Welcome to This Month in Marketing. April was a tough month for a lot of businesses, although we saw new trends and opportunities come out of this. We saw new methods of customer retention, different advertising strategies, new trends entering the market, and NFTs & cannabis. This month’s biggest trends have to be the online customer retention campaigns and NFTs, we can’t wait to see what will happen next month.
Retaining Normal Customers in an all but Normal Year
https://kobie.com/retaining-loyal-customers-in-an-all-but-normal-year/
This article provides insight to how customers are feeling during the COVID-19 restrictions.
It delves deep into three different ways a business can maintain loyalty with their customers at a time when they feel uncertain and unsure. Monitoring/optimizing your touch points, making strategic emotional connections, and improving your tech to better understand your customer base are the three topics that were showcased here.
Biggest takeaways were, building a staff to properly deal with emotional clients, focusing efforts on KPIs that work, and using the right tools to properly organize and direct your staff. In my opinion, this article takes all the classical ideas of loyalty and customer retention and showcases it to help the consumer.
Tik Tok shares new advertising strategy tips based on responses from 25 000 users
The article talks about how ads on tik tok are becoming a lot more effective. 72% of respondents found that ads are inspiring, this is more than the other platforms. Tik Tok is shown to be more trendsetting than any other platform right now. Examples such as “branded hashtags” or “hashtag challenges” have given companies a natural look on tik tok without overselling. With the use of being a platform for new trends and having a full screen layout that controls the viewers attention, ads on Tik Tok are that much more engaging. With 67% of respondents saying that the ads grabbed their attention which is 7% more than the other platforms.
With all this, Tik Tok ads have shown a 10% increase of receptivity on average over other platforms. Tik Tok has become a giant in the social media space and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Personally, I use Tik Tok and it is one of the most addicting apps I have ever used. The app engages your focus at 100% with its format and fulfills short undeveloped attention spans perfectly with their quick videos. The algorithm is scary-good as the app knows exactly what the user wants to see. No wonder the U.S.A. banned Tik Tok from the app store.
Trends That Turned 2021 on its Head
This report showcases how trends have made companies move their ideas forward instead of delaying them due to COVID-19. For example, online shopping was predicted to become the common place over “in person retail shopping”. This goes for everything and not just Amazon appliances or easy to deliver products. Things like groceries, tools, services, and even cannabis are now even easier to buy online. This year has forced consumers to shop online with an increase of over 60% in digital shopping.
The world will eventually return to recognizable normal with in person retail coming back strong. Although, how strong will the return be? We now live in a digital world, a lot of people might forget about even going in person shopping. I predict that omni-channel pathways will show itself through digital currencies and digital carts being used to shop in person.
We already see examples of this with companies such as Amazon creating a brick and mortar grocery store that you can just walk in, pick what you like and leave. It skips cashier lines and the process of physically paying. The store scans your account when you enter the front door through your phone and then tracks you with sensors and cameras. It automatically knows what you picked up, look at, and what you put back. Methods like this will become a norm soon and I predict that companies now have already begun thinking of implementing them.
Cannabis and NFTs
https://winnipegsun.com/cannabis-business/cannabis-and-nfts-heres-what-you-need-to-know
When NFT’s came into the scene, I thought it was a joke. Although, this month has shown that this is definitely not the case. After seeing how much money the likes of Logan Paul, TopShot, and Austin Matthews made from selling these non-fungible tokens, many cannabis companies have jumped on board.
Cannabis companies decided to celebrate 4/20 by creating their own NFTs to show off their products. The way I understood this method is that its similar to how fashion companies have fashion shows with clothing that they’re not retailing, rather they just want to show off their ideas and inspirations. NFTs are becoming the next big thing and more companies are using them in very creative and innovative ways. They will surely be something to keep an eye on.