Brands are everywhere and as an individual born into the boom of technology, it has become something that almost seems to have originated from the natural world. The most valuable tool that Businesses use to  communicate to their prospective consumers about their product is branding. A brand is much more than just a symbol to identify a business. Today, brands are the faces of global enterprises as it is given the ability to communicate, express and connect like never before. To have a strong brand in the 21st century, businesses must be personified and act as a single individual. With the income shift happening within the next two decades, businesses are scrambling to understand how they can appeal to technological advances, social adaptations, and the generational groups such as the Millennials and Generation Z.

The goal to any successful Marketing campaign is the development of trust between the business and the consumer. However, trust has been more difficult to garner in present day marketing, due to the increasing rate of misleading marketing tactics and businesses operating purely for profit. This creates a new opportunity for businesses that support and represent their community to gain an international spotlight. The flood of online content makes it difficult for media assets to stand out and differentiate from competitors. However, given the rapid acceleration in technological advances, digital platforms allows everyday businesses the opportunity to captivate the mass general population. Moreover, companies that rise above the norm and create a community that strongly believes in their product/service have a major advantage to companies who are slow to adapt. That is why old giants like Sears, Blockbuster, and Toys R Us falls to innovative, while new brands have a niche and corporate identity that speaks of innovation, serving, and philanthropy. Brands like Starbucks, Netflix, Facebook have done a great job of interacting with their community, constantly tweaking their product and business practices to meet the needs of their consumer. This long term strategic planning that focuses on developing trust and brand loyalty is what puts these companies at the top in the current competitive landscape.

Unlike any other generation, Millennials and Generation Z have grown up under the constant bombardment of ads and brands.  From the Coca Cola vending machines at school to the endless TV ads during their favourite show. Advertisements have become so apparent in the lives of the new generations that they have learned to filter out brands and the associated messages throughout their daily lives. This results in businesses having a difficult time in capturing the attention of their target market and further, increasingly difficult in getting conversions. Although the majority of the wealth is still circulating around the Baby Boomers, businesses must still prepare for the upcoming wealth shift. As previously stated, the trust that businesses must build with their consumers takes an extended period of time. The problem that most businesses make is gauging the marketing team’s progress on daily analytics that focuses on short term profit and exposure. On the other hand, other businesses that make a long term commitment in building their community and focusing on developing a long-term and growing customer base are seeing sustainable long term growth. Historically, community building and planning for sustainable growth has never been more important for businesses attempting to market a product. Unlike in the old competitive marketing landscape that is predictable and consistent with immediate ROI, advertisements nowadays rarely work as a fast cash grab. Where in the old format, the reach and conversions are predictable, and placing an advertisement on the biggest platform at peak times equals immediate predictable profits. With the addition of social media and the internet, consumers can choose what types of media they want to consume. This forces businesses around the world to adapt and actually create content that is engaging and captivating. This is the future of building brands, consumers must be on the top of the business hierarchy. They are the single most important group in the free market economy. Even shareholders are now taking cuts with most major corporations skipping out on dividends to give the business the resource it needs to create a great product for sustainable growth.

To properly engage with the modern generations that have fully adapted to internet and digital media. Companies must create marketing campaigns that focus on giving value to the prospective consumer. This could be storytelling, highlights, promotions, lessons, any way to provide some sort of value to the consumers. This helps businesses build a holistic and loyal brand that has a strong community that supports their cause and product. This is how you win the 21st century, however we are only at the beginning. The only concrete thing I can assure you in this ever changing landscape is that CHANGE IS NECESSARY. Come talk to us at Tracer Digital and can help elevate your brand.