5 Brand Trends to Watch Out For

It’s no secret that times are changing. It seems that almost on a daily basis, millennials are shaking up a different industry. What many businesses are failing to recognize. however, is that it’s no longer just millennials that are changing their way of thinking. While they may be the ones paving the way for trends, there are ripple effects taking place that are revolutionizing the way that consumers access, and respond to, marketing and B2C communication.

If you’re a business and haven’t already started noticing the changes, we’re here to share five brand trends that you should be keeping your eye on in the coming weeks and months.

Authenticity

When you are authentic, you attract people with the same interests and passions. If you aren’t a corporate brand, stop trying to be because you think it will appeal to a wider audience. This will likely result in you losing the heart of your brand in the midst of trying to please everyone. What is it that you’re truly passionate about? Hone in on that and you may not attract a lot of people, but you will attract the right people. These are the people that will be in it for the long haul because they truly connect with your message.

Add a Personal Touch

Telemarketers are a thing of the past. People are not interested in automated services anymore. When you use a handwritten address on a mailer, rather than a printed mail merge address, people notice. People are interested in the person behind the service, not just the service. Take advantage of this! Throw out the verbatim phone scripts and let your consumer know that your employees are people, too.

Build a Community, Not a Following

It’s less about gaining followers than it is about creating real relationships with people who believe in your goal and your passion. People care about your brand story. This goes back to the point we made about being authentic. Would you rather: have a ton of followers or have an engaged community who actually care about and engage with the content you’re posting?

Establish Trust

People want to know you are who you say you are. They want to connect on a personal level and trust has become a huge issue. This goes back to adding a personal touch. Utilizing video to show, not just tell, people that there are real people behind your brand is becoming an increasingly popular way to establish trust for brands.

Purposeful Content

Putting out content for the sake of putting out content has always been a no-no, but now that everyone has the ability to put out content, it’s extremely easy for your content to get lost if it isn’t purposeful. Creating content that will provide value for your audience is so much more important than just posting because you feel like you have to get x amount of posts out per week, per month, etc. Each time you’re creating a piece of content, you should have your brand positioning in mind. All of your content should tie back to your brand goals.

It all comes down to getting down to the heart of your brand. Who is is that you want to attract? What is your brand passionate about? Do you want to attract artsy people? That should be reflected in your content. Do you want your consumers to associate humor with your brand? Find a purposeful way to incorporate memes into your social content. The bottom line? Be true to yourself and be true to your brand. There are people waiting to discover you that will resonate with your messaging.