Marketing Recommendation for 2016: Be More Active

We’re now mid-way through December, the New Year is knocking at our door and it’s tempting to want to stop for a breather and take a break. But don’t stop now! Kicking off 2016 with strong marketing strategies that focus on trends for next year can set the stage for your continued success. Small business marketing in the upcoming year looks promising, especially for those who already have a decent referral network in place and an established social media presence to build on. With the coming of the New Year, businesses need to take a more active approach to gain full advantage of all the potential lying ahead. Over the next several weeks, Skynet Solutions will dig deeper with an in-depth look into what’s trending for 2016 and what small businesses can do to improve their marketing strategies, and  to see skyrocketing growth and success next year. Here are some of the things we recommend you do in the coming months to turbo-charge your business for the best year ever.

1. Get to Know Your Audience Even Better The 2016 marketing landscape will be more customer-centric than ever. Strive to learn more about your customers and what they want. Engage with them across multiple outlets and study your analytics. Email marketing may seem outdated, but its importance will continue as it remains one of the best ways to drive traffic and directly communicate with customers. Collect email addresses from your customers and utilize them in your strategy for the coming year.
2. Get On Board with Mobile The explosion of mobile devices and smartphone usage will greatly impact marketing in 2016. There are now officially more online searches from mobile devices than desktops and search engines have responded accordingly. Make sure your online presence is mobile-friendly and start thinking like an on-the-go consumer.
3. Get Up to Date with Social Media Trends The wave of social media is quickly becoming the standard operating procedure for how companies do business and it hasn’t even begun to crest. Social video is huge and looks like it will continue to grow into 2016. Utilizing tools, like Facebook Ads, with geo-precise target marketing to focus efforts on specific consumer areas will greatly enhance your social media marketing strategy.
4. Get Your Marketing Organized Modern marketing continues to evolve at a neck-snapping pace. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when every day we need to identify, evaluate and deploy new strategies to keep up with the latest trends and innovations. We cannot overstate the importance of getting your marketing strategy organized in the New Year.

Try to stick to your 2016 plan, but remain flexible in this ever-changing environment. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we break down each of these four trends for 2016 and remember your New Year’s marketing resolution: Be more active!