Dealing with Marketing Fatigue: Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged

It’s quite a saturated market at the moment, so it’s no wonder that your audience won’t seem so responsive at times. If your methods are looking a bit tired and your audience seems to be over it, then there are plenty of ways that you can try to re-energise their interest:

1.      Don’t be afraid to break the pattern

Why not switch up the way you do things? If you have been posting lots of images on your social media, experiment with making videos or carousel posts. You can try posting spotlights on your community or highlight success stories. If you’re feeling generous, share some exclusive content or give something of value to your audience for free to show that you still value them – it might just give them the nudge that you need.

 2.     Give your audience the details that matter

When you send out your newsletters, strive to capture your audience immediately with how you can help and why it matters to them. With emails constantly piling up in the inbox for everyone, it’s a fight to ensure that your audience reads what you have to say before they flick (or skip) through all the rest of their mail. You can do this by creating an eye-catching subject that compels them to click on your email as soon as they see it and getting straight to the point in the first sentence.

 3.     Hear it from them

Try sending out surveys, whether by newsletter or on your social media pages. One of the best ways to market something to your audience successfully is to ask what they want (or don’t want). You should use the responses that you collect to shape your strategy, demonstrating that you took their answers on board.

 4.    Get your audience involved in the fun

On that note of surveys, think of exciting ways that you can get your audience to interact. Polls on your social media can be a great way for them to quickly and easily tap on an answer to a question you ask, boosting your engagement and gaining you some useful insights at the same time. You can also send out quizzes or host live chats, including Q&As, to show that you are interested in others being interested in your business. All these methods put out the positive message that you believe in collaboration and want to build relationships with your audience.  

 5.     You don’t have to be at an 11 on a scale of 1-10

If your audience is tired, then don’t force information on them all the time. It’s ok to turn the energy down a bit. Use the time to reflect and consider how you can put out content that has greater value – quality, not quantity, as they say. Ask yourself, “If I saw this, would I be interested?” before you post anything. This can help you to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and understand why your content isn’t always clicking with them.

 Conclusion

We’ve given you some food for thought, but if there’s anything on the topic of engaging your audience that you’d like to discuss or get some assistance with, we would be happy to help. It’s sometimes difficult to know what makes your audience tick, but at Icon, we offer a wealth of services to benefit your marketing strategy and can pinpoint what areas would be best to optimise. To get started, contact us at kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk.

Why Data Privacy Matters to Your Marketing Strategy

When you consider the constant advancements in technology and the growth of the digital age, it’s no wonder that people are concerned about what their data is being used for.

 So, what is data privacy? Put simply, it means ensuring an individual’s personal data is kept as private as possible.

 It’s a huge concern for organisations in the UK and The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) outlines the rules for how personal data is collected, processed and stored. If organisations do not comply with such rules, they can face serious consequences, such as fines and harm to the company’s reputation.

 Personal data refers to information about a living individual, including their name, phone number, home address or email address (some of which you might collect for your newsletters).  

 Organisations are required to gain consent from individuals before they can collect their personal data and inform them how long they are going to keep this data and for what purpose (for example, marketing reasons). Personal data should remain accurate and only be used for its intended purpose.

 Being clear about this information ensures that you are following data privacy regulations along with building trust in your clients, who are more likely to stay loyal to you, helping your reputation.

 One element of your marketing strategy where the importance of data privacy is very noticeable is the website you develop and maintain. Aside from the pretty visuals and features on it, your website is a route to its users’ private data and preferences. It’s vital that this is protected and that you educate your users about what options they have and how their data will be used. It is essential to allow users to opt out of sharing their information if they wish to do so.

 Prioritising how cookies are used and managed is paramount to users’ safety. Whilst cookies are needed to enhance their experience, the information collected needs to be granted permission by the user. Visitors to your website should also, along with being able to simply accept or decline cookies, be allowed to opt in to how much they want to based on their preferences, letting some information be given and other information not.

 Conclusion

 Whilst many marketing strategies including website design promote customisation, this should never be at the cost of people’s privacy. You must remain transparent to your prospects and clients throughout your strategies to highlight that you are committed to remaining ethical in how you approach and use their data. This will in the long-term show them that they can trust you and also build stronger lasting relationships that elevate your business’s status.

 For advice on how you can create a marketing campaign that champions the importance of data privacy, contact us now at kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk.

