For a successful marketing communication is important to
realize who your audience is, what they do and how they behave. Its known that
most of millennials are shaping the kind of advertisement they want to be
exposed to, therefore in the near future they will become the most important
(largest) target group and marketers must find a way to get through them.
Embrace the Customer Experience Model. It’s
been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of
advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of
the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. Marketers, using
integrated tools, can engage with customers online, track the buyer’s journey,
measure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with outreach tailored to
meet their audience’s needs and interests. But for customers already bombarded
with information, a great customer experience is becoming baseline. The year
2016 will see brand ambassadors given a higher priority, more effective
customer engagement—using tactics highlighted below—and tighter collaboration
with sales and support to directly affect conversion rates.
Will Ad Blockers Change the Game? Consumers
are sick of in-your-face marketing. As marketers and builders engage in a healthy
debate about the presence of ad blockers, the truth is that if advertising
isn’t relevant it’s annoying—and consumers have little patience for anything
annoying. How can a good brand get noticed? Watch for companies to continue to
create advertisements that seamlessly blend with—rather than interrupt—the
browsing experience, as well as to use those customer-centric insights to drive
content and social engagement.
Dream and Market in 3D. Virtual reality
literally drops people inside their favorite TV show, provides an on-the-ground
preview of their next vacation, or puts them behind the wheel of their next
car. Customer experience is priority number one and—although it’s still
evolving—3D technology is poised to move from novelty to mainstream. It will
start most heavily in the gaming industry, but as the technology to create and
consume becomes more accessible, smart marketers will look for ways to bring
their products to virtual life.
Marketers Will (Finally) Recognize Social Media
as a Channel, Not a Strategy. Social media isn’t marketing, and it doesn’t
work as a “strategy” on its own—something that seems to have finally sunk into
the collective marketing consciousness. Social media is one platform of many, a
tactic that does a great job of supporting broad campaigns but flounders by
itself. This distinction will shape marketing strategies and budgetary
considerations in 2016.
If relevance, context, and effective delivery aren’t the
topic of regular conversations in your marketing department, 2016 is going to
be a frustrating year for you.
Businesses need to keep a clear focus on the needs and
expectations of their customers—a group that’s diverse and fragmented, with
high expectations and little patience for anyone who can’t keep up. To stay
competitive you need to be visible, and that’s no easy feat.
Which marketing trends should you be prepared to follow?
Here’s a look at the 10 marketing trends that will drive conversations and
conversions in 2016.
1. Embrace the Customer Experience Model. It’s
been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of
advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of
the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. Marketers, using
integrated tools, can engage with customers online, track the buyer’s journey,
measure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with outreach tailored to
meet their audience’s needs and interests. But for customers already bombarded
with information, a great customer experience is becoming baseline. The year
2016 will see brand ambassadors given a higher priority, more effective
customer engagement—using tactics highlighted below—and tighter collaboration
with sales and support to directly affect conversion rates.
2. Will Ad Blockers Change the Game? Consumers
are sick of in-your-face marketing. As marketers and builders engage in a healthy
debate about the presence of ad blockers, the truth is that if advertising
isn’t relevant it’s annoying—and consumers have little patience for anything
annoying. How can a good brand get noticed? Watch for companies to continue to
create advertisements that seamlessly blend with—rather than interrupt—the
browsing experience, as well as to use those customer-centric insights to drive
content and social engagement.
3. Dream and Market in 3D. Virtual reality
literally drops people inside their favorite TV show, provides an on-the-ground
preview of their next vacation, or puts them behind the wheel of their next
car. Customer experience is priority number one and—although it’s still
evolving—3D technology is poised to move from novelty to mainstream. It will
start most heavily in the gaming industry, but as the technology to create and
consume becomes more accessible, smart marketers will look for ways to bring
their products to virtual life.
4. Marketers Will (Finally) Recognize Social Media
as a Channel, Not a Strategy. Social media isn’t marketing, and it doesn’t
work as a “strategy” on its own—something that seems to have finally sunk into
the collective marketing consciousness. Social media is one platform of many, a
tactic that does a great job of supporting broad campaigns but flounders by
itself. This distinction will shape marketing strategies and budgetary
considerations in 2016.
