Camilla Camilla videos“Make them so curious, they can’t ignore it or resist opening it.”
— Email marketing influencer and creator of “The Copy Cure” Laura Belgray

If you’re like most people, you check your inbox throughout the day, but open and read only a few emails. Which do you open, and why? If you knew how your email recipients answer that question, you’d be conversion royalty.

To achieve stellar open rates and conversions, marketers must tap today’s email marketing superpower: hyper-personalization. That’s just marketing speak for content written to individual humans rather than “audiences”, and delivered on whatever device, session, or browser those humans are using at the moment you reach out.

Like email marketing entrepreneur Marie Forleo, who leveraged this insight to go from Jersey bartender to best-selling author and coach, you can create hyper-personalized emails that turn prospects into passionate brand evangelists who help grow your business.

We’ll show you how to use this timeless tool to convert customers — B2C or B2B — on all your verticals and keep them scanning their inbox for more.

Does Email Marketing Strategy Still Work?

“Your customers don’t care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves.”
― Content Marketing Institute founder, Joe Pulizzi

Email marketing strategy may seem old school to chasers of “the next big thing” in our lightning-fast tech turnover era. Rather than fading away, however, email marketing has been evolving and mellowing like aged wine. If A/B tested and finessed correctly, it can deliver the hyper-personalized empathy that makes customers click.

No longer just a blunt tool for extending offers and generating leads, email marketing is a long-term relationship builder — companies that leverage it enjoy higher sales and cost-effectiveness.

According to Campaign Monitor, email marketing generates an ROI of 4,400%.

Social media may be all the rage, but it only averages a 0.58% engagement rate. Email marketing strategy outperforms social media, SEO, and PPC strategies. Salesforce found that, across all industries, email boasts:

• 85% recipient reach
• 22.9% average open rate
• 3.7% click-through rate

Not seeing those numbers at your company? You’re not alone. According to B2B Content Marketing 2020: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, the majority of B2B marketers do achieve brand awareness and audience education, but they aren’t building lasting relationships with prospects and current customers to promote re-purchases — yet. Read on to surpass that majority.

Why Create an Email Marketing Strategy?

“Many people ask, ‘Can marketing strategists and digital marketing strategists be used interchangeably?’ No — a marketing strategist is different from a digital marketing strategist.
— Uhuru President and digital marketing thought leader, Vanessa Rodriguez Lang

Once you realize that 319.6 billion emails are projected to be sent daily in 2021, and that 73% of marketers surveyed by Campaign Monitor say email marketing contributed heavily to conversions, you’ll know why you’ve got to get started.

Like everyone else in your organization, you prioritize sales and revenue. If your executives are email marketing skeptics, show them the data and help them understand that a rigorously tested, empathic, and creative email marketing strategy can increase revenue by:

• Aligning sales and marketing: When your sales and marketing teams are on the same page and thoroughly understand the pain points and personas they’re speaking to — both verbally and digitally — your brand messaging will be consistent and resonate memorably with your current and future customers.
• Gathering and managing lead intelligence data: When you do a deep dive to understand your future customers, why they need your services, and how they respond to each touchpoint, you can adjust your messaging to make it more authentic while nudging them through their buying journey more effectively.
• Distributing and segmenting your content: In order to send the right message to the right people at the right time in their buyer’s journey, you’ll need to produce an email nurture campaign with multiple sequences for each distinct persona you discover. Those who drop off after a certain touchpoint may prove to be a new persona that requires different authentic messaging.
• Tracking, measuring, and analyzing: Since you can’t be sure exactly when you’ll get the business from each of your campaigns, you should define and track relevant metrics in real time to observe the behaviors of “buyers-in-waiting.” According to B2B Content Marketing 2020: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, 83% of highly successful content marketers use KPIs to measure content initiatives (only 30% of less-successful ones do so).
• Shortening your sales cycle: Targeting the right person at the right stage in their buyer’s journey means only sending messages that are relevant at the moment, encouraging customers to convert sooner — while spending less time and resources courting them.
• Increasing staff efficiency: When your team isn’t trying to pursue mass markets in hopes of stumbling upon the customer who needs your services, they can channel time and resources into educating and managing only those prospects with promising behaviors.
• Improving cost-effectiveness: When you achieve the efficiency wins above, your costs — both financial and labor — will decrease, along with your stress.

To achieve these goals as quickly and effectively as possible, make sure to get a digital marketing strategist on your team ASAP.

Short-Term or Long-Term Email Marketing Strategy?