How Storytelling Can Humanize Your Marketing Efforts

When you think of storytelling, it probably conjures up the phrase, ‘once upon a time’ or an image of a parent reading a book to their child before bed. But what does it actually mean when we refer to it in a marketing context?

 Yes, storytelling content includes a clear narrative and structure like the texts you read in school but using it as part of a campaign becomes a way to make your brand exciting. Instead of just listing what your business does and stands for using bullet points, why not consider how you can construct a narrative around these facts?

 Consider the history of your business and how it first started – you can share your personal story from zero to hero. How did you make the jump from having an idea of something that you could sell, to now actually selling it?

 People love a good story – so why not try to recreate that childhood wonder of turning the pages of your favourite bedtime tale? Or think about how newspapers can hook you right from their catchy headlines. If you can present information about your business in a way that feels new, personal and creative, then you’ll already stand out from the rest.

 Ultimately, we’re humans marketing to other humans. We’re not robots - we have emotions, so we can get bored easily. Telling stories ensures that we bring the human element into all of this – a face can be given to your brand and suddenly, what you write about can become relatable or make your audience laugh.

 You can use case studies with clients, showing to your audience through stories that a real impact has been made on others, helping to convince them that you’re trustworthy.

 It has been found that stories activate more regions of the brain than language alone – they are effective in stirring the senses when sensory imagery is used for example. Using language that connects with the senses can make your brand more memorable.

 Storytelling doesn’t just have to include words – it can be done visually too. Using images and videos to tell stories in advertisements or even in creating a logo can help show that there are people behind your brand and there is a history associated with it.

 Final Thoughts

 When thinking about how to implement storytelling for your business, the most important thing is to make sure that you are consistent. Discovering your brand’s voice and the imagery to go with it should be seen across all your platforms and in all interactions with your clients. This will not only demonstrate that you are unique in what you do but also that it doesn’t feel like your business is solely run by robots (in the event that it actually is, then you need to at least make it seem like it isn’t)!

 For assistance in telling the stories that matter to your business, get in touch with us today at kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk

Top Marketing Trends to Watch in 2025

With the marketing landscape constantly evolving and customer needs ever-changing, it can be hard to keep track of the latest trends or even predict future ones. The rise of digital marketing has allowed companies to think of new ways to reach more potential customers than ever before.

 So how can I know what to target as a marketer?

Don’t worry, we have you covered. We’ve assembled a list of some pretty good guesses (we think) for some of the most eye-catching marketing trends to watch in 2025 based on what’s already begun to have an impact and doesn’t show signs of slowing down any time soon.

1.      Short-form video content

You may have heard talk of the 8-second attention span of Gen Z, where the rise of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram has seemingly diminished young people’s ability to focus on clips for more than a mere few seconds before deciding to scroll to the next one. Whether that’s universally true or not remains up for debate, but certainly the popularity of the ‘TikTok format’ and other platforms following the app’s lead has made way for interesting conversation about how this affects advertising and what marketers can do to combat this new challenge of condensing ideas to a minimum and attracting audiences right off the bat.

TikTok has grown extremely popular after merging with Musical.ly, now promoting the creation of all kinds of short-form content and not just the lip-singing and dancing videos that users had been used to originally. TikTok did it first, with the newer YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels hopping on the bandwagon of the app’s success.

For anyone advertising, TikTok has become and continues to be, an exciting new way to go about grabbing peoples’ attention via short video clips either posted on creators’ accounts or through promoting your business on users’ feeds, using targeted ads that appear every few scrolls. In this way, it is vital to be creative about how you advertise on TikTok – you need to be able to surprise and interest consumers with what you say or display within a few seconds, such as utilising trends that circulate the app and collaborating with beloved creators.

2.     AI

Yes, a lot of people think AI is taking over our jobs. But its rise (and the inevitable continuation of it) has shown that it’s more plausible to say that AI is just changing the way we do things. Many businesses can and have used it to optimise marketing strategies and the truth is that ignoring it and not adapting is what is more likely to have negative consequences.

ChatGPT is what seems to be making the headlines in AI developments, but there’s also more to be acknowledged.

The use of chatbots on businesses’ websites has become a notable component of marketing strategies, offering visitors the chance to type messages to an AI assistant, answering their questions and directing them to products and services quicker than before.

AI is now helping businesses discover the best influencers to use for their campaigns, analysing post engagement and predicting campaigns that will be most effective with influencers.

Visual searches are also on the rise, with Google Lens and Snapchat’s Scan feature allowing for an integrated shopping experience when users take photographs of objects that can be recognised as products to buy online.

