AG Voice | Sneak Peak into the Digital Trends in marketing for 2015

Digital marketing has seen an evolution like none other and all this is mainly due to the ever-changing digital landscape, mass adoption of technology and the growing proliferation of devices and their usage across all age groups. Very importantly, consumers are changing in terms of adoption, psyche and acceptance which impacts how they consume digital content as well.

The digital landscape has seen considerable growth and even more so with the massive penetration of mobile devices across the globe, with India alone at 81%. With a multitude of new technologies entering into the mainstream and digital marketing constantly evolving, 2015 will shape up to be a particularly exciting year.

Let’s have a look at a few digital marketing trends that are shaping the year to come-

Mobile Marketing –

Mobile marketing is the new hub, connecting the consumer, wherever he is, to digital and integrating social with everyday activities. QR codes, augmented reality, mobile apps and social media platforms on mobile are several ways by which mobile has empowered the consumer and is still ever growing. Mobile apps have become table stakes both for B2B and B2C. Brands leading in different industries like retail (Walmart), sport gear, health fitness (Nike), banking & finance (Citizens Bank) etc have developed applications for mobiles that enhance the customer experience and integrate their presence in their consumer’s lives. Such integration by brand developed applications shall be a key growth sector in year 2015. Communication solutions provided by instant messenger applications are also seeing great applicability in marketing endeavors and are already an integral part of a consumers means of communication and social networking.  Services like Wechat and more recently Snapchat which grants a unique communication model based on ephemeral messaging are being greatly employed by brands to connect with consumers and provide personalized as well as group targeted advertising. Application revenue models are also differentiated and seeing developments in terms of pricing models which grant users full access in paid version and limited but free access which are ad-supported. By inserting mobile services and smart tools at key points in their everyday journey, a marketer can effectively leverage their brand as well as provide valuable service to the consumer.

Regional Marketing-

Regional focused marketing initiatives are also seeing a spur in interest and development as marketers are beginning to realize the potentials and the opportunity that the rural markets and the audiences present to brands. Marketing initiatives in these areas, prominently of HUL and its ‘Kaan Khajura Tesan’ a marketing apex strategy and brilliant execution used the power of mobiles even to push forth its branding and very effectively by smartly merging entertainment services with brand information and marketing. Digital India is another initiative aiming to bridge the communication gaps and overcome barriers of access to this latent market of consumers by facilitating high-speed internet and making services available electronically thereby further enhancing and improving the marketers chances to better reach out to this earlier less traversable market. With the aid of improved technology and access, marketers can now realize and push branding efforts and marketing to this huge mass of latent market just waiting to be explored.

Predictive, Adaptive & Responsive Marketing –Social Listening

Digital marketing is now no more only buying space online and flashing ads to consumers in the hope of them noticing your ad and moving on to a purchase cycle. Smart digital marketing is all about being predictive about what consumers would want and where your services can be made available. It not only about understanding your consumers and adapting to their requirements but also being flexible to their requirements as much as possible and being responsive of their queries and doubts. Being responsive and speedy in service delivery is essential as the digital consumer of present has a very short attention span and needs prompt response. Digital now also empowers marketers and has tools available to pre-empt a consumer and predict requirements.

Social listening is the key to this tactic, providing marketers access and control over information so a potential customers need can be realized and capitalized upon. Social listening can be augmented by marketers across platforms to harness the power of social listening through social command centres that enable them to track conversations online about the brand, track brand sentiments and develop strategies to tackle the changing digital social landscape.

Omnichannel Marketing & Storytelling Transcendence –

Digital grants marketers the power to transcend platforms and develop seamless messaging across platforms to connect with consumers throughout the day no matter which device or platform they use. This is a trend which will see more enhancements in the years to come inspite of currently being leveraged and adopted by several brands and marketers to an extent. The key idea behind this is developing a seamless and well-rounded customer experience and a brand or messaging story by being omnipresent and delivering a clear and precise communication to the customer, thereby effectively leverage itself. The merits of this obviously grant a top-of-mind recall among customers for that brand and also present marketers the opportunity to fit their services to a customer’s everyday cycle and essentially engrain themselves to provide services when required even before being voiced by the consumer. However being omnipresent requires a lot of skill and resources for the marketer and has to be dealt with carefully. Omnichannel marketing is still at a nascent stage and holds great potential for further creative developments and modifications to enhance marketing and messaging storytelling.

Multiscreen Marketing –

The phenomenon of multi-screening is one which has transformed the way advertisers and marketers can now connect to their audiences. Discussions on TV content now happen on mobiles and desktops; 59% people log onto social networking sites and forums while watching TV. 49% use apps and internet to browse about content being watched. This definitely presents a huge potential and area that marketers can truly capitalize on to deliver their messages and keep consumers engaged to their brand throughout their device experience. With ‘media convergence’ the new buzzword in town, you can now see that content merges and sifts through devices and screens seamlessly. Different screens present different opportunities and represent different tools in the minds on the consumers. It is becoming evermore essential for marketers to understand what devices mean to different people and which one may be used for what purpose, when and why. With digital booming and device ownership expanding, this is the future.

Social Media Monetization –

There are several social media platforms out there for marketers to capture and build upon but how do you monetize it? This is a key question that marketers have been juggling with. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have added several new option and functionalities like a donate button, repurposed like and share buttons, more flexible advertising designing and payment models. These are a few modifications that will see more change and are yet to grow. ROI on digital is still a facet which has yet to be engineered.

Digital Enabled Wearables –

Digital has morphed and enhanced the way we communicate on an everyday basis and with the development of wearable technology, this further expands the horizon. With technology like Google glass, Nike Fuel band, Pebble, Jawbone etc, marketers have even more scope to further augment their marketing and brands to the customer to a whole new level. This is a change marked by augmented reality and wearables which could be so profound in terms of information, communication, marketing and digital itself.

Mashup –

Digital no longer separates PR, SEO, Social& CRM. Digital is a mashup. Communication on digital reflects and combines all these aspects and provides a wholesome communication to consumers. This makes it all the more essential for marketers to give a huge amount of importance to what and how they communicate on digital platforms. A single post, comment, tweet and image can make or break a brand. This form of communication is yet being experimented with by brands and marketers to enhance, package and augment secondary services to consumers.

It’s safe to say, 2015 is an exciting year for marketers to be on digital which is an ever changing expanse of new technology developments and ever demanding consumers waiting for you to go viral.

The author of this article is Mr. Zafar Rais – CEO MindShift Interactive.