“Loosen up. Authenticity trumps perfection when connecting with readers.”
― Epic Content Marketing Institute founder, Joe Pulizzi

The duration of your email marketing strategy should always be informed by authenticity: what are the recipients in each buyer’s journey phase feeling and needing? How do they prefer to define, explore, and resolve their pain points?

With authenticity and empathy as your guides, define the purpose of each campaign. Is it to introduce your brand to fresh leads who know nothing about you and who aren’t yet aware that they need you? Is it to engage and further educate brand connections, followers, or clients who are familiar with your offerings, but may not be prepared to leverage them at the moment?

If you’re marketing exotic desserts for foodies and dessert connoisseurs who are already seeking new taste sensations from across the globe, a short-term email marketing strategy brimming with immediacy and product detail is ideal.

A demographic that isn’t as well versed in exotic foods and desserts, on the other hand, may not yet be aware of your product’s value. It requires a longer strategy that aligns with, then expands their dessert aspirations before fulfilling their freshly activated appetites.

Re-engaging leads who’ve gone cold after interacting with or downloading your content requires a short-term middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel email marketing strategy. Attract the attention of B2B or B2C prospects quickly by reminding them about the content they’ve already enjoyed, learned from, or interacted with.

Re-engage them with three to four emails expanding on that original content by requesting feedback. For e-commerce sites, you can bring in sales with product details, testimonials, or special offers delivered in interactive emails.

Strategizing a campaign for fresh, top-of-funnel prospects who are merging toward the middle requires a longer, educational sales cycle that will gradually nudge prospects closer to a “maybe” or a “yes.” Keep your brand fresh in their minds by nurturing them with 7–10 empathy- and data-packed emails.

Vertical-Specific Email Marketing Strategies

“Don’t push people to where you want them to be; meet them where they are.”
— VP Marketing HubSpot, Meghan Keaney Anderson

Whether you’re targeting B2B, B2C, or e-commerce prospects, always talk to your future business partners or customers like you would to your friend or neighbor in a specific industry, with a specific amount of expertise and a specific attention span.

All email strategies leverage automation to nurture leads through the same stages (top-, middle-, and bottom-of-the-funnel).

Turning website visitors into B2C leads and guiding them through the often sporadic buyer’s journey requires lead-nurturing automation to make these actions quick and easy:

• Subscribing to emails
• Downloading content offers
• Sharing feedback
• Acting on cross-selling and up-selling offers

E-Commerce leads should be nurtured with automation to achieve:

• Post-cart-abandonment re-engagement
• Recommendations and review displays
• Repurchase opportunities

B2B lead nurturing leverages automation with:

• Useful, actionable content offers
• Onboarding and subscription functions
• Win-back campaigns designed to re-engage lapsed customers

In all verticals, segmenting your campaigns to send only the content that each recipient type is truly interested in will net you the biggest return.

Email Marketing Tactics vs. Email Marketing Strategy

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
— ancient Chinese philosopher and military strategist, Sun Tzu

Successful email marketing requires spending just as much time and energy on strategy as you do on tactics.

Strategy reflects the high-level intent — the “what” and “why” behind your large scale plan and long-term framework. Strategizing requires outward focus on the future direction your organization has defined in its mission, goals, and key performance indicators.

Leadership defines a strategy that may include revenue and reputation assessment goals. It may define a specific dollar or target market or industry award win, but it provides no detailed plans on how to execute and achieve those goals.

Tactical plans are the “how” which channel strategic intent into action. They clearly define smaller-scale, short-term, easy-to-follow frameworks. Tactical plan specialists are usually inward-looking managers who execute strategy by defining how the concrete implementations align with the strategic direction. Their primary focus is efficiency — executing high-quality campaigns with the fewest resources — which requires strict adherence to timelines.

Creating an Email Marketing Strategy

“Quality content is brimming with … relentless empathy for the audience.”
— MarketingProfs CCO Ann Handley

Your industry and business will determine whether the overarching goal of your email marketing strategy will be to re-engage leads, nurture leads, create brand awareness, or drive traffic to your websites to generate sales.

The immediate goal of any email marketing strategy is to elicit an action from your prospects — whether that’s visiting your website, reading your content, signing up for your webinar, scheduling a strategy session, or purchasing your product or service. To close more deals and increase revenue, you’ve got to build trust in your solutions with each email.

