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If you went back in time, 20 years ago, and told your friends and family that everyone in 2020 would be using their cellphones to continually watch videos of random people describing what they did that day, they'd all think you're crazy!

What's the point in that?

As a marketing manager, it doesn't matter why Millennials and Generation Z'ers love obsessing over Instagram influencers. What matters is where your audience is. That medium is continually changing. 

The truth remains that if you want to ensure you reach your customers effectively, you need to go where they go. 

Here are three future-forward ways you should be reaching your audiences:

1. "Hey [Siri, Google, Alexa]" Voice Search

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it possible for Apple, Google, and Amazon to hang out in the home of the everyday consumer. 

As creepy as that sounds, it's true. 

Voice search is a future-forward medium that is moving faster than ever. 

In the past few years, voice search has begun to dominate the search war zone. 

30% of web sessions will be conducted without a screen in 2020. (Forbes) Let me repeat that in a different way. One out of every three website visits will be done so without a visual device. 

This step is all made possible through the power of voice search. Rather than navigate a screen or type on a keyboard, consumers will tell Siri what they're after - and she'll respond with a solution. 

While voice search isn't a completely brand new concept, there have been massive tech breakthroughs in recent years with the big three: Amazon's Alexa, the Google Assistant, and Apple's Siri.

If you want to make sure you stay relevant to your audience, you'll need to optimize your web content for voice search. You can do this in two ways:

1. Optimize your content to be conversational. See this excellent breakdown from Search Engine Land.
2. Create content using a question and answer format, like this.

2. The Power of the Recommendations.

What's the most potent form of marketing?

No, it's not influencers. Although this strategy works very well. Why? Because influencer marketing follows a simple fool-proof marketing framework that's been around since the dawn of time. 

Word of mouth. 

88% of businesses said word of mouth or referrals were the primary way new clients were finding them. (Atomic Reach)

Need an even more mind-blowing stat? 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family above any other type of advertising. (Nielsen)

Influencers themselves aren't the key. The individual can share a recommendation with a community who trusts them. Millions of fans follow the authentic peer-to-peer influence of these "mini-celebrities" on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And the most effective influencers target a small, specific niche. 

People love to buy. But they hate being sold to. So while they'll skip a video ad on Facebook or YouTube (or turn the channel when a TV commercial is on), they will listen intently when their favorite Instagram celeb goes live to talk about their favorite Yeezys. 

Influencer marketing only works if the one making the recommendation is a trusted voice. Does the audience feel like they're connecting with a friend? The trust level needs to be through the roof. 

The $2 billion influencer industry isn't going away anytime soon. If you want to ensure you stay future-forward as a marketing manager, you'll want to get up to speed and reach out to influencers in 2020. Just make sure those influences are trusted, genuine voices in their communities.

If you're looking to find a simple way to locate and contact influencers for your brand? Rizen currently recommends Buzzsteam, an affordable platform we for both this purpose and building backlinks.

3. Goodbye Email, Hello Texting: SMS Marketing

Email is powerful. 

Not only is it personalized, permission-based marketing, but it offers relatively high engagement through open rates and readership. The average commercial email open rate is 21.33%. (Mailchimp)

What if I told you there's a new email-like medium with an average open rate of 98%? 

That's right. 98% of text messages get opened. (SlickText) That's as close to 100% you're going to get out of any medium. 

SMS marketing is the new email marketing. Not only do 98 out of 100 texts get opened, but 43% of SMS messages get opened within 15 minutes. (Tatango)

Everyone has a smartphone nowadays. Yes, many people are browsing Google, social media, and email. But the ability to notify consumers is challenging through these mediums. On the other hand, people are incredibly responsive to a text message. 

Start texting your customers. It's the best way to guarantee they read your messaging.

Need Help Reaching Your Audience Today?

The world is buzzing around at a million miles an hour. Every year, some new medium seems to pop up out of nowhere and mesmerize audiences across the globe. 

 If you want to make sure you reach your audience effectively, the first step is to meet them where they're at. 

If you're short on time but need to:

• Develop new skills to manage your firm better.
• Train your staff in modern marketing and sales methods
• Develop a comprehensive marketing and sales roadmap

Reach out to us at Rizen. As a trusted partner, we'll walk with you side-by-side to develop an effective marketing strategy so you can get more done in less time. 

Start today by checking out our FREE busy pro's handbook for marketing managers.

Contact us today to begin a conversation and see how we can help you grow your business!