Top Marketing Trends
The staff at Mackman thought that it would be useful to you if we highlighted what we see as some of the top marketing trends for 2014. These trends are not cutting edge or controversial but they are relevant to almost all of the organisations that we come into contact with and you will see growth if you allocate additional resource in these areas.
Mobile and the Web
This year we have seen continued growth in mobile use to access online content and this marketing trend is set to continue. Typically clients are currently seeing around one in every three website visitors using a handheld device. A study by InMobi and Mobext in 2013 revealed that 69% of tablet users make at least one purchase every month. So with almost four million people owning one, all organisations need to carefully consider their online provision in 2014 and ensure that they are catering appropriately for all visitors and especially if they own an eCommerce business. Responsive websites are certainly a must and if you haven't got one, we suggest you make it a New Year's resolution.
Big Data, Small Data
Digital marketing has helped to provide a proliferation of data available to marketers and it can be used to uncover valuable customer insight. Often overwhelming in terms of its volume there is a wealth of information at hand from a variety of sources as long as you have the analytical skills available to make sense of the numbers. Missing data such as customer satisfaction measurements can be gathered using appropriate methods to ensure robust findings for qualitative or quantitative results. Internal systems and back office software can also be important sources of useful data to marketing analysts. In expert hands the data can illuminate the existing relationships we have with customers, allowing us as marketers to become ever more personalised or targeted in our marketing activity. We are increasingly helping our customers to make more sense of the data they hold. We expect to see significant growth in our customer understanding and engagement activities over the next year in response to growing demand.
Dancing with Google
The search landscape has evolved significantly during 2013 and this will continue throughout 2014. For those of us involved in search engine optimisation (SEO), the recent changes by Google are largely seen as positive. Despite the ever increasing complexity of this marketing discipline, on many levels, it is pretty straightforward, particularly if you adopt an ethical approach. Content, engagement, authorship and authority are key pillars to a successful and sustainable search strategy. Everything should revolve around this and, like any other area of business, you need to make sure that you have a plan. If you don't have a content plan then we suggest that you make this a priority for 2014.
Branding
Digital marketing is clearly significantly important and incorporates a breadth of channels and opportunities. But despite its dominance in the minds of many, we urge that digital marketing not distract those with marketing responsibilities from traditional activities which will always be at the heart of marketing. The development of your visual brand is of central importance and often overlooked. The evolution of your brand is one of the keystones of successful marketing and it needs to elicit a positive emotional response from your target audiences. This is a really great way to gain a competitive edge and it is worth getting right.
Paul Mackman
Managing Director
Paul is a co-founder and the Managing Director of the Mackman Group. He is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is also a member of the CIM, Eastern Region Board and current Vice-Chair. He has broad commercial and marketing experience across sectors, including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, education and professional services.
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