To achieve those goals, hone these strategies carefully:

• Lead magnet selection: Incentivizing people to submit their email address requires choosing the offer (downloadable PDF, report, e-book, video, checklist, or self-assessment) that addresses their needs or pain points via email sequences that usher them gently through your funnel. If you solve a problem or promise a quick win, they’ll be back.
• Relevant campaign structuring: Present only the content that’s relevant to your prospect at each buyer’s journey stage: awareness, consideration, decision, and retention. Expose them to your message and your value gradually, in increments that mirror their mindset.
• Email length: This choice will be dependent on your business, sales cycle, and funnel structure. If the value of your product or service requires specialized knowledge or scientific research to explain, do so succinctly.
• Email frequency: When your leads are fresh and your offerings are new to them, they’ll enjoy more frequent emails and you’ll remain top-of-mind. After you’ve made a lasting impression and they’ve fully understood your value, slow down your nurture campaign so you don’t overwhelm them with a hard-sell tone.

According to Invesp, it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current one, so think before you send. Get inside their hearts and minds before you write.

Executing Email Marketing Tactics

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”
— Marketing guru and best-selling author, Seth Godin

Before deciding on new email nurture tactics, do an audit to determine whether any old blogs, podcasts, live streams, or webinars can be repurposed into stories that address the current needs, desires, and pain points of your prospects.

Hearing the story of someone who has resolved a similar dilemma can comfort struggling readers. A detailed behind-the-scenes story of how your product is sourced or manufactured can inspire curious readers. All readers remember stories of victory and transformation — and where they found those stories.

Case studies and testimonials bring real people with real problems to the fore and humanize even dry, technical products or services. Frequently asked questions are appreciated, but some products and services require interviews with trusted experts who infuse new brands with authority.

A/B testing all your campaigns is the most effective tactic you can employ, no matter which form your content takes. If open rates aren’t thrilling you, test shorter and longer, more direct and more nuanced subject lines. Try different ways of personalizing your message — direct appeals aren’t always preferred over intrigue, suspense, or humor. Step inside your prospect’s shoes and walk in them for a while to understand the journey.

How To Level Up Your Email Marketing Strategy

Here are a few basic tools and capabilities you’ll need to secure before creating a successful email marketing campaign.

Marketing Automation Software

The software you choose should be built by marketers, like the creators of HubSpot. Make sure it features advanced segmentation logic to let you know exactly who enrolls in your workflows and when.

It should allow you to personalize your emails for each recipient using specific details from your contacts database or CRM, and to create automated messages or sequential email series that don’t appear sporadic. Once you’ve got the platform implemented, you’ll need a content development team to fill in the content.

Content Strategist

A content strategist determines the goals and KPIs, structures the flow and branching logic of each campaign, then tracks and reports results. If they’re not satisfied with the number of conversions, strategists will A/B test various options and continue tracking until they achieve the desired results. The strategist outlines the purpose each message serves for each persona in each stage.

Copywriter

A copywriter studies your persona and buyer journey stage as well as your product or service to extract pain points and solutions. Then, they make the “why” and the “how” sound like a personal note from a friend or colleague. Most importantly, the copywriter crafts the subject lines — which should be A/B tested rigorously — that inspire people to open their emails.

Designer

Nobody wants to read an email that’s not aesthetically pleasing. A designer lays out each email with graphics, images, GIFs, videos, or interactive features to make it easy on the eye. The colors, fonts, and outlines a designer chooses influence the reader consciously and subconsciously — so design is both an art and a science.

Start Your Successful Email Marketing Strategy Today

Executing a successful email nurture campaign is not an exact science. It takes rigorous research, marketing savvy, and creative instinct to achieve conversion goals that make the effort worthwhile.

If you don’t have the right technology, talent, and strategic experience in-house, it may take a bit longer, but you won’t be sorry you invested in an email marketing strategy.

Need help getting started? Reach out for a complimentary email audit with our email marketing strategists here.

Camilla Camilla leak

Big Changes Are Coming

It can be hard to catch your breath in the digital world. Just as you got settled in, Facebook announced big changes for their platform with the impending iOS 14 update. These changes can seem daunting for any marketer — but we eat digital for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we’re more than happy to share what we’ve discovered with the new iOS 14 update so you can prepare!

iOS 14 Update — What’s Changing?

Apple’s iOS 14 update may affect tracking and conversion reporting in ad campaigns for many advertisers. The iOS 14 update is going to shake up the way Facebook reports on attribution; it’s possible that advertisers will see underreported conversions. We’ll go over what’s changing and provide you with some crucial action items that will minimize negative impacts on your accounts.

With the iOS 14 update, Apple has made changes to the way Facebook receives and processes conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel. According to Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) framework, apps that track user data will be required to display a prompt to iOS 14 users (more details on that can be found here).

Unless people opt in to tracking on iOS 14 updated devices via the prompt, Apple’s policy will prohibit certain data collection and sharing. Ad personalization and performance reporting for both app and web conversion events will be limited as more people opt out of tracking on iOS 14 updated devices.