But what about the role of the human in all of this? Whilst these AI tools help speed up the marketing process and provide recommendations, they are not perfect and need human oversight to correct mistakes. Marketers also know and understand their clients best to tailor products and services to their needs. Marketing agencies especially need to maintain a human-to-human contact approach.

3.     Social commerce

Social media platforms and businesses are finding more ways to promote products and services directly on social media. For example, TikTok Shop allows a more integrated experience by allowing users to find products to buy via its ‘shop’ tab. Additionally, Pinterest is continuing to attract users who are searching for ideas, offering shoppable pins and video content to drive conversions.

Businesses recognise the exciting potential for driving sales on social media platforms but need to make sure that their attempts feel authentic and engaging, as users are wise to when something feels obviously promoted. The use of storytelling can be an effective way of showing to users that you, or people advertising your product, are relatable and understand their needs.

4.    Advertising on streaming services

In an age of streaming, consumers are ditching network television and companies are spending money on ads elsewhere such as Netflix and YouTube.

With audiences wanting to watch more quality content but aren’t willing to pay an arm and a leg for higher-tier subscriptions, streaming services like Netflix have found a successful middle ground where users opt for a basic ad-supported subscription. Many find this alternative to be tolerable, being able to watch the shows and films they love at a reduced cost, but with occasional adverts.

YouTube has been found to not only deliver better ad recall and attraction from viewers compared to traditional TV advertising but also a broader reach among adults, prompting advertisers to diversify their campaigns.

Conclusion

Navigating the world of trends can be a scary place, which is why it’s more important than ever to stay alert as a marketer for anything that makes the news and sparks a lot of conversation as you never know what it might lead to and whether you could use it to improve your strategy. At Icon, we keep an eye on the industry and use our knowledge to create a bespoke service that suits your needs and what’s best for your business.

If you need marketing support, we would love to hear from you – contact us today at kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk.

The Ever-Changing World of Social Media

If you’re a social media manager, you may be in need of a hug this week. So many changes are happening, from Instagram’s profile grid update to the ongoing TikTok ban discussions in the US and Facebook’s ever-evolving algorithms. If you work in marketing and need guidance on the latest trends, you’re in the right place!

What’s Changed?

Instagram has officially rolled out a major change to its profile grid layout, moving away from its iconic square format to rectangles. Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri announced the update on his Instagram Story, following months of testing since August 2024.

“I know some of you really like your squares. And square photos are sort of the heritage of Instagram. But at this point, most of what’s uploaded, both photos and videos, are vertical in their orientation.” — Adam Mosseri via Instagram

This change aligns with Instagram’s push to prioritise vertical content, which has become the dominant format for user uploads.

Impact on Creators

For creators and artists, Instagram is more than just a social platform—it’s a crucial tool for engagement and self-promotion. The transition to a rectangular grid means:

• Grid layouts may appear misaligned: If your profile relies on a uniform design, this change may disrupt the visual harmony of your posts.

• Increased content visibility: Vertical photos and videos now take up more space on your profile, which may enhance the visibility of your content.

• Creative adjustments required: Now is the perfect time to rethink your Instagram strategy and adapt to the new format.

TikTok's Ongoing Uncertainty

TikTok continues to face turbulence in the US, with a recent executive order granting the platform a 75-day extension to comply with regulations that require its sale or potential ban.

President Donald Trump, who initially sought to ban the platform in 2020, has now reconsidered his stance after using TikTok himself. He has proposed a potential 50-50 partnership between the United States and TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, though specific details remain unclear.

Meanwhile, TikTok briefly ceased operations for American users due to a law banning it on national security grounds but resumed services after Trump announced plans to issue a temporary reprieve.

The Biden administration had previously argued that TikTok posed security risks, citing concerns about potential data misuse by China. However, opponents of a ban emphasize that restricting access to the platform raises concerns about freedom of speech.

ByteDance has so far resisted US regulations requiring it to sell its American operations to avoid a ban, leaving the platform’s future uncertain.

What’s Next?

With ongoing shifts in social media platforms, it’s essential for marketers and content creators to stay agile and informed. Whether it’s adjusting Instagram strategies or monitoring TikTok’s legal battles, adaptability is key in the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing.

Stay tuned for further updates as these stories continue to unfold! If you’d like to discuss any aspect of your marketing our MD Kiesha would love to have a chat with you kiesha@iconmarketingcommunications.co.uk