By Brad Tornberg
As we come to the end of 2012 its time to look forward and identify some of the top trends that will dominate the landscape in the upcoming new year.
1) Mobile marketing will surpass desktop marketing – 2012 will see the number of connected mobile users surpass the traditional desktop/laptop community. Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices are no longer fad or fancy but are the tool of choice for most users looking to buy new or upgrade. This move towards mobile means that marketing methods and campaigns must be optimized for the mobile user. The messages we send should be mobile friendly and be very minimal to get the message across without needing the real estate to do so.
2) Localization – If mobile is big then localization takes on key importance. The timing of a mobile pop up within the distance of a bricks and mortar establishment or being able to suggest within a reasonable distance a personalized message that will attract someone to a location based on their likes and preferences will become a major marketing initiative for many national companies looking to personalize their message to a local market.
3) Visual is the new social phenomenon – We see this with Pinterest and Instagram. People prefer visual and it takes less time. After all social media speeds transactions and people want it faster and be able to “browse” is a major reason why people go to stores to begin with. Take this method and apply it towards business models and the future serves up a model for monetization of this medium.
4) Integration and Simplicity – The tools are finally here! So how do they all work together? Businesses want a single transaction flow where possible in their lead and conversion cycle. They want to manage their marketing efforts from a single location. With the tools and options come the complexity of setup, use and monitoring. Businesses will continue to use and grow tools such as HubSpot, HootSuite, etc. to manage all of their endeavors.
5) Listening and Filtering – This area will continue to grow as the social networks continue to expand. The noise will become louder and the challenge is to listen to only those things that are critical and important to you and your business. This will become a key marketing differentiator in being able to predict what the trends are and what customer’s pain is. Adding a personalization layer that reflects your company’s preferences will be a key tool/service offering in the upcoming year.
6) Trust and Referral – A bigger push towards the use of video to help close business will continue since trust and referral come from the mouth of others. Video itself is a growing part of most businesses marketing strategies and will continue to grow. Areas such as referral marketing, testimonials, body of content value, relevance and reuse and repackaging will continue to grow exponentially.
7) Recognition – That on line and traditional marketing must fuse and work together to be successful in Marketing. Creating on line campaigns to drive off line behavior is growing and companies are recognizing the important of the traditional marketing methods combined with the social media marketing can yield profitable results.
The upcoming year promises to see the up to now separation of marketing methods (on and off line) start to come synergize together as a single cohesive strategy and solution set. The trend favors a consolidation of tools with the end game being packaged solutions that combine and consolidate best of breed market solutions making today’s marketing methods more understandable and manageable for businesses. What do you think?