Aggregated Event Measurement

With the iOS 14 update, Facebook will begin using Aggregated Event Measurement to process pixel conversion events. Aggregated Event Measurement allows Facebook to track conversions for opted-out iOS 14 users while still respecting their privacy. Advertisers will be able to send up to eight separate pixel events or conversions from a single website domain via the Facebook pixel and rank them according to priority with aggregated event measurement. Only the highest priority event or conversion will be sent if a user performs several actions within a conversion window.

Conversion Events

After the iOS 14 update, your pixel will only optimize for a maximum of eight conversion events for each domain. Facebook suggests that you classify the eight conversion events that are most relevant to key business results and evaluate whether your campaign or measurement plan needs to be adjusted. These might include things like purchases, landing page views, lead form submissions, or any custom conversions you have set up for your domain.

Facebook will set up the conversion events they believe are most relevant to your business, but you will be able to update these yourself in Business Manager. Only one of the eight conversion events will be optimized when you create your ad set.

Ad sets that were optimizing for a pixel conversion event that is no longer available after the iOS 14 update will be disabled. If an event isn’t configured as one of the domain’s eight conversion cases, it can still be used for partial reporting in Ads Manager and the creation of custom audiences.

Changes in Reporting

Delayed Reporting

Once the iOS 14 update is live, real-time reporting will no longer be supported, and data can be delayed up to three days. Web conversion events will be reported based on the time the conversions occur as opposed to the time of ad impression.

Estimated Results

Statistical modeling may be used to account for conversions from iOS 14 users on web conversion events. This means that the data reported may not reflect a precise one-to-one match with actual results.

No Support for Breakdowns

Delivery and action breakdowns such as age, gender, region, and placement will no longer be supported for both app and web conversion events.

Attribution Window Settings

The attribution window for all new or active ad campaigns will be set at the ad set level rather than the account level after the iOS 14 update. The available attributions window settings will include the following options:

• 1-day click
• 7-day click (default after Apple prompt enforcement)
• 1-day click and 1-day view
• 7-day click and 1-day view (initial default)
• 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows will not be supported for active campaigns

What Does This Mean for You — How To Prepare for the Update

With the iOS 14 update looming on the horizon, it is crucial that advertisers and brands take these steps to mitigate the impacts of these changes.

Action Items Checklist

• Verify your business
  • Your business must require access to certain products and features in order to begin business verification. Note that you won’t be able to click the “Start Verification” button unless your business is “not yet verified.” You must be an admin of the Business Manager account to submit an ID for verification.
  • Facebook will require you to go through business verification and claim responsibility for your Page if it has a large U.S. audience or runs ads about social issues, elections, or politics in the U.S.
• Verify your domain
  • Domain verification helps Facebook ensure that only the rightful parties can edit link previews that direct to your content.
• Activate native conversion tracking
  • Facebook’s conversion tracking tools may be limited by the iOS 14 update, but there are still third-party tools you can use to get valuable information on your conversion data.
• Plan and prioritize your eight key conversion events
  • In Events Manager, set up eight preferred web conversion events per domain. Domains are limited to eight conversion events that can be used for campaign optimization with Aggregated Event Measurement. Based on your activity, Facebook will set up the conversion events they think are most important to your business.
  • Events that aren’t configured as one of the eight conversion events for a domain can still be used for partial reporting in Advertising Manager and website custom audience targeting, even though they can’t be used for optimization.
  • These events must be ranked in order of importance. Users who opt out of tracking will still pass the highest-ranked event back to Facebook.

Weathering the Storm

If you familiarize yourself with these changes and take the steps we laid out to prepare, you and your clients will be well-positioned when the iOS 14 update officially rolls out on Facebook.

There’s a lot changing in the Facebook ecosystem, but while these changes present some challenges to overcome, they also provide opportunities to test new marketing tactics and platform features. You can be sure that as we test and learn more about the effect that the iOS 14 update will have on marketing and advertising, we will report back to you with our observations and recommendations.

Once you have made all the necessary preparations for the iOS 14 update, familiarize yourself with tips and best practices for what you can do to optimize your ads and meet your Facebook ad performance goals. Check out our detailed guide on proven ways to improve Facebook ad performance!

In the wise words of Oprah Winfrey: “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

2020 was a whirlwind of a year on a personal and business level. Business processes changed, strategies were scratched, and pivots were crucial — but the good news is, we have another chance at a great year.

If 2020 was the year of change, let’s make 2021 the year of growth.

We’ll discuss the new trends in marketing and our predictions for 2021 — plus, how you can adopt these trends to position yourself for growth in 2021.

