7 Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2017

Marketing is a constantly changing landscape, especially with the advancements in technology changing the attitudes of consumers towards traditional, tried-and-true techniques. Conventional forms of marketing can be seen becoming more and more obsolete with every year. With the start of the 2017 comes the same routine, with marketers scrambling to predict the marketing trends of the year.

This year it would make sense for companies to endorse online trends, which will no doubt be more effective, as nowadays marketing trends tend to lean towards the digital as evidenced by the most effective trends from last year.

The following are some of our picks, in no particular order, of the 7 best marketing trends to look out for in 2017:

  1. Content Marketing

With the digitization of the modern world, it comes as a surprise that content marketing is still quite underutilized in marketing strategies. Businesses should endeavor to employ some form of content marketing for their brand as it is one of the best ways to create interest in consumers, and, if done right, may even help to maintain customers’ loyalty towards the brand.

As to what exactly content marketing is, it can be simply explained as the creation of content that is interesting and relevant for a specific target market over a consistent and long period of time. It differs from other forms of marketing in that the consumer has to actually want to be exposed to the content and actively seek it out as part of their personal interest.

Another point of interest under the topic of content marketing is SEO, standing for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a handy tool for attracting interest to brands and products through the use of keywords, leading interested parties to websites when related keywords are used in search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

  1. Live Streaming

Using live streaming may be a somewhat unorthodox marketing tool but it provides a form of genuine and natural content that consumers will appreciate. By using live streams to show the backstage processes, a look into “what is behind the curtain” so to speak, brands can either ignite or sate the curiosity of their consumers. Being shown what is happening, whether it is how things are made in factories or how movies are filmed, during the actual time it is happening is still quite the novel experience. Not only that, but as live streams are in real time it also gives a platform of interactivity between companies and consumers, as well as giving it something of a personal touch.

  1. Interactive Marketing

What would entice the audience’s attention? The marketing world is oversaturated with content to the point where consumers would be hard pressed to decide where to keep their attentions on, under constant bombardment as they are from brands and businesses all vying for their regard. It leaves struggling to maintain consumer interests a wearisome undertaking for many companies.

Within recent years, it has been shown that interactive marketing has the ability to engage consumers as well as stick in their memories. Polls and surveys, personal selling techniques, chatbots, and even viral video trends are examples of interactive marketing that consumers have positively responded to in the past, giving off a sense of sincerity on the part of the company. It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to say that interactive content will continue to be effective against consumers.

  1. Mobile Compatible Marketing

In this technologically advanced world no one is ever without their mobile phones, being as reliant on technology as we are. So why not take advantage of it? Mobile optimized marketing has become exceedingly common to an almost obnoxious degree but there’s no denying that it works. As millions of people in the Philippines own smartphones and majority of them rarely let it leave their person there is a permanently available platform for brands to advertise on.

Companies planning their marketing strategies should ensure that whatever advertising content to be put online is also optimized for smartphones for easier viewing, or to just even create advertisements that are only available on a mobile platform. At the moment, it should be noted that mobile optimized marketing has the widest reach.

  1. Videos

One of the top marketing trends in 2016 was video, what with an estimated 300 hours of new video content uploaded to YouTube per minute, there is no shortage of choices to keep watchers entertained, and marketers have long since jumped onto the bandwagon. It remains one of the more impactful forms of marketing, indeed one that has been successful since the beginning of television. Videos as a marketing tool has the ability to deliver messages to consumers in an entertaining and informational manner, which could in turn, convince consumers into trying their products or services.

Making videos to market ideas and brands can be extremely successful – for example, Always’ #LikeAGirl  marketing campaign from last year –  and works well with the shortening attention spans of the consumer market, especially if video is done so that it captures the interests of consumers in new and innovative ways.

  1. Social Media Marketing

Social media has become so entwined with our lives on an almost pervasive manner that it would be a mistake to not to market on it. With the influence of social media so rampant, marketing campaigns on assorted social media sites – FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, to name a few – have a larger chance of impacting consumer interest.

What’s more, all social media sites utilize something called data analytics, which keeps track of what users are interested in. This is incredibly advantageous to social media marketers, as with the relevant insights into user demographics and interests, marketing efforts can be simply targeted at the consumers more likely to be interested. It could be observed, as well, that presently a great many brands have their own social media accounts.

  1. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

At the moment, VR and AR are in the delicate state of being old news and yet still uncommon enough to pass as an unknown variable in many people’s minds. Thanks to the mayfly hit AR game Pokemon Go, VR and AR have become more or less mainstream within the media but the technology is still new enough that many companies would be hesitant to attempt marketing on its nebulous platform. A point in VR’s favor would be that there are mobile apps with VR and AR abilities, so there’s no question of it being available for all. There are even successful marketing campaigns using the technology, the best example would be a VR campaign done by Mariott Hotel that takes viewers on a tour of beautiful vacation spots using VR goggles known as the Oculus Rift.

It remains to be seen whether VR and AR will be sticking around, but everyone is of the agreement that they are are the hottest things within the tech world at the moment.

When it comes to marketing trends, a great deal of it is up to luck. Tried and true marketing plans are susceptible to failure and, despite careful “predictions”, there is no concrete path to know what marketing trend will be the next to take off, what consumers will respond to more favorably. In this digital world, it comes to reason that these trends are connected to technology, and would be the trends that have merit in being kept an eye on or even considered for your own marketing plans.

Source: smallbusinesscan.com