The end of one year brings the start of another and an opportunity to make resolutions for the upcoming calendar. The same goes for businesses. This is a great time for organizations and businesses to reflect on lessons learned from the past while planning for a better new year.
For marketers, much anticipation is built around the 2017 digital marketing trends expected to dominate their industry. In such a fast-moving industry, these trends can change dramatically from one year to the next. Brands that don't stay on top of these changes risk falling far behind their competition in the coming year.
Save yourself the trouble and get familiar with these six trends that are likely to dominate 2017.
1. The Internet of Things Will Grow Exponentially
The Internet of Things is expanding rapidly, so it follows that marketing attentions paid to IoT will explode over the coming year, according to CXO Today. With the Internet of Things comes a broad array of data from an endless list of devices, ranging from health wearables to home thermometers to in-home digital assistants. This ecosystem is uncharted water for most marketers, but it will become the front line of marketing innovation as brands work to leverage this technology to engage consumers in new ways.
2. Automation Will Evolve Across Channels
Automation is an ongoing process for many marketing departments, but the technology continues to improve, making it possible to drive predictive campaigns from deep analytic insights. Email is a perfect example. Through triggered messaging and other automation efforts, brands can turn email into a highly productive, engaging form of digital content marketing. These strides in automation expand what a resource-limited marketing department is capable of achieving.
3. Instead of 'Mobile-First,' Brands Will Emphasize Multi-Platform
Today's brands have a greater understanding that the mobile-only audience isn't as significant as consumers who move from one platform to the next. To that end, marketers will shift away from targeting mobile-first consumers and adopt a strategy model that acknowledges the multi-platform behavior of consumers. This will require a more complex understanding of the path-to-purchase, but the end result will be a more complete, and pleasant, user experience.
4. Display Ads Will Reaffirm Their Value
More dynamic types of content may be available online, but the ever-improving relevance of display advertising—thanks to programmatic strategies and expanding access to big data—will make them more valuable and efficient than ever. Display ads often get overlooked when building dynamic digital strategies, but they're a reliable source of strong ROI for most brands.
5. Personalization Will Be the Difference-Maker
Big data has its hands in so many different areas of marketing, and its ability to drive personalization is hard to match when it comes to long-term influence on the digital landscape. The more brands learn about their customers, the better they can serve personalized content and experiences. The first phase of this process requires marketers to identify and develop new data acquisition channels.
6. Content Will Continue to Reign as King
Content may change in shape and size, but it's still the cornerstone of successful digital marketing. Whether it's email, social, company blogs, video or other interactive content, content will remain the top marketing priority.
Now that you've read about some of the top 2017 digital marketing trends, how will you use them to build a better strategy for this year and beyond?
