In 2017, your marketing efforts are more important than ever before. With changes in the way that people search, interact online, and spend, you’ll need to make sure that your business is in a good position to reach your target market and create rewarding interactions.
While the rest of 2017 isn’t going to require a complete revolution in the way that you’re currently marketing, you may find that some of the trends require that you change your approach, or at least reallocate your resources to focus on some different digital marketing strategies.
#1 Mobile Centric Online Marketing Will Become the Norm
Up until this point, the trend for online marketing has been mobile-friendly, rather than mobile-centric. This is set to change next year, largely due to the fact that mobile now accounts for more than 50% of the search market. Mobile has become so critical that in the coming months, Google’s search indexing algorithms will change to a mobile-first model, meaning that pages are indexed based entirely on mobile performance. If you haven’t developed your website and your content to provide an exceptional mobile experience, then you’re going to be penalized in terms of search ranking. Creating responsive mobile-centric content should be one of your top priorities for 2017.
#2 Data Driven Marketing
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the importance of data collection and what businesses do with that data. If you have any kind of online presence, a customer database, or even a social media account, then you will have plenty of opportunities to collect and utilize data. Your online marketing in 2017 will need to start making better use of your available data, to ensure that your campaigns are focused, cost effective, and responsive. This can mean using new tools to gather and interpret data, and you may need to upskill or bring new talent into your organization. Investing in ways to utilize your data will be highly rewarding. With the right datasets and emerging data visualization technologies, you will be able to learn more about your audience and individual customers, allowing you to develop better products and services, with better ways to market them.
#3 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality platforms are novel, attention grabbing, and highly publicized, making them excellent for sharing your ideas and creating consumer interest. Virtual reality at trade shows and other events can be a great way for you to showcase products, and will likely become more prevalent in marketing in the coming years. While VR is a niche technology that can require some significant investment to understand and utilize, augmented reality is something that you can start using right away, through mobile phones. Digital marketing will benefit from the increased interest in augmented reality. In 2016, the augmented reality app, Pokémon Go, became one of the biggest and fastest growing apps of all time. At its peak, it was generating more than $10 million dollars a day in revenue. Even without the huge brand name of Pokémon, you could use AR to creatively engage and entertain your market through the Android and iOS app platforms.
#4 Video Marketing to Engage Consumers
Because the majority of online search, social media usage, and communication is all performed through mobile devices like cell phones and tablets, it is important that your business focuses on mobile friendly marketing platforms. Video marketing will be massive in 2017, especially when considering the short Instagram style videos that are growing in popularity on social media. Videos are easily consumable, attention grabbing, and can convey a significant amount of information in a short period of time. Most importantly, videos have the potential to be shared and seen by millions of consumers within your target market. To create interest, conversations, and interactions, you can even use live video streaming for product releases, free seminars, and Q&A sessions.
#5 Dense Content That Cuts Through the Noise
Short form content has become the norm in current online marketing, so it will be necessary that your 2017 content is not only concise, but also information-rich. Dense content means ensuring that every single word of your content is written with purpose. Your content should be catchy and compelling, because you’re competing for the attention of users that are already being bombarded with content every single day, through almost every online channel. Whether you are publishing content on social media, your website, or other sharing platforms, density will be critical.
#6 Email Marketing
As a trend, Email marketing has never gone away, and it will be just as important in 2017 as it has been in previous years. If you’ve fallen for the myth that email marketing is no longer important, then you’re going to be missing out on significant opportunities to engage with a responsive market. Email marketing is inexpensive, it’s one of the easiest ways to communicate with mobile customers, and it allows you to keep your market informed about your products, services, and promotions. Email is also important because it can be integrated with other online marketing assets, such as social media, a landing page, and websites. Email might be one of the oldest digital marketing techniques in existence, but it’s nowhere near obsolete, and you’ll see a significant return on your investment when you develop a responsive audience and share valuable, easy-to-consume content.
BMG Creative Will Help You to Maximize Your Marketing Investment
With all of the responsibility of running your day to day business, it makes sense to utilize a professional digital marketing team. BMG Creative can help you to fully understand the current and emerging marketing trends, while ensuring that you make an impact with innovative, creative, and results-driven marketing techniques.
Invest in the future of your business with an online strategy that engages your audience, and be prepared for the changing online marketing climate of 2017 and beyond.