Digital Marketing Trends of 2017

Firstly, wish you all a very Happy New Year and a warm Welcome to 2017.

In the year 2016, as a Digital Agency, we launched new verticals in our organization in the form of Corporate Training on Digital Marketing & Social Media ROI for Corporate Brands and elite academic institutions and we are glad to share that we trained 1,000+ participants across 27 industries.

Milestones achieved as of date by our Digital agency  – Techdivine Creative Services
– 6.5 Years in Digital marketing and social media (Digital Agency).
– 43+ Clients catered to.
– 4 Global Recognition’s / Awards WON.
– 6 Countries catered across (India, USA, Spain, UK, UAE, AUS).
– 1,000+ Participants trained on Digital marketing and social media.

At the start of 2017, which is today, on 1st January, 2017 we are glad to announce the addition of two new verticals into our organization’s services:
1) Big Data Analytics, Advanced Digital marketing & Social media analytics for Research driven result oriented marketing
2) Augmented Reality (AR) apps

With that, based on our industry experience across countries over the past 6.5+ years here are few trends we feel would be impacting the year of 2017 across digital and technology integrated marketing for corporate brands.

Digital Marketing Trends of 2017

To start with, this will be the “year of conversations & connect in real-time” for corporate brands.

The focus will massively shift from integrating automation to schedule conversation towards “Humanizing Brands”.

Here are few core aspects that we feel will impact 2017 in terms of digital marketing and technology integration:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 3D Printing, Smart cities, Machine Learning:

More and more corporate brands will start integrating augmented reality and virtual reality into their digital marketing and technology integration process with a clear focus towards:
Breaking distance barriers: Creating a solution to connect, consume and understand the brands product & services by breaking down barriers of physical locations, traveling time etc and by enabling easy integration of devices within the confined spaces of the end users home and or offices. Here again, Augmented Reality could have an upper hand as it requires a much lesser dependency on high end hardware / devices as compared to Virtual Reality. Artificial intelligence will grow by leaps and bounds as machine learning will take a bold step towards understanding our requirements much faster and better and that too in real time. Through AI, machine learning etc, computers will start perceiving its environment to take actions with an intention to maximize its chance of success at an arbitrary goal in a way that will empower and enable it to learn without being explicitly programmed. (Check out Arthur Samuel, 1959 research, findings and works on the same). To look at a simple example of things which we can see around us already: Education and doing courses online. By adapting and sensing the learning pattern, scoring, behaviour of students and or participants by measuring and analyzing their scores and aptitude across subjects, machine learning can suggest courses that those student(s) will find more challenging, interesting, engaging and has a better chance to excel at.

I am reminded of this quote from one of the greatest minds of all time:

Albert Einstein quoted, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

3D Printing will become more affordable, easier for users to gain access and not just big corporations. Impact of AR, VR, Machine Learning, 3D Printing etc will be seen across industries and definitely lot more in the field of medicine, medical, surgical, health, industrial, retail, hospitality, real estate etc.

On similar lines, smart cities which is a dream across nations today, already implemented in many zonal areas, specific tier cities, districts etc across scores of countries, such smart city projects will become more real and see it in action to be perfected even across developing nations. Such projects will see greater and faster progress across locations wherein organizations who have the required skilled manpower, know-how etc will be able to tie-up with the local governments to initiate and build such dream projects.

Today with the power of AI, learning and performing will take a step towards focusing what you as an individual are better at rather than based on what the world or the society around you wants you to learn. When you learn something that you enjoy and are good at, it’s only logical for you to have greater chances to excel in it.

Big Data (including market and customer insight and predictive analytics):

Big Data will be required more by corporations that have terabytes, Petabytes and Exabytes of information with them. A petabyte (PB) is 1015 bytes of data, 1,000 terabytes (TB) or 1,000,000 gigabytes (GB). Most importantly, focus will shift from merely analyzing the data to interpret them in terms of return on investment based on patterns, online consumer browsing and buying behaviour of end users etc. Here, RELEVANCE across consumers will play a key role.

Content marketing:

Content marketing will take a powerful and serious turn from content that is general to relevant to completely personalized. Brands will truly understand the power of content from it being perceived as a factor to improve Search engine optimization or SEO score towards generating true value across end readers. Content marketing will play a crucial role in creating a Knowledge Resource Center for organizations, institutions and individuals with a clear idea of adding real value and building brand ambassadors online for long term loyalty in the form of TRUST.

Advanced PPC integrated with detailed Analytics and research based digital marketing social media insights:

Pay Per Click campaigns which enable use of power packed tools and sites like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads etc will start building ads not merely based on new products / services / top deals / discount offers etc but rather based on understanding their prospects and customers in the real sense of the term. Let’s take an example of a fast food business or a pizza store. Let’s say you as an individual have visited a pizza outlet few weeks ago and have filled in your basic details such as gender, age and location. Currently ads are generally designed and targeted to assume certain things, for eg. If you are a male or female in their mid thirties, its an assumption that you are married even perhaps have kids. So a pizza outlet ad shows you offers that you and your kids might enjoy or for a special anniversary date night at their outlet during Valentine’s day etc. But there is a crucial aspect that such ads miss out on. There might be a large group of users who are not married or perhaps do not have kids. Just because they belong to a certain age group and or gender, stereotyping of such ads is a strict no. In 2017, brands will mature into understanding these aspects that decide and define sensitive information and the repercussions of stereotyping consumers into a category. So a cohort analysis chart from let’s say Google analytics integrated with social media analytics, browsing behaviors etc will play a crucial role before brands design ads. Here again, focus will shift towards designing ads that are compatible across devices and will be scheduled across locations to ensure it reaches the right set of demographics at the right time.

