Welcome to the third edition of What's Hot in Marketing, a series in which we discuss the latest and greatest trends in this fast-paced and ever-evolving industry. As sales and marketing professionals, it's crucial that we stay updated and put our knowledge to use in order to build relationships with customers and ultimately drive sales.

Each post in the series highlights two online marketing trends that are taking the industry by storm. If you recall, Part Two focused on utilizing predictive technology and personalizing loyalty programs. Let's head into Part Three!

Marketing Trend #5: Look-Alike Modeling
With ever-expanding social channels, smart marketers are using look-alike modeling to reach larger audiences. Used to build bigger audiences from smaller segments, look-alike modeling utilizes data enrichment to match attributes of a current audience to larger pools of prospective customers across social sites. Are you selling switches to IT companies in the South with 50-100 employees? Look-alike modeling will allow you to find similar buyers and expand your reach.

Marketing Trend #6: Providing a Connected Customer Experience
Reminder: Your customers are people. Of course you know that, but its easy to forget sometimes that successful marketing relies on connecting with customers on a human, emotional level. Relaying personal, relatable content builds trust and ultimately, brand loyalty. For example, take a look at what your customers are posting on Facebook and react accordingly on another platform. According to Bain & Company, when companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media, those customers end up spending 20% to 40% more money with the company¹. Time to start connecting! 

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¹ Putting Social Media to Work by Chris Barry, Rob Markey, Eric Almquist, and Chris Brahm