Halloween is exactly two weeks away and once that is over the holidays come right after one another like dominos. Thanksgiving. Hanukkah. Christmas. Then, before you know it, you’re celebrating the New Year. Make sure you are prepared for 2014 with these marketing trends that are sure to have an impact on the marketing industry in the coming year.
Content Really is King
Not surprisingly, content marketing will continue to be a huge part of marketing in 2014.Continuously creating valuable content that is appealing to your target persona is a very important way for a company to build authority and credibility in their industry. This constant stream of relevant content gives organizations the opportunity to nurture relationships with prospective clients by providing them with industry information, solutions to their problems, educational materials and entertainment. The Content Marketing Institute names some of the top tactics used for B2B content marketing including: social media (other than blogs), articles on your website, eNewsletters, blogs, case studies, videos, articles on other webistes, in-person events, white papers, and webinars. These pieces of content are also a great way to increase your organic search ranking by optimizing them for keywords. Useful and relevant content that is updated frequently carries a lot of weight with search engine algorithms.
Mobile Optimization
A study by Morgan Stanley estimates that mobile web will be bigger than desktop internet use by 2015 based on the current rate of change and adoption. Mobile web includes smartphones, e-readers (like the Kindle), web-enabled tablets, GPS systems, video games and wireless home appliances. For this reason, mobile versions of website and/or responsive design in web development will become increasingly important as more people will be accessing these sites on mobile devices. In addition, content needs to be optimized for mobile devices as well. What does this mean? Formatting that is mobile-friendly. Blog posts that are shorter and easier to read.
Simple is Better
Consumers have been showing a preference for simpler message and simpler marketing campaigns. Can you really blame them? Advertisements are appearing everywhere. There is almost nowhere on the internet where you can go to be free from ads. DVR lets you fast forward through commercials but blatant product placements in your favorite shows curtail that. It’s not surprising that consumers have gotten a case of sensory overload with all the marketing messages and advertisements out there which is why a simple, minimalistic message can be key to success in 2014. Companies like Apple and Google certainly understand the value of simplicity and they are both quite successful.
It is because of this trend that sites like Pinterest and Slideshare are rapidly growing in popularity. Information is presented in a simplistic way using images and visual representations. That’s also why people love infographics. The designed information makes digestion easier as a consumer. Furthermore, successful blog posts are often the ones that break up the written content with striking images or relevant videos.
Growth Hacking
A growth hacker, as defined by Ryan Holiday in his book Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing and Advertising, is “someone who has thrown out the playbook of traditional marketing and replaced it with only what is testable, trackable, and scalable. Their tools are e-mails, pay-per-click ads, blogs, and platform APIs instead of commercials, publicity, and money… They are the inventors, operators, and mechanics of their own self- sustaining and self-propagating growth machine that can take a start-up from nothing to something”.
Enough said. Watch out for growth hacking. This trend could revolutionize marketing as we know it and perhaps even change it forever.
Social Media for SEO
Social media does play a role in SEO and search ranking and the extent of this role will continue to grow in 2014. The truth is that internet users spend 4 times longer on Facebook than on Google and the search engine algorithms recognize this when evaluating website for search ranking. Content shared by a social connection is actually prioritized in search engines as it is regarded as representing “social proof” of a brand/company. According to Forbes, social media is actually one of the three pillars of SEO.
We hope these trends help you start your 2014 off right. Yes, we know it's only October but it will be here before you know it!
