5 Ways Small Businesses Can Keep Up With Digital Marketing Trends

From the Personal Branding Blog

Marketing is constantly evolving. Every day, new technologies give businesses new ways to reach out to their customers and potential leads. However, all these new technologies are hard to keep up with, especially for small businesses. This is why your business needs to stay on top of the best marketing trends.

Thankfully, there are several ways your business can remain competitive with its digital marketing.

Read Publications About Digital Marketing

Web-based digital marketing publications are reliable information sources that share the most recent developments in the digital marketing arena. Publications help with gathering consumer information and insights so that you can change your products, services, and content in real-time. In turn, that lets you improve the customer experience.

Start building an email list of trusted publications. Here are a few trustworthy publications to follow:

• Ahrefs
• SEMRush
• Occam’s Razor
• The Moz
• Emailonacid
• Personal Branding Blog
• CXL
• Quicksprout
• Copy Hackers
• Qualtrics

Follow Influencers

Whether consciously or not, influencers stay relevant because they use digital technology to their advantage. To this end, it will do your business a lot of good to follow influencers. Doubly so if they are related to your niche. Pay attention to what they’re sharing, because whatever they share might be the next big thing. Of course, it’s never that simple.

Pay attention as well to how often they predict trends. Influencers are more open to experimenting with marketing themselves because they are individuals. So, watching their progress with certain marketing tactics is a safe way to see which trends actually have staying power. In the best-case scenario, you could collaborate with the influencer to expand your brand.

Listen to Business Podcasts

In addition to reading, there are a lot of marketing and business podcasts you should pay attention to. You don’t have to listen to every single one. Just find one reliable source that you find informative and entertaining. When multitasking or on a commute, listening to marketing podcasts is a good way to keep yourself active.

For example, here’s a list of informative and engaging podcasts that analyze digital marketing:

• Social Minds
• Marketing Over Coffee
• Akimbo by Seth Godin
• Everyone Hates Marketers
• Foundr Podcast
• Social Media Lba by AgoraPulsenis
• Hidden Brain
• Recode Decode
• How I Built This
• Pivot with Scott Galloway
• Building a Storybrand

Go to Marketing Events

Marketing events are a solid choice for staying trendy. Most innovators and inventors like to showcase their latest technologies to businesses at these events. Whether it’s a technology expo or a marketing convention, there’s always the possibility of your business being the first to get on top of a trend. Even if you don’t, the information about what’s to come is incredibly valuable.

Remember, even industry giants like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their careers pitching computers to strangers at conventions. So, keep a sharp eye out for technologies that might become the norm in the future. You also never know if the person you’re talking to is the next entrepreneur to follow. Give all the booths a chance, even for a cursory glance.

Consult Marketing Experts

If you are not confident in your marketing experience and skills, then it’s time to consult experts. Sure, podcasts and publications are handy for knowledge. However, they are, by nature, a one-way conversation. If you have any specific questions, the pre-written or recorded content will not respond to you. A marketing expert, while a bit costlier, is worth it for the human element.

Marketing consultants help you protect your small business from major mistakes. Their experience and ability to advise in real-time are incredibly valuable. Don’t leave the major decisions to your own gut feelings. Temper your decisions with the guiding hand of experts. Marketing campaigns are best when done with confidence and knowledge.

Participate in Social Media Communities

You could create a WordPress website, FB Page, Twitter account, or Instagram account. What’s important is that your business has an online presence. This is not just to keep your brand easily visible. It’s also there to keep track of other businesses and how they perform their marketing digitally. It’s important to see what works for others and apply it to your own business.

Social media is also a great way to follow all the other advice on this list. Most publications, influencers, innovators, and marketing experts have social media. Not only that, they all tend to promote events on social media. It’s the most likely place for customers to look when opening their device.

Conclusion

Small businesses can easily bridge the gap of competition through technology. Even amateur marketing teams have the tools at their disposal to create a marketing campaign. So, in such cases, you should make up for your lack of experience by staying ahead of trends. Doing so gets you much-needed experience and exposure as a brand.

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