This article was published on Orange County American Marketing Association (OCAMA) Official Blog
As professionals and business owners we use benchmarks to monitor success and create projections for future goals and expectations. Now is the perfect time to dive into evaluating and improving our operations and strategies, especially in the wild world of online marketing.
Let’s review the top predictions that came to fruition as trends in 2014:
- The explosion content marketing
- Diversification of social media channels for promotion
- Image-centric bite-sized messaging (Pinterest usage soars)
- Re-targeting regained effectiveness
- High demand for cross-platform responsive website design
- Local search gains leverage in Google search
These are a few of many factors that weighed on Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Content Officers this past year and some of them gain even more momentum as we pass through the halfway marker of the second decade of the 21st century. After evaluating and listening to the top minds in the industry, here are some of our favorites to look out for in 2015:
Content, Content, (Convoluted?) Content
As a writer, content enthusiast and marketing professional this topic is thrilling yet a little annoying at the same time. The content marketing boom is in full swing, nearly every digital article blares the importance of quality content that does not treat the brand as a celebrity and actually aims to solve the problems that consumers face. This is by all means a wonderful win for brand journalists, SEO gurus and digital marketing strategies alike and I fully support the enthusiasm. According to inbound now content marketing will be the most important initiative companies will take on in the New Year (if it isn’t already), but let’s also remember there is always another side to pop culture – the crowd.
As content becomes more prolific, there will certainly be more noise to compete with and the true talent in this arena comes from discovering how to break away from the standards by creating a golden ticket of sharable content. What’s the secret? Expert Andrew Davis speaks of finding your MOI or “Moment of Inspiration” that changes the game or story for your audience which when found can truly unlock the potential. But the truth is that there is no secret other than finding what works for authenticating your brand’s voice. Research best practices in content marketing, but don’t use them as stencils for your own strategy or your content will become convoluted and your brand identity will be lost in the crowd. Be human; be innovative; and connect with your true audience without having an ulterior motive – in other words: make their concerns your concerns and you will ultimately succeed.
Wearable Technology, “Great Scott!”
I’m a child of the eighties, so one of my favorite realizations of the New Year was that twenty-six years ago, Marty McFly and Doc Brown climbed out of a flying DeLorean and arrived in present day. They predicted a number of technological advances but which were true and which ones impact the digital marketing world? Well we may not have auto lace-up shoes or garden center fruit dispensers, but we do have video calls and futuristic phone glasses in the form of Google Glass. So in a sense, McFly and Doc are on the right track! According to Mark Schaefer of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, “there is a vast change on our horizon that will be led by augmented reality and wearable technology. In an article on Top RankBlog.com he goes on to say, “by the end of 2015, wearable technology should be gathering enough steam that we will begin to see some early marketing applications. What does marketing look like when the Internet sounds us like the air that we breathe? Fascinating to think about.”
Other experts agree wholeheartedly, as the concept is listed as second runner up to content marketing on inbound now’s top ten 2015 trends. Although there are some definite early adapters out there, including Fitbit, GoPro and Google Glass, don’t think that it’s a far off place for your company to waste thoughts on. The great thing about predictions, is that if the correct ones are taken seriously at the right time, they can launch the next best company into stardom. So give the far-fetched ideas some thought and see if they can work their power on you!
Learn to Walk Again: Back to Basics
To me this third trend is a party mix of the many expert opinions on what’s to come. Pam Didner, Global Integrated Marketing Strategist at Intel Coporation, made the bold statement that “The major change for 2015 is NOT about digital marketing.” Huh? – Just listen – “The major change will come from Marketers by Going Back to Basics: reevaluate the target audience, determine what works and what doesn’t. Re-prioritize and be smart about resource allocation and investment.”
That all sounds simple enough but don’t ignore it. Her reasoning comes from the ever-expanding highly fragmented marketing channels that exist today and the increased challenge of reaching a secured target audience. As fast as technology, social media, algorithms and preferences change it is important to take a step back and make sure your audience, or as marketing giant Hubspot calls them “personas” are secure. Make sure you have ways to not only track sources, but also behaviors once a stranger becomes a prospect and their activity from there. Also don’t overlook your funnels. Are your marketing and sales funnels still separate? Are they working for you? Are there ways to improve conversion rates? All of these play into the next main trend of 2015 – Smart Content.
Be Smart! Use Smart Content to Make Your Prospects Smarter
Get my keyword here? Yup! You got it – Smart! We mentioned evaluating personas and making sure they were accurate and detailed. That means building a full profile including their interests, behavior, preferred channels of communication, demographics, career level, education level, hobbies, favorite dog and lizard…okay you get the picture. Be specific! Smart content begins with this profile. Many experts even recommend giving them profile pics to help marketers visualize the personas. From there smart content can begin. The strategy is all about personalization and providing the right message, to the right person, on the right channel and the right time. This seems simple enough, but many companies are actually missing this concept or understand it yet don’t have the tools to make it happen.
Let’s take an example: Smart content to some is like magic. When you visit a vender you want to know a little about them and what they do. Great! Then you look around to other competitors and they have some good stuff but you really like that first company that you stumbled upon. With smart content, when you land back on the original website, you won’t just get the same profile and features, you’ll get content that addresses you personally: “Hi Rob, Welcome Back. While you were away we gathered some more information for you” along with some middle of the funnel resources to get you to move forward.
Pretty cool stuff don’t you think? Smart content was made popular in large part by the lords of the Frankensystem at Hubspot. The platform makes it extremely easy for you to implement this technology so take some time to research and learn more about how smart content can play into your digital strategy. But remember that although Hubspot is the primary and original champions of the strategy, they are by no means the only source of implementation. Check with your in-house or agency programmers and support teams as some of the most passionate coders can definitely help create an in-house system that works without freemium payment model.
What about SEO? Oh Search…We Could Never Forget You!
As a result of the content marketing explosion, some may think that SEO has fallen by the wayside – Impossible! Digital marketing relies on an inbound strategy, which is built upon search engine optimization as well as content. Just because we make messaging that resonates with humans doesn’t mean we ignore the machines! Let’s check out lessons from a great infograph from Business 2 Community:
- Social signals will become even more important for SEO – Search engines use social shares as a signal that a website or a piece of content is “what people want” and more likely to push it up the search ladder so even more people get to see what it’s all about!
- The rise of security as a ranking signal – Google confirmed that they are already considering https as an important ranking factor. The only way to go about this is to take Google’s word for it and integrate https for your websites not just for SEO but for your website security, especially if your company collects payments online.
- Increased focus on conversational keyword phrases – SEO is now taking content’s side on rewarding us to be human. What this means is that search algorithms are moving away from merely focusing on one/two keyword phrases and are reading towards better interpretation of long-tail or more “conversational” keyword phrases.
- Brand mentions takes center stage in link building – Search engines focus more on the content of the pages from where the backlinks were generated, taking into consideration the relevance and social popularity of the source content. Brand mentions that do not necessarily require a hyperlink but include one back to your site are also considered!
- Visual Based SEO – Rich text that include visual elements are now given priority in SERPs over web pages that contain only free text. Also don’t forget YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world!
But wait there’s more?!
Of course there is! There is always more in this age of instant information. Take advice from lord Google and search for more information on content marketing, SEO and digital marketing trends for 2015 and share your thoughts on what’s to come.
