5 Tips for Future-Proofing Your Marketing Strategy

How can you ensure your marketing strategy stays relevant in the future? Look at how much and how fast marketing has changed over the past decade.

In this ever-evolving space, if you aren’t trying to anticipate what’s coming, you might get left behind.

That's what future-proofing is all about: structuring your current strategy in a way that is not only effective now, but will continue to be in the future as well. Here are five tips you can use to future-proof your marketing strategy today.

Tip #1 Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

Every business needs a website — everyone knows that. But today, practically everyone has a computer in their pocket, and that's what they are using to visit your website. This is even truer in Singapore, where 84% of the population is online.

This means you must pay just as much, or even more attention to how your website is displayed on mobile. Is the design responsive, i.e. does it automatically adjust to the user’s screen size? Is it easy to scroll through and navigate? Are the fonts and buttons appropriately sized for mobile? What about the menu — is it short and sweet enough for mobile navigation?

A mobile-friendly website is also an important Google ranking factor.

Tip #2 Optimise for Google’s Ranking Algorithms

The search wars are long over. Google is the undisputed king, controlling over 90% of global market share. If you aren't on Google, you're as good as invisible.

That's where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in. At its core, SEO is a list of best practices a website should follow to increase its chances of appearing higher on Google search results. While the list is comprehensive (and constantly updated as Google tweaks its algorithms), it all comes down to Google's driving principle — delivering the most relevant results to the searcher.

SEO can be complex, and there are many professionals out there who can help you with the nitty-gritty. One key area they can help you with is keyword research: identifying the phrases potential customers search for which might lead them to your website.

Once you know which keywords to target, the next step is creating relevant content around that keyword.

Tip #3 Make Use of Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the practice of creating valuable content to stimulate interest in your products and services. Content doesn’t mean only written content — it could be in video or even audio format (e.g. podcasts). As for an example of content marketing — well, you’re reading it right now.

In addition to giving your brand a voice and establishing credibility, content marketing can also improve your Google rankings. One, content length tends to correlate with better rankings. Two, good content increases the length of time a user spends on your website — a critical ranking factor.

Although Google is important, it is unwise to solely rely on it. You need to diversify your marketing strategies.

Tip #4 Keep an Active Social Media Presence

We shouldn't need to tell you how powerful social media is. Facebook has over 2.38 billion active monthly users, with Singapore having over 4 million users. Instagram commands about half that number, both globally and locally.

Social media gives you more than just an online presence. It’s also an engagement platform. Unlike your website, people can interact with you directly. This allows your business to connect with your customers, making it seem more personal — an advantage you should not ignore.

One caveat: take the effort to keep your social media channels active. Inactive channels can make it seem like your business is not doing well (even if it is). This is definitely a perception you want to avoid.

Tip #5 Don't Forget About Email

Despite all the changes in internet communication, email still retains its primacy. It also offers some distinct advantages over other forms of marketing.

First, it's targeted. The fact customers have given you their email address means they are at least interested in what you are offering. In fact, 49% of customers in the US say they like receiving weekly promotional emails from their favourite brands.

A study by Emarsys also found small to medium businesses rely more on email marketing (81%) than social media (51%) for acquisition, as well as for retention (80% vs 44% respectively).

Use These 3 Apps to Track Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Keeping the above tips in mind will help to future-proof your marketing strategy. The next step to succeeding in digital marketing is tracking your progress. As the saying goes, what gets measured, gets managed.

Google Analytics
This shows you almost every metric you can think of for your website: how much traffic it gets, where the traffic is coming from, how long users spend on your site, which pages are the most popular, and much more. If you haven't installed Google Analytics on your site, you can do so for free.

MailChimp
If you do email marketing (and you should), MailChimp is a potential tool to get you started. It allows you to automate most of the process, an important requirement for scalability. Although a paid tool, it also comes with a range of customisation tools, enabling you to split test various email campaigns, collect invaluable data, and further improve your marketing efforts.

Shopify
If you plan to sell products via your website or are already doing so, then Shopify might be what you need. It is a platform that enables you to quickly and easily set up an online store — no experience required. Further, it is the market leader in this space, with customers praising its user-friendliness and low cost.