To stay ahead of how their audiences and behaviours are evolving is challenging.
The UK marketing industry, like wider society, is forever trying to keep up with the rate of change. The constant evolution of new technologies that mean people interact with other people – and brands – in different ways.
This pace seems to be reflected in the rate of cultural and societal change, too. For new brands wanting to enter the market or for those more established, not planning a future-forward brand strategy that considers these issues is taking a huge risk. That’s where partnering with a creative marketing agency can help.
What are the risks of falling behind?
In an evolving marketplace, if your brand doesn’t adapt to the changes, you can be sure your competitors will. Without messaging that adapts to the changing preferences of your audience, the likelihood is that you’ll lack relevancy. This frequently results in the audience will no longer feel as connected to your brand, opening the door for a competitor. UK marketing companies will be ready to help you take advantage of the opportunities.
Whilst the rate of audience evolution might be slower for well-established brands, their audiences expectations are still changing. If they don’t meet this challenge head on, they risk becoming yesterday’s news.
Bottom line? Your bottom line will be affected. You’ll miss opportunities and experience a loss of customer engagement, reduced brand awareness, and curbed commercial success.
The political aphorism ‘When the herd moves, it moves’ is not only relevant to the prevailing view of shifting electoral opinion. It also describes consumer and audience behaviour. So if you aren’t moving ahead of the herd, you run the risk of being trampled.
Stay true to your core messages
Getting ahead of the curve doesn’t have to mean a state of constant flux though. This is a one-way route to chaos. Consistent, coherent brand strategy and messaging is crucial. Evolution is not revolution. Being ahead of the curve means evolving messaging to fit where the customer is heading but within the context of the brand’s core values and identity.
How can you stay ahead of the curve?
The most important step is developing a deep understanding of your audience, but in essence, it’s more than data crunching (although that’s a part of it!).
To truly know your audience is to understand their fears, hopes, communication channels, preferences. There is a need to – and this is the key part – engage in earnest. If audiences feel that they are being used or exploited, they will very quickly turn away. By engaging genuinely, connections are far more likely to be successful. As such, customers become advocates, share more, and, as a brand, you learn yet more about them making it far easier to take a temperature check and get a sense of where the audience is heading.
Not being afraid to experiment is another key feature for brands looking to get ahead of their audience. Successful brands are ones willing to test new ideas and set trends rather than let a competitor do it for them. Of course, experimentation needs to be at a level with which your audience is comfortable – dragging them to a position they are not ready for is not a good strategy.
However, pushing boundaries and keeping things fresh for the audience is a key way to be a conversation leader rather than follower, strengthening your brand’s market position and putting daylight between yourself and the competition.
Keeping ahead of the curve is an ongoing process – as the audience moves towards you, you need to continue moving forward or else be overtaken and then left behind. Knowing when to push, double down or pivot on messages – and having the capacity and ability to do so – is vital in keeping your brand ahead of the curve.
How Made can help
At Made, we have years of experience across multiple industries and sectors, in products and services, doing precisely this.
As your creative marketing agency partner, we’ll work with you to develop a strategy that gets you ahead of market trends, customer preferences and helps you embrace new technologies.
Our combination of creative and strategic thinking ensures your brand’s messages continue to resonate with the audience. However they evolve.
Get in touch today and let’s talk about a brand strategy that means you stay ahead of the curve.
