the IOT devices????
I say it doesn't matter. Those are all tactics. The human brain still works the same way it always has and always will. Humans will be attracted to and buy from brands for the same reasons they always have.
Focus on proven principles and methodologies and your marketing can't go wrong, no matter the vehicle. Know your target, go wherever they already are, add value. As one of my students, Natalie Dupuis, says “Your business will be rewarded for providing solutions”.”
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#6 – Tara Gentile
“Customers are tired of one-size-fits-all solutions. They are actively looking for ways to customize what you’re offering to fit their unique needs.
While they might have valued price and conformity in the past, they are increasingly opting for more adaptable, higher-priced options.
Of course, personalization doesn’t need to be high-priced in 2018. It can be incredibly scaleable and accessible. One place I’m seeing this is in the rise of communities and membership sites. These products put the customer in the driver’s seat and allow them to adapt the experience to suit their needs. They take what they want and leave what they don’t need.
How could you create a more personalized experience for your customers? What opportunities are there to guide a customized application or experience instead of forcing conformity?”
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#7 – Roberto Blake
“More companies are going to get serious about Content Marketing. Content is the cost of relevancy. Ads are becoming invisible to consumers.
They want to engage in brand experiences and they are more receptive to micro-influencers they can relate to, than celebrities they admire. Content marketing is more cost effective and can be evergreen, which also makes it a practical move for brands.”
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#8 – Dan Norris
“The most important marketing factor in 2018 is the same as 1918. Telling a story”
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#9 – John Lee Dumas
“The most important factor in marketing in 2018 is to ‘do things that DON'T scale'. Have the one on one conversations with your customer, clients and followers and ask them what their struggle is.
This will give you the knowledge to create the solution, which you can scale and leverage to the moon. But it starts with a conversation.”
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#10 – Jason Swenk
“The most important marketing factor in 2018 will be to know your audience and to make sure you focus on their desires, challenges, and what they want to transform into.
What most companies do is focus on themselves, and we all know what we want to do when that creep guy comes up to us and just talks about himself. Don't be the creep marketer talking about yourself. Focus on them and you will win. ”
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#11 – Vishal Morjaria
“Here's my top 3 Guaranteed Marketing Strategies for 2018.
3. Depending on your budget FB ads are big if you do them correctly.
2. Your existing clients are so valuable and using their testimonials of transformation is going to prove so valuable in gaining new clients so be sure to capture and share their real life transformations. Video is definitely the way to capture it as a first choice, but if they don't accept then the written word works too.
1. Business cards are dead! The new modern business card, lead magnet, and marketing tool is definitely a BOOK. Write the right book fast and use it as your business card. Watch the magic then begin.”
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#12 – Cory Huff
“The most important marketing trend I see in 2018 is a focus on experience and outcomes.
Up to now, most online marketers have been focused on audience acquisition and revenue, because it was easy.
Now that most large market verticals have become highly competitive, they're not easily profitable any more. The marketers who know what they're doing will probably find things a little easier as the less competent are filtered out.
It's easy to create an online course or other digital product. Creating a product that actually helps someone achieve results is much more difficult. The best marketers I know are all focused on results for their clients.
Products that create great outcomes generate their own word of mouth, and repeat business. A focus on great outcomes, design, and positive experiences will be the focus in 2018.”
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#13 – Daniel Priestly
“2018 marks 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis which means we are due for a recession and some caution should be exercised. This might not be the year to hire new people or splurge on new offices. It might be wiser to run a drill on how your business would respond to an 80% drop in customer acquisition.
More than ever, high-quality digital assets and a positive reputation matter more than tricks and techniques. Remove words like ‘funnels, tripwires and squeeze pages’ from your vocabulary – they dehumanise your potential clients.
Start seeing people as intelligent, discerning and spoilt for choice. Treat them with respect and assume they’ve seen every trick in the book 100 times before.
Forget distinguishing between “online” and “offline”, the two worlds merged years ago – it’s all just forms of connecting people to relevant ideas. Don’t be reluctant to meet people face to face or over the phone – not everything can be automated.