5. Omni channel will be Retail’s Best Friend. Tweet
for Pizza! Dominos has one of the catchiest Omni channel campaigns right now,
but brands across the board will quickly learn that an integrated customer
experience is essential—one that creates one smooth interaction, rather than
multiple micro events. From addressing the causes behind abandoned shopping carts
to creating an easy transition between online and bricks-and-mortar locations,
Omni channel will improve the bottom line for both retailers and B2B.
6. Big Data IS for Marketers. Big data, which
includes social and unstructured data, is a goldmine for marketers. Until
recently, many marketers shied away from big data because they lacked the
skills—or the big budget resources—to translate it into something meaningful.
Now, tools are coming to the marketplace that makes mining and managing data
easier than ever. 2016 will be a banner year for incorporating big data and
perhaps more importantly, analytics into marketing decisions.
7. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile. Marketers who’ve
been lazy about pursuing mobile are about to miss the train altogether; the
number of people who do their browsing on devices passed desktop users a while
ago. For retailers, mobile is basic; for others, it soon will be. At a minimum,
this means a mobile-optimized and responsive website, and may include custom
apps and mobile-targeted campaigns. The frontrunners have already moved on to
other things; mobile can’t be put off for another year.
8. Video Use Explodes While Live Streaming Finds a
Purpose. If you want to engage with millennials, video is a must-have
marketing tactic; they prefer
to find entertainment and education on YouTube over conventional channels
like television. Snapchat, YouTube, gifs, Vine, and more are being consumed at
a rapid rate. Streaming video takes this to the next level, and platforms like
Periscope and Blab have put interactive live video into the hands of anyone
with a smartphone. The next year will see video continue to shine and streaming
move to the forefront of marketing, with innovative new campaigns that allow
consumers to be the stars.
9. No Rest for Content. It may sounds like a
broken record, but content is still king—even more so given the deterioration
of interruptive tactics. But context is a stronger factor than ever. With no
decline in sight for the importance of good content, the next year will see
greater focus on bringing influencers on board for more organic marketing.
Storytelling will also play a key role in drawing consumers in and keeping them
engaged. Natural, relevant content in the right channels will drive content
campaigns.
10. Data (Read: Results) Will Be an Overarching Theme.
It isn’t enough to think you should do it; feel good marketing is over. CEOs,
CMOs, and every other influencer in the C-suite will look to marketers for data
before, during, and after campaigns to validate return on their marketing
investments. (forbes.com)
Predicting future consumer tendencies is never an easy task
but I have compiled a list of five trends that have enough momentum to be
cornerstones of the industry. Some of most well known brands are
already adapting to these trends, but so are the ones you probably have never
heard of. It will be these hidden gems that have the most potential to takeover
next year.
Future Trend #1 – Tech Immersion
Technology has permeated into nearly every aspect of
consumers’ lives and it will only continue to do so in 2015. Wearable
tech is the new trend that did
not stick with millennials right away, but as the price point becomes more
“millennial friendly,” we will see young adults sporting more tech innovations
on their wrists. Wearable tech will truly take off in the healthy living space
where brands like Jawbone Up and Fitbit have already experienced the highest
rates of success.
Newcomer to the tech industry, Bellabeat, is already making
waves with millennial parents stepping into their new roles for the first time.
Bellabeat has created a line of products that help monitor, record and track
pregnancy. The technology used in the products allows parents to create a
shareable recording of their baby’s heartbeat before the little one is born.
These innovations are not just the latest advancement in technology but
they fit a growing need and will win with millennials because they align with
the insight, Useful
is the New Cool
Future Trend #2 – Mobile Payment will Become the Norm
Millennials are the most on-the-go generation to date and
are constantly seeking out ways to streamline their busy lives. Enter Venmo, Apple
Pay and Snapcash. These mobile payment apps have taken the market by storm and
are becoming increasingly more popular with young adults in the millennial
demographic. The platforms are designed to make the payment process even
more efficient and remove the fees that many associate with mobile or online
payment options. According to data released by Forrester, mobile payments
will reach close to $90
billion by 2017. Especially as we enter into the holiday season, we predict
that mobile payment will reach a peak and will continue to be a go-to form of
payment moving into 2015.
