To stay ahead of changes businesses must continuously adapt – be it how they operate, motivate their team, manage finances or conduct communications with their target audience. While advertising and more traditional ways of communication are losing consumers’ trust, businesses that master the new ways of connecting with their audience will continue to evolve.
So what are some of the fast-growing trends that brands shouldn’t ignore?
The power of personal branding and thought leadership
While reports show that consumers in the GCC region are the most active media users globally, spending almost 10.9 hours a day consuming media content, it doesn’t mean that they will trust your messages right away. To earn that trust brands need to start tailoring the information when addressing their particular key audience as well as be knowledgeable, experienced..
Visual storytelling
Our lives are more digitally affected than ever before – people prefer to read less and consume the information more in a visual way. But how many brands are ready now to provide information in this way? This is one of the reasons to start paying more attention to developing visual content in 2017 – be it graphs, diagrams, images, slideshows or video clips.
Influencers vs. media
Reports show that 92% of us trust recommendations from individuals we may not even personally know! Eight in ten global respondents say they completely or somewhat trust word-of-mouth as well as the recommendations of friends and family. Thus, influencers and bloggers become a new more effective alternative to media and an integral part of any marketing campaign. This means that if brands don’t consider including an influencer marketing program into their communication plans for 2017, they risk being left behind.
Digital is the new king
Brochures, catalogs, and informational sheets about your company are becoming a thing of the past. The ‘era of mobile first’ dictates its rules with mobile, apps, Internet and social media to be the first touch points and a way of life for many people. As communication evolves and transforms, it’s important for brands to understand how the digital world is organised and to take benefits of the latest technologies to transfer messages to their key audience.