Invest in strong videos, books, audiobooks, reports and podcasts that demonstrate why you’re a Key Person of Influence. Become famous through the results of your clients. Focus less on quantity and more on attracting high-quality clients who can pay more for a dedicated, customised experience that perfectly meets their wants.
Don’t be afraid to make people wait for quality, it’s ok to be oversubscribed.”
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#14 – Anthony Iannarino
“There is nothing more important for marketers than relevance. Why should I give you my time? Why should I change what I am doing now? Why does what you do matter to me? The answer isn’t going to be your product, your service, or your solution.
It’s going to be identity and meaning and purpose, things that are much more intangible—the things that compel action.”
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#15 – Brad Burton
“Social Networking (once again) is going to be essential in marketing in 2018. But this time it will require us all to go deeper.
Something that I've been realising now with everything that I've been doing, is that it's all about depth now. Social media used to all about “I have ten thousand followers and ten thousand friends”. Actually, you'd be better having ten friends who you engage with, and ten friends that were there for you. The kind of friends that really, if you should call up at three o'clock in the morning with a dead body in your boot, would say, “Where's my hacksaw.”
For too long now, people have been throwing the word “authentic” around. Authentic this, authentic that. Authenticity is important, but the minute you mention that word, everything that's gone before it is rubbish. People who are being genuinely authentic in business, and in life, are just that.
That's where the future lies. In real honestest and transparency in business and marketing. That's where my focus is going to be in 2018.”
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#16 – Ant Hodges
“2018 will see the old way of producing and publishing of content die out. The one off blog posts, slap-dash videos and unplanned live casts will get drowned out by those who focus their efforts on creating high quality and content rich “shows” that will get, and keep attention.
Rather than a twenty minute interview released as a podcast, or the transcription of it published as a blog post, marketers will need to get smarter and move towards creating magazine style shows with multiple guests, shorter sections and to the point, up to date, relevant content.
Consumers today tune into the Internet rather than TV for their entertainment and inspiration – many predict that in 2018 we will see a huge growth in this activity and the decline of traditional set top box subscription based TV services to the home. With the on demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video leading the way, the smart marketers will be those who choose to create and publish content similar to the content consumers are already getting access to.
A content rich channel with regular episodes of a topical and niched magazine style of show will attract, keep and grow an online audience that will stay tuned, come to love the brand represented and always come back.”
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#17 – Gene Hammett
“One emerging trend that has helped me is to go deep in your research. Most blogs are shallow in their research and are really just a rehash of common topics of productivity, marketing,morning routines, etc.
I see more companies going super deep with their research. I have gotten tremendous benefit whilst interviewing 51 CEOs from the 2017 INC5000 List. I did it over three weeks and have created a new speech, numerous articles, and has opened new opportunities for me in 2018.
So go deep. Push yourself to create something that is un-Google-able so that it is new and fresh for the market. It positions you as an expert in a way that a shallow blog post just can't do..”
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#18 – Leon Streete
“To stay ahead in 2018, you have to go back to the principles, the strategy – focusing on your “Message To Market Match” (MTMM). If that means you need to re-explore your niche, then do it, because this is what will separate you from everybody else. And knowing inside out what your target audience wants more than even they do is key.
Tap into their desires – truly work on knowing how they think, feel, what they see, hear and dial your message in to show them the benefit of how your products and service deliver beyond what any nearest competitor can offer.
With your MTMM solved, make sure your marketing stands out, be different – I mean real different, if your competitors offer a product in red and yours is blue that’s not enough. Give your audience a reason to remember you. In a world of social media noise, be the hero or the memorable business they can turn to, trust and buy from.”
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#19 – Bond Halbert
“Monetizing Facebook groups, upselling coaching programs and done for you services will still be hot in 2018 but the newest trend will be chat bots.
Also, artificial intelligence will make targeting buyers easier than ever and the biggest winners will be the companies with the largest advertising budgets.”
