Dear Reader,
Lately, New York City temperatures have reached the high 90s.
Since black pavement criss-crosses Manhattan, it feels like the steam just rises from the streets.
We wonder if Europe has exported its heatwave to New York City because we have air conditioning. As a result, my husband and I have stayed put in our cool apartment.
While the rain raced angrily across the city on Monday, it didn’t stay long enough to cool temperatures.
The latest variant of COVID is highly contagious, even if you have gotten your shots and boosters. Like the President, my husband and I got it in late June. As a result, I’ve been reluctant to attend live events and conferences.
Last week, I decided to attend what I thought would be a small indoor event hosted by a tech firm. To my surprise, there were about 50 people in attendance and I was one of the only people wearing a mask.
By contrast, the Creator Entrepreneur Expo (CEX) that I attended in Phoenix in May, required proof of vaccination at check-in and offered full refunds to any paid attendee who sent in proof of COVID. Further, they limited seating in the presentation rooms and served wrapped food in open spaces.
What does this mean for you and your marketing?
Expect conference attendance and revenues to be lower than your budget expectations.
Due to the pandemic, the B2B Trade Show Market dropped from $15.55 billion in 2019 to $3.855 billion in 2020.
In 2022, the B2B Trade Show market is predicted to grow to $10.2 billion from $6.6 billion in 2021 according to PwC’s current predictions.
What’s missing from these forecasts?
The impact of the new, highly contagious variant of COVID. So attendees and sponsors will be less willing to attend conferences this year.
At the risk of less profitable conference revenue, increase your COVID precautions to make attendees feel safe. This means less people per room, wrapped food options, more open spaces for networking, and getting hotels to do special cleaning between guests.
Also, brainstorm ideas for adding virtual options to increase value and pricing.
Table of Contents
- Marketing Lesson of The Week – Do You Know How GenZ Uses Social Media?
- Brand Beats – 2022 Most Valuable Brands Keep Growing
- Voice Notes – How Customers Use Voice-Enabled Devices
- Content Communicates – Length Matters For Content
- Marketing Reads
- Mark Your Calendar
Marketing Lesson of The Week
► Do You Know How GenZ Uses Social Media?
In addition to removing the digital divide, the pandemic got people across age groups to use a variety of social media sites.
Mapped by age group, an interesting finding pops out about US social media users: Social media use by GenZ, aged 18 to 29, has decreased.
It should come as no surprise since young people don’t want to spend their time on platforms that their parents and grandparents use.
Further, Gen Z users are tired of the on-going changes the major social media platforms keep making.
Many social media sites provide similar functionality. As the chart below shows, there are few points of differentiation.
On average, Gen Z participants spend 4.2 hours per day on social media. (Source: Fall 20211 Research by Piper Sandler). Further, their favorite social media platform is Snapchat and they have the highest engagement with Instagram.
Most real-world connections have moved to private messaging on newer social media apps. Gen Z participants choose social media options from an array of smaller apps where each serves a distinct function. For example:
- Twitch focuses on live-streaming and gaming;
- BeReal delivers spontaneous updates; and
- Poparazzi sends candid photos of friends.
To connect privately and directly with their fans, content creators set up accounts on social media chat apps such as a Geneva home, a Discord server, or a Telegram channel.
Editor’s Note: Screenshots are from computer interfaces.
These apps allow creators to have access to and engage with their communities directly. They discuss what their community wants to hear rather than broadcast based on a social media platform’s rules. [Source: Washington Post]
Actionable Marketing Tips
- Test these new social media apps to better understand how they work and where they fit in your social media strategy. Let the younger members of your team do this work and ask if they would use their personal name. You don’t want to stand out while you’re testing the waters.
- Reassess your social media strategy by the age segments of your audience. Since you may want to change your presentations to different segments.
Recommended Reading
Brand Beats
► 2022 Most Valuable Brands Keep Growing
Together the world’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands increased their worth to $8.7 trillion in 2022. That’s a year-over-year increase of 23%. (Source: Kantar)
To make the Top 100 Most Valuable Brands list this year, a brand had to have a total brand valuation that exceeded $21,219 million.
At the top of the 2022 list was Apple with a brand value of $947.1 billion, an increase of 55% over 2021. The increase in Apple’s brand represents a high degree of differentiation and continued diversification across its portfolio of hardware, software and services products.
