2019. End of the year. Traffic is light, half your office is on PTO, and the weather is too cold to stay outside for long. Which means it’s the perfect time to sit down at your desk and think about your Jewish, Kosher and Israel marketing strategy for 2019. And we’ve got five marketing trends for 2019 that are worth taking a look at.
And the timing couldn’t be better. We’re officially a little over 365 days until 2020! While the U.S. government may have just stopped working on the Y2K bug, there’s no reason your business should still be operating like you were in the year 2000. These trends will have you in a 2020 mindset in no time.
Customer Experience is Very 2019
80% of all businesses will be putting huge investments towards improving their customer experience. From personalization to customer service, in-store experience to post-purchase, smart companies are realizing more and more that trust and empathy will be the main driver for success
And it goes hand in hand with customer loyalty: 81% of companies will be focused on improving customer loyalty, which starts with trust from their customers. So how is your customer experience? Be truthful and honest with yourself about it.
Take the time to fully understand every step of your customer’s experience. If you’re a local fashion store, hire a Jewish advertising agency to act as a secret shopper. Let them try out the entire experience from a customer point-of-view and notate every pro and con of their journey.
If you’re an e-commerce operation, hire Jewish e-commerce marketers to QA your site’s user experience from visit to checkout to post-purchase. Look through your customer surveys again, Google Analytics data and CRM data (if you have available to you) for any upward or downward customer trends.
You could uncover some great opportunities or reduce major gaps right in time for the start of 2019, which is always better discovering them during the holiday season!.
Data-Driven Creativity Will Win The Day
Unlike the majority of Jewish marketing companies, our motto has always been “Strategy first, Creativity always” which means we integrate strategic data to determine and fuel our marketing creativity. Luckily for us, and our clients, 2019 is trending in our direction: according to McKinsey & Company, companies that unite data and creativity grow their revenues at twice the average rate of S&P 500 companies.
That’s great news for Myraj Media but not great news for designers and companies using ad agencies who aren’t data-centric.
Start with a very simple question: do I have enough data to back up my marketing strategy? In nearly every client study we encounter, the answer is “not even close.”
Many Jewish, Kosher and Israel businesses are either stuck in a FOMO cycle of print advertising (meaning they’re afraid to bail for fear of losing credibility) or they’re experimenting with new media too fast (for example, throwing dollars at influencers or video content without tracking or measuring results). The result in both cases is a lack of data to back up all that expensive creativity that doesn’t fulfill the promise of ROI.
Case in point: EZKosher.com, the once-promising online Kosher marketplace with lovely branding and sleek mobile-friendly website. EZKosher.com went belly up real fast once they realized their fun design wasn’t matched with a strong e-commerce marketing strategy, where data is the single driver of growth (just ask their competitor Instacart, who’s data-driven strategy is quietly challenging Amazon & Whole Foods).
Design without data is simply a great looking piece of art and great artwork won’t help your business compete in 2019.
Place data at the forefront of all your 2019 design and marketing decisions and you’ll outgrow your competitors and build customer loyalty. Don’t know where to start? Well, you’re reading this article so that’s step number one. Step two: let’s chat.
Stores, Meet E-Commerce. E-Commerce, Meet Stores.
Did you happen to catch the Wayfair pop-up store in the Garden State Plaza mall in Bergen County? Yes, that Wayfair, the huge e-commerce operation that’s my go-to source for furniture and home decor. They opened a store.
And if you’re eyes rolled back in shock at why they would sink money into a brick-and-mortar location, sink your teeth into this data: according to research firm IDC, consumers that shop both online and in-store have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel.
Having a storefront and an e-commerce operation can grow customer lifetime value faster than just operating one solo operation. And although Wayfair went brick-and-mortar for the holiday, your Kosher restaurant, Judaica store or fashion boutique can improve customer value and loyalty simply by establishing an e-commerce presence.
And even if you’re not online yet, you’re still in a good place considering 72% of digital shopper consider the in-store experience the most important channel when making a purchase.
Start examining ways to build out new channels, be it storefronts or an e-commerce operation. One of the biggest challenges is maintaining a seamless customer experience (see trend above) in-store and online so be sure to bring in a data-driven Jewish marketing team who excel in creating complementary customer experiences online and offline.
Embrace Omni-Channel Marketing
Yes, omni-channel marketing sounds like a big endeavor (which means a big expense) but it doesn’t need to be. Let’s break it down using Hubspot’s easy to understand definition: Omni-channel experience is a multi-channel approach to marketing, selling, and serving customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out.
Essentially, be where your customer is (desktop, mobile, phone, brick-and-mortar) and provide a seamless experience for them within their channel of choice. Want to see who’s killing it in omni-channel? Hubspot’s got the best ones here (no surprise that my favorite out-of-office office Starbucks is on this list!)
Now, I didn’t say DO omni-channel marketing, I said embrace it. Which means that you should think about ways to improve your customer experience in new channels.
Integrate your traditional phone customer service with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp so you can be reached more easily. Add a chatbot to your website to allow visitors to ask you product questions directly, improving their chances of purchase. 43% of customers use their mobile device while in-store shopping so ensure your POS is aligned to show real-time inventory for both in-store and online shoppers.
Take steps now to investigate what data, investments or staff you want to truly be omni-channel. The digital-savvy 2019 customer is already omni-channel and you’ll need to get there sooner or later.
Think Hard About Your Moral Marketing
Facebook. Google. Papa John’s. Starbucks (still my favorite.) Nike. These are just some of the brands who’ve faced a marketing crisis around morality, privacy or branding in 2018. With social media powering good publicity yet supercharging bad publicity, a small morality crisis can quickly become a major threat to your company.
So ask yourself: what marketing trends do I want to stand for in 2019? It’s possible you don’t need to stand for anything in particular but it’s worth thinking about it for a while. From young D2C’s (direct-to-consumer) brands to established conglomerates, morality marketing has taken on a whole new importance in front of a millennial marketplace.
Whole Foods continues to stand for sustainable, organic food that is naturally sourced. AllBirds ensures their wool shoes are sourced from healthy, happy sheep and recycled products. Sugarfina empowers women entrepreneurs and drive social change. Morality marketing helps these brands drive customer loyalty and positive brand awareness by creating social, communal and moral change.
At the very least, creating a moral footprint in your marketing may help expose your brand to new audiences. But be careful not to alienate your best customers with radical changes.
TO SUM IT UP: 2019 is almost here and it’s time to take a good hard look if you’re operating in modern digital times or haven’t broken out of the Y2K years. Luckily, our strategy-first, data-driven Jewish marketing agency will help you implement all these trends seamlessly. Let’s get it done together.
