The world of marketing is always evolving. Trends change frequently, and it can be challenging to keep up with latest and best practices, let alone predict where trends are headed.
So how can you become a thought-leader or spokesperson for your company and achieve the recognition you deserve? Here are some trends in marketing leadership to help you successfully compete with rival companies and make sure your company’s voice is heard.
Collaboration and Co-Creation
Great marketers don’t work alone.
Marketing is a creative and collaborative process that always benefits from varying points of view. Departments that were once separate are now working together to improve efficiency and performance. Cubicles and rigid, single-department projects are a thing of the past in many offices.
What does it take to be a great leader?
Savvy marketing directors utilize business concepts, management skills, creativity, and excellent communication to earn success.
“It’s important to have holistic business skills because marketing directors work with art directors, sales agents, financial staff and other professionals to plan, manage and direct programs that generate interest in products or services,” says an article by Arizona State University. “Overseeing marketing staff, creating concepts and budgets for successful marketing campaigns and serving as the communication hub between clients, vendors and co-workers takes a vast array of skills … ”
Data, Data, Data
Data is becoming more and more prominent in the world of marketing, and keeping track of digital assets is of the utmost importance. Thankfully, there are lots of great tools you can use to help you record, analyze, and manage data.
Speaking of data — protecting data is equally important to knowing how to manage it. You’ve worked hard for your assets and information, and you don’t want a data breach ruining your clients’ trust in you to keep their data secure. A great place to start is to look at your sites and setup as an outsider would. What weak spots exist? What private information, if any, is vulnerable and easy to access?
Creating Quality Content
No one is going to pay attention to your product or service if you don’t have quality content to share. So how do you create quality content?
First of all, you need to have knowledge of what your potential customers want. You also need to know what your competitors are up to. What content are they providing? What can you do to show customers why they should do business with you instead?
Show customers why they need you through the content you create, whether it’s an in-depth look at one of your products and its relevance to daily life or a great piece outlining what your company does that’s above and beyond the offers your competitors are putting on the table.
Best case scenario, your content ends up trending and is seen by the masses. More often than not, change and consistent uptick in your traffic will be a slower process. Don’t lose hope — you’re in it for the long haul.
The Importance of Social Media
After creating quality content, it’s essential that people actually, well, see it. That’s where social media comes in. You can’t have a complete marketing plan today without a thorough social media strategy.
Great social media content begins with great images. Users are far more likely to engage with your content if there are high-quality images associated with it. And remember that engagement goes both ways — be sure to reply to your audience’s comments and questions regularly.
Since a majority of social media users are accessing platforms from their mobile devices, you’ll also want to adapt your content to be mobile-friendly. This way, your great content will be easily shareable and will spread more quickly.
Curious how your company’s social media strategy is impacting traffic to your sites? Be sure to take advantage of the great tools and apps that can help you discern what content is performing the best and which platforms are sending the most traffic your way.
Takeaways
Being a successful leader in marketing today involves wearing many hats. Great writing and communication are not enough. By prioritizing collaboration, strong digital asset management, quality content creation, and social media utilization, you’ll be well on your way to being a thought leader in your industry.
This article was contributed by Avery Philips.