Actionable Branding Lesson
Invest in your brand to maintain its strength through consistent use during uncertain global economic and environmental times.
Recommended Reading
Voice Notes
► How Customers Use Voice-Enabled Devices
As consumers use voice-enabled devices more and more, they find new uses for them.
Based on Research from Voice Consumer Index 2022, here’s a snapshot of how customers use their voice devices for purchase related activities:
- 64% consume entertainment,
- 54% shop retail;
- 52% call for food delivery;
- 49% check on consumer packaged goods;
- 49% shop for local services;
- 45% check on fashion;
- 43% check travel options; and
- 42% engage with their financial institutions.
Actionable Voice Marketing Tip
- Provide content marketing in voice or audio formats to reach voice-first customers. Then distribute this voice content across ALL voice and audio platforms at the same time.
Content Communicates
► Length Matters For Content
Does the length of your articles matter?
Not sure?
Then check out what Chartbeat discovered for articles of 10,000 words or less published between January 2019 and April 2022.
- For articles between 0 and 2,000 words, the Average Engaged Time increases as the total word count increases.
- When articles contain more than 4,000 words, Engaged Time Variability also grows. As a result, the return on adding extra length to the content is less certain.
While smartphones generate more pageviews than computers, they don’t get the same amount of engagement. This makes sense since smartphone users tend to check their devices to fill otherwise wasted time and these intervals may be very short.
Actionable Content Marketing Tips
- Maximize audience readership by publishing articles of 2,000 words or less.
- Craft article summaries targeted at smartphone readers.
Recommended Reading
Marketing Reads
► The Ultimate Branding Checklist: How To Create Your Branding
Strategy
Does your business have a unique branding strategy?
Or did someone just create a logo on Fivvr?
If you fail to develop your brand, your offering can become an undifferentiated commodity or be driven out of a specific market category if customers prefer and purchase other brands.
Recommended Reading
► The New B2B Purchase Process: What You Need To Know Now
Did you realize that the B2B Purchase Process has changed?
Even more importantly, it has major implications for your marketing since ⅓ of B2B buyers use voice options and ⅓ of B2B buyers use digital only options.
► Why You Need to Create Content for After the Sale (Hint: It Can Help Your Strained Budget)
By Jordan Friedman in Contently. I was thrilled to get quoted in this article since I think marketers are missing a big opportunity by not focusing on the post-purchase process.
► The Essential Guide to Brand Management
Everything you need to know to manage your digital brand identity.
Good branding is critical for standing out in today’s competitive business landscape.
This eBook, Offered Free by Canto, outlines everything you need to know about digital branding – with tips to create a consistent brand experience across every touchpoint.
Plan Ahead: Mark Your Calendar
► MAICON 2022 – August 3-5th, 2022 in Cleveland, OH.
The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON), returns to an in-person event this year. Check out MAICON’s schedule of upcoming webinars.
♦ ♦ Special AMG reader discount: Get $150 off — Use code: AMG150 ♦ ♦
► Adapting Marketing for a Recession – August 4th, 2pm ET, Live Webinar
Join channel experts from AUDIENCEX for a roundtable discussion on how marketers can best navigate times of economic uncertainty. Register Now!
► Content Marketing World – September 13-16 in Cleveland, OH.
The one event where attendees learn from the best in the content marketing industry
► VOICE22 – October 10-13th, 2022 in Arlington, VA.
The market for Voice/AI solutions is growing exponentially. This conference brings together the top people working to transform the user experience.
► MarketingProfs B2B Forum – October 12-14th, 2022 in Boston.
Ann Handley brings B2B back to Boston with 49 Sessions. 4 Keynotes. Immeasurable Connections (and Shenanigans).
Welcome New Subscribers!
If you enjoy reading the AMG Newsletter, I would appreciate it if you forwarded it to your friends and colleagues.
Happy Marketing,
Heidi
P.S.: Want Heidi Cohen to contribute a quote or other commentary to your next article, presentation, video, research and/or book? Then hit reply to this email and ask.
P.P.S: Did you miss last week’s AMG Newsletter? Previous newsletters can be found in the AMG Newsletter Archive.