With the start of the new year, marketers have realized that the challenges and opportunities for them in 2015 have been like never before. This requires a greater awareness of the latest trends in the digital world, helping to improve the customer experience, personalization and cross-platform marketing techniques.
It is important to be aware of changes in consumer behavior and trends.
Consumers are embracing new technologies that affect consumer spending and redefine marketing strategy. Knowledge of the latest marketing channels and the importance of improved connectivity helps any marketer design a new and improved marketing communication.
Strategic Questions for Digital Marketers(1)
- How do consumers spend their time on various virtual devices, platforms and channels?
- What is the pattern of consumer spending on these platforms and channels?
- How do you calculate the ways to define the most suitable marketing message for these consumers?
Top Digital Trends – Key to Success for Marketers
Brand responsiveness:
In 2015, smartphones have become the remote control of our lives with improved adoption of technology. Marketers face the challenge of being responsive in terms of usability across a variety of virtual devices and platforms. Brands must be action-oriented and relevant at these touchpoints.
To be successful in the digital world, brands must be responsive in terms of designs that are compatible across various platforms and device types. With the changing marketing paradigm where mobility and social media are important aspects, brands must be fast, flexible and fluid. (two)
Being responsive enables a brand to provide a personalized and portable user experience to its customers. According to E-consultancy’s ‘Digital Marketing Outlook’ report (April 16, 2014), client-side marketers consider certain areas that keep them on the cutting edge. These areas include social media, data-driven optimization, mobile devices, integrated design, and responsive design. (3)
Customer experience:
Many companies consider treating the customer experience as a competitive advantage for themselves. This requires aligning the objective of all the teams working in the organization towards the joint achievement of this objective. E-consultancy’s Digital Trends Report (2014) shows that 44 percent of business organizations view customer experience / service as a key differentiator compared to 28 percent who rated product quality as a differentiator of the competition. (4)
Personalization:
According to the Adobe survey ‘Digital Roadblock’ (2015), personalized communication acts as the most important marketing tool and the main digital concern. According to the survey, other important priority areas for marketers included content optimization, social media engagement, viral marketing, search engine marketing, mobile optimization, and mobile app engagement. Personalization doesn’t work in isolation. It works across the entire customer journey with omnichannel and multi-device communication to deliver personalized products and services. (5)
Mobile presence:
Marketers must realize that mobile devices have become indispensable in our lives. It touches everything, including our personal and professional scope. Whether listening to music, reserving tickets or ordering food, the mobile has become a substantially powerful tool. Mobile devices have redefined our concepts of entertainment, commerce and content. According to the Emarketer webinar, by the end of 2015, 70 percent of all search in the US would be done via mobile devices. In a mobile-centric world, context would be an important feature. (6)
Multi-device orientation:
Today’s consumers are focused on multi-screen multitasking. Marketers need to understand this behavior and improve sales by targeting customers on a variety of devices. Using location data, user identification, and reenrollment through mobile apps help marketers redefine their strategy.
E-consultany’s 2014 Measurement and Analysis Report has focused on important insights that digital companies could use to assess the changing paradigm of consumer behavior.
Important attributes include:
- Tracking consumer behavior across channels and devices
- Personalization and segmentation
- Identify the most valuable consumer group for companies
- Evaluation of the customer experience as a whole
- Recognize content engagement design and response to an ad / campaign.
Internet of Things (IoT):
This involves the whole group of things: people, places and objects that are and will remain connected through the Internet to collect data that will be transferred over networks through devices and applications. The data is analyzed to understand the information. For example, through IoT, companies could closely monitor their inventory level through a mobile app. The potential of IoT is simply enormous, as it will very soon be integrated into our personal and professional space. IT has the potential to become a multi-dollar market. (7)
Conclution
In 2015, the mobile and social scene will be integrated and coordinated through increased brand responsiveness, personalization, customer experience, multi-device targeting and IoT. Marketers must be aware of the changing landscape and coordinated monetary strategies surrounding elaborate sets of consumer behavior. Marketers need to understand the timed effect of major digital trends and spend accordingly to justify the overall value of their brand.
References
(4.5) Electronic consulting. “Digital Trends 2015: CX and Personalization Remain High Priority”. September 2014. E-consultancy.
(1, 2, 3, 6) Elkin, Noah. “Key Digital Trends: 15 Things You Should Know for 2015 – Webinar”. December 11, 2014. EMarketer website. January 30, 2015
(7) Forbes. “Top 10 Strategic Tech Trends for 2015”. 2015. Forbes website. January 30, 2015