Prediction #1: Full Lifecycle Marketing Will Be More Important Than Ever

One of the new trends in marketing we’re seeing is the importance of full lifecycle marketing.

Often, businesses make the mistake of focusing on conquering the sale and forget to take care of clients after the sale — but the customer journey doesn’t end there.

Insert full lifecycle marketing; it’s the way of the future.

This doesn’t mean that providing top, middle, and bottom of the funnel strategy is any less important than it has been; it just means you have to focus on all stages equally, even the post-sale.

Offering multiple content types like blog posts, ads, and infographics is necessary to support full lifecycle marketing efforts. All stages of the funnel are created equal and need proper attention.

Related Article: Tips to Build a Full Inbound Conversion Funnel

According to keap, full lifecycle marketing is the process of providing your audience with the type of communications and experiences they want, need, or prefer as they move from prospects to customers — and hopefully on to advocates.

Imagine the typical sales funnel illustration — it has a funnel that includes the top of the funnel (TOFU, also known as the awareness stage), middle of the funnel (MOFU, or consideration stage), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU, or decision stage). In this traditional sales funnel, the decision stage would be where it “ends”, after a prospect makes a purchase; there is no selling or support after the sale.

Related article: The Buyer’s Journey Stages: Types of Content to Create for Each

However in full lifecycle marketing, there is an extra part built onto the end of the funnel. It’s kind of like a mirrored version of the funnel, but not as long. This additional part gives customers support during the retention (or “after-the-sale”) stage.

When you give full lifecycle support to your customers, you’re creating advocates and helping them through all stages of the funnel — and beyond.

Our clients have seen amazing ROI when applying all stages of the funnel to their marketing strategy, including TOFU, MOFU, BOFU, and post-sale stages.

To support all of these stages, our team members worked on increasing customer lifetime value, repeat purchases, product subscription strategies, and loyalty email campaigns for our clients.

We’ve seen clients receive consecutive six-figure sales months after working with our team for five months by implementing full-funnel strategies.

These results came from our understanding of the full lifecycle funnel and our knowledge of how to implement it successfully.

With the first-hand information we’ve seen and the happiness our clients have shared with us, we predict that a focus on full lifecycle marketing will not slow down.

Uhuru predictions for 2021 full lifecycle marketing:

• Major platforms will continue to reduce the learning curves for advertising, making ad campaigns easier to execute for the brands that have genuine value and awesome products to offer.
• Social advertising algorithms will be better than ever at targeting the right audience at the right time. This will limit the amount of time it takes for Ads Managers to test several settings, optimizations, and “secret strategies” to achieve results.
• Online shoppers will become savvier than ever, demanding more value and better ad experiences before buying.
• Brands that focus on full lifecycle marketing will succeed.

Consider digital marketing partners that can engineer your entire brand experience:

• Website conversion optimization
• Ad creative
• Ad campaigns
• Upsell opportunities
• Email campaigns
• Loyalty campaigns

Due to a shift in the e-commerce landscape, we’ve structured our teams to deliver the full lifecycle experience and help brands grow and engineer the right experiences — from the first impression to repeat purchases.

We focus on creating entire brand experiences — from the awareness stage to the post-sale — including website conversion optimization, ad creative, ad campaigns, upsell opportunities, email campaigns, and loyalty campaigns.

Are you interested in learning more about a paid media strategy? Schedule a free paid media assessment here.

Prediction #2: SEO Will Have To Be Highly Optimized To Get Ranked

The second new trend we are seeing in the marketing space is highly-optimized SEO efforts.

In December of 2021, Google released a new broad core algorithm update that threw many companies for a loop — some saw effects worse than the May 2020 update.

This new Google update affects a site’s keyword rankings, including organic loss or gain. From what we’ve seen with this update so far, Google is likely getting better at identifying what a page of content is about and pointing out major subjects within the content — in other words, Google is getting even smarter.

So, what does this Google update really mean for SEO?

It means that it will have to be highly optimized for content to get ranked in 2021.

There are many ways to help optimize your content, and we don’t want to get too technical on you, but to optimize a piece of content, you’ll want to focus on long-tail keywords and answering the questions users have associated with the topic you’re trying to rank. You should also optimize your title and meta tags, plus a slew of other tactics.

The content game is a complex one.

Google is starting to show content they see as reliable and useful, and this update reinforces that.

Another major SEO update we will see — and have been recognizing for years — is voice search growth. Consumers are relying more on smart devices like speakers and watches to pull up search information.

Smart devices and voice search share the first result on the Google search results page. Because of this, the best way to make sure your content is seen is to claim the featured snippet spot.