Future Trend #3 – Badge Experiences will Replace Badge Products
More than 69 percent of all millennials consider themselves
adventurous. That means that nearly two thirds of an entire generation value
brands that provide experiences they can not get in their every day
lives. In 2015 the idea of a badge experience will take over.
Traditionally, young adults paid the premium for a name brand product or
designer label. Now, millennials are foregoing their $100 shoes for a
better experience they can remember instead of wear.
Big brands are already starting to realize this. Even
Abercrombie, one of the original brands to stamp their logo all over their
apparel, has begun removing it from much of their clothing. Instead of
recognizing a brand by a name or a logo, millennials will find true value in
the experiences they co-create with the brand.
Future Trend #4 – Reimagination of Social Marketing
Facebook more or less has dominated Social
Marketing since its origination, but other brands have begun finding ways
to engage younger demographics better than Zuckerberg’s social behemoth. In
fact, three in ten Facebookers say they have “un-liked” a brand within the last
30 days and 38 percent of 16-24 year olds have done the same. This ratio is
worse than Twitter and even Google+.
This does not mean that 2015 will be the end of Facebook as
we know it. The social media giant is still the go-to platform for millennials.
However, a greater emphasis will be placed on content and brands will seek out
new and more engaging places for their content to live. The faster brands
are able to respond in real-time to consumers, the faster they will convert
them into loyal brand partners.
Future Trend #5 – The Rise of Fast Casual
This last trend should come as no surprise if you’ve been
paying attention to the news. With McDonald’s changing its menu more than
Beyonce’s wardrobe at the VMAs, the fast food industry as a whole is playing
catch up to the fast casual chains across the country. Yes, everyone knows how
impactful Chipotle has been on the foodservice market, but other brands
including Firehouse Subs, Pie Five and Smashburger are the ones disrupting the
market and driving the trends. These chains are technically considered fast
food but have created an in-store environment that is more similar to a fast
casual restaurant. The speed of food production combined with the high quality
ingredients and more of a “sit down and enjoy” environment will be what sets
these brands and others like them apart from the rest in 2015.
Generations
1995-2002
We can say a lot of things about millennials. For example: they
are dualistic, optimistic realists who love eclectic stuff that’s real. The
millennials are very different from their predecessors, generation X, but
surprisingly similar to the generation that comes immediately after them
(digital natives). We sometimes call millennials the light version of the
digital natives (in the sense of Coca-Cola Light). The millennial generation is
a very important cohort, as they were the first generation to grow up after the
Cold War. In a new world order and its explosion of technology, new media,
products and marketing.
1980-1995
1960-1980
Everybody knows the Baby boomers. They are the biggest generation
cohort with the greatest wealth of any generation. In contrast to the
generations before them, they like to spend their money. They are very active
and open to new experiences. These facts alone should make this generation the
focus of many companies. But, surprisingly, most companies seem to focus only
on the young. So it’s not surprising that most Boomers still don’t feel
understood and catered to by brands and organizations. This lecture presents
the tools to unlock the Babyboom potential.
1945-1960
Virtual reality -VR
VR solves huge problems marketers have around engagement and
awareness for the following reasons:
Immersive – users
wearing a headset are completely immersed in the content meaning fewer
distractions and more attention on the message.
Impactful – the
intensity of a VR experience is greater than traditional media
generating strong emotions in its users which are linked to
real behavior change.
Memorable – our
brains are built to remember events linked to locations, this means that VR
experiences have a longer trace in the audience’s memory.
Novel – with high
media and public interest in VR early adopters can benefit from favorable media
exposure.
Through their Happy Meal Box, McDonald has released their own Google Cardboard. They’re doing a trial run in Sweden where the happy meal toy is a McDonald’s Cardboard VR Headset. In this case, it’s helping people turn happy boxed into happy people. Slope Stars is the game that comes with the goggles. It’s tied to a Swedish recreational holiday that centres on skiing.
Sources:
http://www.trendsactive.com/#!/our-trends/generation-trends/
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3043109/sector-forecasting/25-predictions-for-what-marketing-will-look-like-in-2020
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