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#20 – Stephen Pierce
“Using Influencers and Brand Ambassadors as a way to capture attention and give meaning to your offers. Using Influencers as a key marketing channel to be a voice and champion for your product and then target that Influencers base with Facebook Ads is something I see as a powerful combination that will grow.
With the Influencer having already endorsed the product and the FB ads targeting them, I see the potential ROI being much bigger than using Influencers or FB Ads separately.”
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#21 – Mark Donnan
“I think the most important factor in Marketing remains the same for 2018 as it has for my entire career – Building Your Brand By Understanding Your Buyer. I don’t mean creating an “Avatar,” or a “Persona,” (those are a complete waste of time, unless you’re just a beginner) I mean the core skill of anticipating the likely behaviour of your buyer in response to your persuasion, and adjusting for it appropriately.
It is important because when you strip away the shiny buttons, hacks, shortcuts, and manipulation of the modern marketer, you are left with nothing, if you have no relationship – and you can’t have a relationship, if you don’t know your buyer.
Anticipating their behaviour, means a cold hard look at yourself to determine not what you’re saying and doing, but what meaning from it all is being received by your non buyers, as well as your buyers.
Adjusting for it appropriately, means a cold hard look at yourself to determine the insights, judgments, and micro decisions you are missing out on because you are not tuned in.
Many Marketers today lack the ability to set aside their ego for long enough to even understand themselves, never mind their buyers – they have no patience for thinking, because they are too busy firing blanks.
Slow down. You’ll go much faster. ”
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#22 – Daniel Gefen
“Launching a podcast has been the best marketing decision I ever made. My podcast has opened so many doors for me.
Including:
- Building an incredibly powerful network
- Creating dozens of strategic partnerships
- Writing a book
- Being invited to speak
- Curating a wealth of knowledge
- Amassing a tribe of loyal followers
- Getting featured in Forbes, INC and other major publications
- Attracting investors, clients and advisers for my company
I have heard so many excuses for why people have not launched their own podcast.
Here are my responses to them.
“It's too expensive to run a podcast show.”
I spend less than $150 a month to run my show!
“It takes too much time to run a podcast.”
I spend less than 3 hours per episode!
“You need to be a professional speaker.”
I didn't have any speaking experience before starting my show!
“It's too technical.”
I am the least techy guy you will meet!
“I have nothing to talk about.”
You will be surprised how much more you have to say once you start speaking!
“Finding great guests is so difficult.”
I get too many people asking to be a guest on my show!
“I don't know how I will make money from it”
In the short term you won't but in the long run it will become your most valuable asset!”
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#23 – Taki Moore
“My answer this year is the same as it has been for the last ten years. The person who most deeply understands their potential client is the person who will win.
The biggest marketing answer this year (and every year forever) is empathy. In fact empathy is the ultimate competitive advantage. ”
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#24 – Chris Do
“Awareness is fine, but clients want results. Period. What are you going to do to help convert intent into action? Since many social platforms like Facebook, know so much about their customers, and allow for micro targeting, marketers will need to serve highly tailored campaigns to each demographic. No more one size fits all messaging. Give people what they want when they want it.”
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#25 – Dave Newton
“With a surplus of similar companies, producing similar products, at similar prices and similar quality, with similar marketing messages – all making similar ‘noise’ as they compete for attention – blending in leads to obscurity and failure!
It’s more important than ever, that you become a remarkable brand – by standing out, making a difference, creating meaning and being influential – or you’ll rapidly become invisible in a sea of competitive sameness, no matter how much you invest in your marketing and advertising.
Be distinct… or extinct!”
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#26 – Chris Marr
“In our daily lives we measure everything we want to be better at – money, time, weight, distance, sleep, steps. We put in a lot of effort into our marketing, but there’s a lack of tracking and measuring.
If you want your marketing to be more effective in 2018, measure everything of significance and get clear on what’s working and what’s not.”
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So that's what's they have to say. What about you?
Don't forget to comment below with what you predict will be important in marketing for you in 2018.
The post 26 Experts Share Their Top Marketing Predictions for 2018 appeared first on SEO, Content Marketing & Website Design.