A featured snippet is what Google deems the most concise and direct answer to a question searched. It shows at the top of the search results page and is set within lines to help it stand out.

Claiming the feature snippet spot is dependent on many variables, including how competitive the keywords you’re going for are, how optimized your content is, and how your backlink profile stands up against competitors.

While winning the featured snippet position is exciting, it can come with complications.

Different browsers and devices turn up different results with voice search. For instance, Alexa and Google tend to generate different results when asked the same question. When users search by typing on a device, the search engines can generate even more results than the two options from Google and Alexa. This leaves many websites in different positions on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) depending on how they’re searched.

One way to ensure your content strategy is optimized, useful, and meeting the new Google demands is by scheduling a free SEO audit with us.

Prediction #3: Remote Work Has Become the New Norm

“Uhuru” means freedom and one of the ways Uhuru practices freedom is by supporting remote work.

Years before the world was forced to go remote due to COVID-19, Uhuru decided to implement a fully remote team to support a healthy work-life balance.

We are one of the world’s fully remote companies and proud of it. We hope that many other companies keep up with this new marketing trend, even after the constraints of the pandemic have lifted.

Both companies and employees reap the benefits of remote work when the proper tools, procedures, and management are in place.

Businesses can reduce costs and overhead, increase productivity, and gain a competitive advantage. On the employee side, they’ll no longer have to commute to an office. They can work in whatever attire they feel most comfortable in and have flexible working hours.

In 2020, businesses had to change the way they function to make working virtually work, and many of them were finally able to see how beneficial it was. We predict that many of these companies will be staying remote in 2021.

Prediction #4: Use Virtual Channels for B2B Outreach

The pandemic pushed even the most resilient businesses to go online, digitalize, and move their sales communications and outreach efforts to virtual channels like email and LinkedIn.

Approaching B2B sales through virtual channels will pandemic-proof your efforts; it’s a more efficient way to reach decision-makers when compared to the long-overdone process of cold calling.

While email outreach can be beneficial, Uhuru’s B2B outreach efforts have dramatically migrated to LinkedIn. Email users and programs regularly strengthen their inbox and spam filters, making it hard to get in touch initially.

But there’s more to a B2B campaign than blindly sending the same copy and pasted messages to decision-makers; it includes a conversational, hyper-personalized strategy.

In 2021 and beyond, we predict there will be more desensitization and only genuine connections will thrive.

We’ve seen a strategic, conversational, and hyper-personalized outreach campaign yield incredible results for our clients.

To get ahead of this trend and your competition, or to see where your B2B outreach efforts are falling short, schedule a free sales assessment.

Prediction #5: A Shift in Healthcare Marketing

One of the industries that COVID-19 most heavily impacted was the healthcare industry.

The use of telehealth and voice search increased exponentially as human-to-human contact needed to be limited or cut altogether.

Companies like Amazon have taught consumers the value of convenience. That notion has gone far beyond the convenience of one app — users everywhere want quick, clear answers and a simple, intuitive user experience.

During and after the pandemic, those in the healthcare industry need a digital presence. Websites must be accessible via organic and paid channels. They must also implement best practices to keep the target audience on the site. It should be easy to fill out forms, gather information, and get in touch with a healthcare provider.

For healthcare providers to stand out in the digital space, they need to provide accessible and convenient digital care that engages and educates customers in all stages of their journey.

Our team of healthcare marketing experts is here to help with your initiatives. Get in touch with them today to schedule a free healthcare marketing consultation.

Prediction #6: Agency Operations

Agency operations required drastic shifts in 2020 to keep up with new trends in marketing and in the world.

The hospitality industry was dramatically impacted by the pandemic. Unfortunately, many in this space had to shut their doors or massively downsize their internal staff. Many shifted toward a contractor workforce, which was a difficult transition for businesses that rely on face-to-face meetings and events.

While many industries were trying to “make things work” until COVID passed, the effects are lasting much longer than anticipated. Executives predict that the hospitality industry may not recover until 2023, which means their shift in operations needs to be efficient if it’ll work for the future.

On the other hand, agencies that serviced direct-to-consumer brands did well during the pandemic. A niche we saw growth in was B2B marketing agencies. This was primarily due to the shift away from trade shows toward the digital space.

An emerging agency model we noticed in 2020? Performance-based marketing.

Performance-based marketing is when a client pays a base retainer (much lower than a standard retainer) and gives a percentage of sales to the agency. The client is still responsible for ad spend. In some cases, the employees are also paid based on the performance of the accounts they manage.

