As plans get underway for 2018, what follows are the business trends of 2018 you should be aware of as we inch closer to the new year:
- We are in an experience economy, archaic rules of engagement no longer apply
The coming new year, anticipates a shift from Total Quality Management to Total Experience Management. The success of the companies will depend on their ability to deliver quality products seamlessly and consistently. This will improve the customer loyalty and assure top rank in the market. As commodification has been rampant across industry sector, the price points offered by companies are extremely difficult to differentiate, as a result, engaging a customer with passion has become the main driving force towards a winning experience.
Consequently, marketers are tasked to initiate potential interactions with customers that transcends a mere transaction. To achieve this, they must not spoil the customer experience with the “sale” threshold, but to slowly lure them in. This lure must have the ability to take vital inputs regarding the whereabouts of the brand and convert them into experiences that create lasting emotional connections. This type of thinking will no doubt be the definition for competitive advantage in the business trends of 2018.
Rational engagement implies to impulses sent from the brain, whereas emotional engagement implies to impulses sent from the heart. Nowadays, in this mechanical lifestyle, if you can create emotion and sell it properly you’ll create a winning experience. This can be achieved through artful storytelling and digital marketing, which will be the new mantra for the marketers in 2018.
The new art of emotional engagement needs you to be an active listener, you must be willing to hear what your customer craves for and offer them stories with which they feel connected and emotionally engaged. This single shift to focus on an economy governed by engagement and experience has ushered the era of digital marketing driven by strategic digital marketing analytics rather than raw creativity.
If you want to gain a competitive advantage in the marketing world in the year ahead, then you must use the fact-based insights the marketing world provides to transform storytelling into key business ethics that generates content experience bringing your brand to life.
- In the age of experience, EVERYONE is a customer.
For commerce to succeed in this new era, organizations must employ creative storytelling that would not only create a winning experience, but also move products, improve engagement and retain employees. The key aspect to realize today is that everyone inside or outside the organization needs to be considered as a customer with the growing need to connect with them emotionally.