Well, January seemed to fly by, and here we are a month into the new year. So, many of you have probably chosen your favorite digital trends to focus on in this new year. But, if you haven’t (and even if you have) here are our favorite trends to look for in 2017.
Our first trend is something that many know, but don’t often think about because it has become such an innate part of our routine.
Always-On Marketing
Brands and Retailers must move from campaign marketing to always-on marketing. The campaign approach has been a major part of retailers’ strategy. Campaigns are short-term, one-way push marketing initiatives, and can generate spikes of engagement. Advances in technology and consumer shopping behavior have changed the game. Through content and social media, customers have a multitude of ways that they can access information about a company. This means an individual campaign designed for a short-term win can get lost in the noise.
To be an always-on marketer, you have to:
- Listen to consumers and use tools and tech to capture customer behavior signals across channels and platforms
- Translate insights to meet needs and expectations, and deliver contextual content through an omnichannel strategy
- Use data to understand key moments for your audience and deliver the right message at the right time on the right device through the right channel
- Employ an agile marketing strategy to experiment in real-time
- Create content that your audience is genuinely interested in which will allow it to have a longer life
- Align social channels with overall content strategy
- If your audience is always on, it is the brands’ responsibility never to switch off
Personalization
Capitalize on connecting with your customer
- While personalization should be implemented across marketing channels, email is particularly ripe to reap the benefits, moving away from the batch and blast mentality and focusing on segmentation based on consumer behavior, demographics, and purchase history
- Though the idea isn’t new, many marketers haven’t completely embraced or totally grasped the concept or personalization
Revenue Attribution
Where are your customers shopping?
- Shoppers don’t think in terms of channels, so brands shouldn’t either
- A true “omnichannel” approach to the shoppers’ journey should mean that a brand is able to sell consumers products seamlessly whether they’re online, in-store, or on a mobile device
- However, many brands silo channels that operate autonomously from one another
Helpful Tech
Finally, tech that enriches, not distracts
- Chatbots are increasingly being used to further customize the user experience
- These new and improved chatbots make it easy for the user to connect with a brand all while the bot is making guesses based on the user’s behavior and previous actions
- Then there is AI and talk-to-search. The overwhelming success of the Amazon Echo has led to a boom in leveraging these technologies to understand consumer behavior patterns and adjust strategy (from buying and merchandising to digital commerce) accordingly
- Shopping has never been so effortless. With talk-to-search technology, consumers are able to effectively multitask by speaking commands when driving, cooking, or shopping
Customer Journey
Guide your customers, don’t pull them
- Not every customer will experience your website the same way. Know what experiences different people want out of a website
- Pull your customers in with storytelling and personalization rather than pushing your business at them
- Customer experience builds brand loyalty and advocacy
- There needs to be value for both brand and consumer
Native Advertising
Ads so chill you don’t know they are ads
- Simply put, Native Ads blend with their surroundings
- And while Native Advertising is nothing new, they are gaining in popularity
- Native Advertising serves as a way to deal with ad-blockers
AR and VR will really come into their own
Be anywhere, with anyone, at anytime
- While VR and AR have been largely focused on gaming, there has been a shift towards using these technologies in social media
- Facebook now owns Oculus, so this makes using AR and VR for social a natural next step
- To that point, it is largely expected that Facebook will design AR and VR with advertising capability in mind
Video Engagement/Live Video/Video in Email
Video content is consumable content
- Mobile is the medium people are choosing for consuming content and media
- Google likes video. Having a video on your website increases the chances of a first page Google rank by up to 53x
- Even though videos in emails is still a new concept to many it has shown to increase click-through rates
- Live streaming has gained in popularity and will only continue to increase
- Social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are propelling the trend
- In addition, these social platforms have a built-in audience and ability to re-target
- Real-time connection with the audience boost authenticity
- Millennials consume the most live video, but they are also the biggest creators of live video. With 63% of that group having watched live content and 42% having had created it
Well, there you have it our top picks for the top trends in 2017. What are your favorites? Or what trends do you wish would go away? Let us know in the comments, or drop us a line at info@bluemoondigital.co.