Performance-based marketing is a way to hold both parties accountable and invested.

In 2021, we predict that media buying and ad agencies shift toward a focus on these attribution models.

Scale Your Business in 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 shifted the marketing landscape. The need for a strong, well-rounded digital presence is necessary for growth in 2021.

New trends in marketing have emerged and businesses need to shift with these trends.

Assure your business’s future with a free strategy session. Our experts will analyze your digital presence and strategies to see where your efforts can be leveled up to meet your goals in 2021.

Global experts agree that 2020 will go down in the history of the healthcare industry as a Camilla Camilla leaked porndigital tipping point.

For years, health tech companies have been making more services available via telehealth, but many healthcare providers and patients resisted. Until 2020. COVID has disrupted the implementation and delivery of healthcare, accelerating the inevitable telemedicine revolution.

It couldn’t have come at a better time. In 2017, Americans spent over $3.5 trillion on healthcare — that’s $10,739 for every person in the country. Approximately 133 million of us have at least one chronic condition — like heart disease, asthma, cancer, or diabetes — which are tied to more than 80% of hospital admissions. These chronic conditions are typically not curable, but with the right care plans and technology, they can often be prevented or managed.

Studying the buyer’s journey of both providers and patients and following them through their choices will help you engage them where they are and successfully adopt the healthcare industry’s digital disruption.

The Biggest Disruptions in the Healthcare Industry

Now that the traditional clinic and hospital model has been disrupted, the healthcare industry’s new digital care model is bringing healthcare home for millions of patients — patients that make up your target personas. From podiatrists using cameras to treat patients with diabetes, to addiction specialists prescribing drugs for opioid dependency over video, Covid-19 has healthcare professionals providing virtual care that, until now, was only thought to be feasible in person.

The 2020 Deloitte Report predicts that: “By 2040, the consumer — rather than health plans or providers — will determine when, where, and with whom he or she engages for care or to sustain well-being.” The biggest healthcare industry disruptions that will help us adjust to the post-COVID era will be:

• Interoperable data: aggregating and storing individual, population, institutional, and environmental data on one platform will become the norm.
• Open, yet secure platforms: site-less health infrastructure will link consumers and health stakeholders while setting high-security standards components.
• Consumer-centric and virtual care and community: patients will be much more engaged in care communities and will use technology to research, track, and report on their conditions and treatments.

Let’s look closer at each one of these determinants of the healthcare industry’s future.

Interoperable data

Currently, the healthcare industry is comprised of disconnected hospital systems, health plans, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device producers. By 2040, patients are predicted to be at the center of the health model with interoperable, always-on data enabling collaboration among an ever-widening array of providers and services. Healthcare industry disruptors will provide more precise, less complex, less invasive, and less expensive interventions and treatments.

Health is already being defined holistically, incorporating mental, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual care to attain an overall state of well-being. Having access to and owning their detailed health data will enable patients to make decisions about their own health plans and priorities.

Open, yet secure platforms

Companies that produce these services will be the disruptors of the healthcare industry:

Data drivers

Healthcare organizations that collect, connect, and secure health data are building an economic model around patient, population, institutional, and environmental data that will drive the future of health.

Analytics gurus

Developers that create algorithms for health data are conducting research with AI analytics to find insights that humans can’t generate.

Data and platform infrastructure builders

Companies that build infrastructure, interfaces, and platforms that enable efficient workflows and an optimal user experience will empower clinicians and their patients.

Consumer-Centric Health

Deloitte projects that the healthcare industry’s focus will shift away from treatment to prevention and early intervention. This means you’ll be marketing to more health-conscious consumers who want more control over their care plans. Marketing to tech-savvy populations that invite AI into their lives will require subtle content strategy, style, and tone adjustments.

Organizations that will enable this transition will be involved in:

Healthcare for well-being

Specialist clinics and care-delivery centers will be joined by community health hubs, virtual platforms, and app developers to drive customized health and well-being promotion — on customers’ terms. What does that mean for your organization? Doing in-depth persona research will help you understand each customer type’s definition of well-being.

Health products innovators and manufacturers

What we consider medical products are no longer limited to pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Wellness products include software, applications, wearable devices, and even health-focused foods. Smart toilets with always-on sensors may test for nitrites, glucose, protein, and pH to detect infections, disease, or pregnancy. Smart mirrors may distinguish a harmless mole from melanoma. Smart toothbrushes’ breath biome sensors may detect genetic indicators of disease.

Virtual health providers and wellness coaches

Virtual care providers and health product developers need support structures. Their communities could be geography- or condition-specific. Treating patients will now also require catering to their family members and support communities that will be involved in care planning and delivery.

