Top Marketing Trends for Small Irish Businesses

In 2021, like 2020, Ireland will have to face the fear of going out (FOGO) rather than the fear of missing out (FOMO). There are many who will still be scared to venture out into shopping malls and crowded places and will be wary of using public transport.
As a small business owner, you must know that in order to thrive in this highly competitive market, you will need to adapt to future trends early on. Here is what you can expect.

1. Artificial Intelligence

At least 42% of marketers believe they are not too good at segmentation for digital experiences. AI can effectively dissect and analyse behavioural and demographic as compared to humans doing it manually. It can learn about every detail of the personal preference of a user. Their profile information, purchases, demographic information, or browsing history, may be taken into account by an app to help and support you with what you need.

2. Chatbots

With regards to chatbots, 80% of sales and marketing leaders said they already used these in their customer experience methods, or plan to do so.

“I think chatbots and voice bots may become the future of commerce, as it relates to Gen Z. We optimize for efficiency and grew up on on-demand services, such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, etc. Therefore, we expect the same when shopping. What better way to do that than interacting and shopping via chatbots and voice bots? That completely changes the game. It is a whole new experience. It makes online shopping less tiresome and interactive and fun again!“ — Tiffany Zhong, Founder & CEO of Zebra Intelligence.

3. Influencer Marketing

According to Tomoson data, influencer marketing was the fastest-growing customer acquisition channel, beating organic search, paid search, and email marketing. It was also the most cost-effective. “Businesses are making $6.50 for each $1 spent on influencer marketing, with the top 13% earning $20 or more. A resounding 70% are earning $2 or more, with the rest either breaking even or failing to generate a return on investment” — Tomoson says. You can find influencers for small businesses, for your industry as well.

4. In-Email purchases with targeting

“Subscribers will be able to make purchases right inside a marketing campaign, without ever leaving their inboxes. Campaigns will offer more of an app-like experience, too, with embedded video and other interactivity” — says Tom Klein, Vice President of Marketing at MailChimp.

MailChimp already has a plan in action where their users have access to more data which will allow them to do super-sophisticated targeting based on a person’s purchase history, Google search, most visited websites, most used apps, customer service interactions, and much more.

5. Social Media Marketing

Ads on social media drove 49% of app downloads in 2015 (Google/Ipsos Survey). All social media platforms have an option to run ads that show app installs as a call-to-action button. Make sure to make use of that feature. Sponsored posts on social media are an effective way to market your business. This a cheap yet highly effective way to get your business out there.

As a parting note, we would say, it is imperative that your business the questions and problems of the target audience more than anything else. That will be the best way to stand out once your marketing strategy hits the ground.