While the rest of the world is winding down for the holidays, us marketers are looking ahead. Staying on top of trends, and knowing a trend from a fad is in the job description. To help get your wheels turning for Q1 planning, here’s some insightful 2015 marketing predictions from Emma, an email marketing software and services provider.
1. Meaningful data
Next year, the idea of wanting more data will be completely replaced by the idea of wanting meaningful data. Having tons of data points isn’t helpful if you can’t tease out meaningful trends or customer actions from that data. Integrate and mine your data to inform how you communicate with your customers in the future so that you’re connecting with them in a timely, more relevant and personal way than ever before.
2. Trial runs
More industries will implement a “no touch trial” for their products and services in 2015. It gives people a chance to try out a product without taking on any risk or being hassled by an overly pushy salesperson.
3. Internet of everything
Your refrigerator will likely email you next year. The ‘Internet of things’ will reach critical mass and the era of the connected digital device will move beyond wearable fitness devices—where everything from our cars to our microwave ovens to our pets’ flea collar will become an integrated part of our digital lives.
4. Action tracking
Soon we’ll see the concept of behavioral data expand to include a person’s physical actions in the real world. Techie tools like Apple’s iBeacon and Samsung’s Placedge will allow marketers to target content based on how consumers move around the physical world, not just how they move around the web. An example would work like this: A restaurant wants to remind folks to leave a review on Yelp. It could target folks who have been to the restaurant within the last 30 days, but not those who were there the night service was slow because half the wait staff called in sick. It’s a new kind of behavioral data that will power smarter segments and push notifications.
5. Transparency, ROI, Video
There are three more things you’ll see more of in 2015. First is transparency. Creating trust through transparency will become more and more meaningful to consumers. They’ll gravitate toward brands that pull back the curtain and let them inside their thinking and processes. Second, people and marketers are really sick of chasing ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ from one moment to the next without any kind of tangible ROI. That like-chasing mentality will start to go away and marketers will look for bigger, broader, more impactful trends in social media marketing. And third: video. LOTS of video. Everywhere. On everything. All. The. Time.
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