Specialty care providers and local health hubs

In 2040, though there will be some specialty centers, most health care will likely be delivered in local health hubs in retail settings with condition-specific facilities — like shopping malls for education, prevention, and treatment of most common conditions — that will connect patients to virtual, home, and auxiliary wellness providers. Targeting these niche markets will require marketers to educate themselves on the ever-expanding array of services and health models.

Healthtech for Holistic Care

Since patients will be more active partners and decision-makers, they’ll be more attuned to their own health information and act on it using these technologies:

Health maintenance apps

According to Statista, the healthcare industry is one of the top three fields to accelerate the growth of mobile devices like glucose monitors, blood pressure and heart rate trackers, urine sample analyzers, and even portable electrocardiogram machines.

Wearable devices:

A variety of healthcare industry personas are already integrating wearable devices that track our steps, sleep patterns, and even heart rate into our lives — and there are more to come.
Medtech companies are producing always-on biosensors and software into devices that can generate, gather, and share data.

AI could soon be analyzing patients’ and providers’ parameters and creating personalized health insights to monitor well-being and trigger real-time interventions to help them prevent sickness and disease.

Consumers want their health information to be portable and interactive. They’ll vote with their wallets for healthcare industry transformations that mimic e-commerce and mobility in other sectors. They’ve already adopted these transformational tools:

• Smart watches: These handy devices collect and analyze patient data between appointments or after surgery by providing valuable insights that can inform treatment.
  The next generation of sensors, for example, will move us from wearable devices to invisible, always-on sensors that are embedded in the devices that surround us.
• Activity trackers: They measure the amount of motion, activity patterns, and some features of movement such as steps and intensity in more detail than traditional step-counting pedometers.
• Voice search: In 2020, 41% of adults use voice search at least once per day and 62% of smart speaker owners say they’ll use voice search to make a purchase in the next month.

Achieve Your Mission With Digital Tools Your Personas Use

Understanding how convenience-driven patients search for healthcare is critical. Here are some stats to keep in mind when developing a marketing strategy in the healthcare industry:

• 77% of patients seek providers on search engines before booking an appointment
• 54% of patients want to use their smartphones to communicate with healthcare providers
• 88% of patients check online reviews to evaluate medical providers
• 45% make healthcare decisions based on information from social media

Many healthcare industry players will find themselves competing with retail, tech, and e-commerce giants who are well-versed in reaching your target audience. Keep up with them by learning to leverage digital channels like SEO optimized websites, PPC platforms, email marketing, and reputation platforms like Google reviews to:

• Boost your brand awareness and brand presence
• Showcase your quick, convenient digital care
• Make your website accessible to your target audience with an intuitive user experience
• Reach out to your target audience via paid channels

The best way to reach your future clients and patients is to meet them where they are while they’re searching for your product or service.

Address Healthcare Industry Disruptions When Targeting Personas

To turn new customers into brand ambassadors, follow the time-tested Activate-Educate-Engage strategy to keep your value top-of-mind — and ideally, top-of-tongue — when prospects are recommending healthcare industry services to friends and family.

1. Activate

Enable your patients to seamlessly start their journey with you by crafting simple onboarding content. Then, nurture them through email campaigns to make that content more compelling. If it’s taking longer than you thought to activate a customer, research their needs and pain points and address each one for each unique persona.

Future patients and medical customers respond well to mobile applications, educational information, summarized health information, as well as text reminders and alerts about condition management or limited-time offers.

2. Educate

What knowledge, opportunity, product, or service selection do your future patients or healthcare industry clients need in order to make a well-informed purchasing decision? What kind of reminders, tracking devices, or apps will keep them engaged with your organization?

Frequent, consistent automated communication keeps you top-of-mind. Social media forums, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, and webinars create a community where they can get answers to pressing concerns and meet like-minded healthcare peers.

3. Engage

Engage anxious, curious, or determined patients with your brand, your service, or your solution through wearable devices like glucose monitoring devices, heart rate trackers, musculoskeletal movement trackers, calorie counting smartphone apps, and sleep monitoring apps.

Make sure they know how to upload their data to your patient portal so your care teams can analyze and prescribe actions. Even mature patients with mobility issues can remain engaged with home monitoring systems that ensure safety through hyper-communication.

Prepare Your Marketing Strategy for the Future

Your B2B and B2C customers are keeping up with exciting changes in health delivery and you need to follow suit. Just starting to adjust to all the fast-paced healthcare industry disruptions? Learn to create your own healthcare marketing strategy with help from Uhuru’s healthcare marketing strategist, Whitney Cole, in this blog post.