As lockdown is starting to ease across the world and attention is once again focussed on getting the economy going again, we are looking at what has changed for marketing leaders in the technology sector.
Flexible working is here to stay
Whether driven by corporate decisions to keep offices closed, workers feeling more empowered to request work flexibility or a new-found confidence that remote flexible working can actually work - one thing is clear: Flexible working is here to stay.
For marketing leaders this does throw up some challenges but an increase in flexible working also provides clear benefits. It offers the opportunity to create much stronger virtual teams to collaborate on projects because location is no longer an issue. And research shows, that a better work-life balance generally creates an environment of healthier, more positive people, and it shows in their work.
Shift to Digital
With events off the marketing table for the foreseeable future, focus has shifted to digital and we are seriously impressed with some of the new approaches we’ve seen for making digital work. Media suppliers have creative new ways to build audiences, online platforms offer new perspective for events (see the post Making the most of an event going digital) and digital teams are embracing the challenge. Our advice: Plan for each stage of the demand funnel, digital is not just an awareness and reach game so make sure you have plenty of tricks up your sleeve to engage, nurture and start conversations. Think about how to get your message heard through the online noise, and it’s more important now than ever to get the tone of that message right.
Content is King
Content always has been king; without it there’d be no story to tell. Nowadays, storytelling is just as much about imagery as it is about words. With an abundance of media platforms at their fingertips, customers are inundated and sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of digital content they receive. Make sure they click your post by creating a visual story across all your posts, think long term, not single piece of content.
Relevance is more important than ever
If your content doesn’t engage and enthral, it will be swiped, ignored and worse still, deleted within a matter of seconds.
Overcome this by wrapping your content in stories that are relevant to your customers industry verticals and local markets. Using the right terminology and the right language, this will help you demonstrate your understanding and empathy whilst capturing your customers attention. Remember: Imagery and words work in harmony to create a story that’s transferable across multiple channels.
Into the future
Of course, the situation is changing day by day, minute by minute, as we eagerly await further relaxations or an end to lockdown and the discovery of a vaccine so that life can truly go back to normal. With this in mind, our advice is to constantly review plans, to focus on short-term objectives but remain mindful about what needs to be in place to ensure success in the future too.
Are you ready to embrace the new normal? We can help so get in touch! hello@themarketingbee.com
Keep coming back to us for tips, best practice and shared learning about how you could optimise your e-mail and web marketing to better serve customers.