2009 Marketing Trends Considered Most Important

January 15, 2009 by Marge
Filed under SEO | SEM

2009 Marketing Trends A very interesting survey/report came out that had some information you may be able to use in creating your marketing strategies. With the economic times being what they are and your customers being tighter with their wallets — in many cases becoming smarter before they open them up, it is critical that you make sure to offer the value and confidence they need to choose to do business with you.

I’ll list the Top 10 and provide my thoughts and considerations for you to ponder.

The Top 10 Buzzwords or Trends Considered Most Important

Customer Satisfaction 79%: This should go without saying but is more important than ever. If your customers do not feel they are getting their money’s worth they can easily get their heads turned by your competitors with offers of more perceived value. This is where Extreme Customer Service comes in! Customer service can give you an edge!
Customer Retention 76%: Customers are more comfortable with consistency and predictability when it comes to their partners. Look for ways to keep in touch with your customer base on a regular basis. “Check In” with them every so often to remind them you are there if they need you. Then, when you do hear from them — see #1 above.
Marketing ROI 65%: Part of running any business is experiencing a return on your investment. When it comes to marketing, especially online, the only way to determine your ROI is to test and track. If you don’t track your efforts to know the results, you won’t know what you are doing right — or wrong for that matter. You have to know what efforts are converting into business otherwise you are operating in the dark.
Brand Loyalty 61%: Brand loyalty can only be achieved if you work at having a brand! Many I work with neglect simple steps that can be taken consistently in their daily online activities that can contribute to their branding. The first that comes to mind is using your site’s dot com as an e-mail address in lieu of your aol, gmail or yahoo account.
Segmentation 61%: Sit down and look at your overall product or service offering. Then create a list of the top 3 groups of people who would use your product or service. Once you have this information in front of you, create 3 specific programs or strategies that cater to each. You simply cannot be everything to everybody; nor should you try. By identifying your top 3 business segments and acknowledging their needs, desires and expectations, you are then better able to cater to and grow each segment.
Quality 56%: This is a nobrainer. If you do not offer quality in everything you do, you won’t succeed. Nuff said.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 48%: Less than half surveyed felt this to be important. I can understand why. If you check for SEO companies one would think it is a science fair project to integrate and implement. It really isn’t. So much of SEO is plain old common sense, understanding of how search engines work with a combination of good writing skills. With a little effort to acquire basic SEO knowledge, you can easily work on your site’s content and improve your rankings. Just do a search on this site for “search engines” and read, learn and apply.
Competitive Intelligence 43%: You want to know what is going on in your marketing or industry so you can discover trends and strategies that you may be able to use to your advantage. You can easily do this by setting up Google Alerts and have this information delivered to your inbox.
Data Mining 43%: This is an activity that contributes to you understanding the “big picture.” So often we live in our own “little world dot com” that we neglect to see the big picture and relate that to our enterprise. Review this page on Data Mining, to get an overview of what it is, involves and how you can use it to your advantage.
Lead Generation 43%: Online marketing is all about lead generation. But you will not generate leads if you aren’t out there participating and/or if you don’t have a site that encourages site visitors to contact you. Without either you’ve won’t get those all important leads.