Internet of Things (IoT):

IoT will play a crucial role in 2017. Automation of devices at home and work will empower users to have a better control of their lives and save lot of time by enabling automation of trivial decisions that are of a day to day nature. For eg. Your refrigerator will take onus of ordering your milk, your IoT enabled kitchen racks / shelves will take responsibility of ordering your cereals or bread for you from your nearby grocery stores that have such processes integrated. If not, at least it will alert you via a message on your smartphone that you have to call in and may be order or pickup groceries, laundry etc on your way back home. Similarly, IoT will play a great role in Industrial automation by enabling better safety features, great precision of processes, zero wastage of raw materials, better quality of packaging and or products etc. In fact, I see tremendous possibility of IoT impacting aspects like ensuring your kid has reached their school and or where you vehicle is or what kind of repair and maintenance does your car need at this moment etc. Also, in healthcare, IoT will play a vital role in 2017.

Use of drones, bots, Robots etc:

There will be a notable increase in the use of drones and chat bots integrated with AI to enable better logistics, quicker customer query responses, real-time customer automated support etc by more and more brands.

Website user experience and Responsiveness with Mobile marketing, Mobile wallets etc for ROI / High conversion rates:

Millions of users in India and billions across the globe have already gone the smartphone way. Devices integrated with better features, functionalities, higher internet speed etc have paved the way for more and more users browsing websites using their smartphones and searching for queries using the same via text search and even voice search. So, brands will need to ensure and focus completely on making their websites or blogs mobile and device independent. In other words, responsive in nature such that the content and the site architecture automatically adapts to showcase and resize content based on the device from which it is being browsed. Similarly, ecommerce sites will focus completely on the same to ensure least drop-offs at the checkout page and increase sales conversions with exceptional website and customized user experiences. Integration of more easy, safe and secure mobile wallet system to make payments and use products, services, purchase the same through mobile access etc will see a great surge across countries and user demographics. Multi-platform usage will see a massive surge as users are no longer access single devices and this pattern is increasing across countries. From desktop only or mobile only, users are shifting to multiple devices based on where they are and what they are looking for.

More focused and responsible marketing automation, Influencer marketing, Native advertising, Email marketing and Online PR:

Marketing automation will take a massive turn from being tools or processes that schedule messages across different timezones on various social networking platforms to personalized content across targeted users. On similar lines, native advertising, influencer marketing will also ensure that it takes “Responsible advertising” more seriously and influencers are really users who can and or have the ability to do so across specific industries, countries and users. Online PR and email marketing on similar terms will also be a crucial factor in reaching out to the right set of users not just based on database of email available, but by truly understanding sub-segmentation of targeted users so as to ensure the messages do not reach out based on general stereotyping of demographics.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO or organic search):

Integrating Pay Per Click campaigns with digital marketing and social media analytics to create and understand relevant content for right set of targeted users will empower SEO more and more every single day in the year 2017. The focus will seriously shift towards “100% Relevant search results” based on your search, browsing, clicking patterns online. It will no longer be about keyword density or higher bid wins, rather, relevant quality ads based on the users requirements at that precise moment will redefine how SEO affects our lives on a daily basis. “Google it” will no longer be another social currency but a way of life….well, it already is!

Social media marketing for BRAND ROI: Focused towards real-time engagement and conversations with brand monitoring:

Brands have started taking social media marketing very seriously since the past two to three years. But in 2017, they will understand that RESULTS require INVESTMENTS. It will no longer be about “CHEAP costs”, “LOW BUDGETS”, rather the budgeting plan for ROI based digital marketing will directly be related to the GOALS brands have in mind at that point of time. It will be – “Engage, have a conversation, listen carefully, connect, take feedback, integrate, personalize, build trust and sell”. A sales process that is able to go though all of these stages will not only be a great sale, but will also be strong on brand loyalty, repeat purchases, referrals etc.

Wearable:

Health based devices that are integrated into your mobile, smart watch etc will see a great year in 2017. Imagine your heart beat, pulse rate, routine nutritional facts, calorie intake, general health etc being added to your routine will keep reminding us of what’s really important in life. Listening to music, taking a phone call, replying to a message, ordering food, searching for answers, connecting with loved ones, sharing special moments, etc will no longer require you to access multiple devices or sites at the same time. Wearable’s will redefine our routine to make things well, simpler and more efficient!

Video:

Content consumption in the form of videos and rich media content: With higher and better infrastructure, internet speeds, technology devices, the content consumption will largely shift towards videos and rich media content that is interesting, engaging and interactive in 2017.

I recently read in an article that data services business Cambridge Analytica helped Trump campaign target individuals with adverts designed to match not just their political views, but their personality type. For example, if you’re a gun-owning nostalgic type, you would have been served an ad showing a father and son hunting. With such personalized automation processes that is married with authenticity, the need for the customer’s experience and interactions will be way more focused.

For example at one of my recent three day Corporate Training programs on Digital Marketing and social media for B2B industry, I shared a detailed case study analysis of how by using automation rather than merely to post updates, we used it to understand past patterns, sales teams approach, interested users, prospective organizations, etc and worked towards sharing right content to the right buyers at the right time. This enabled the said B2B industry to acquire qualified leads, which after a series of online engagement (done privately) were not only ready to engage with the sales teams but also had built tremendous trust and credibility at this stage of the sales funnel. This proved to be a great support system to the sales team who then successfully closed the sales with their great connect and know-how of the said subject matter.

In the year 2017, the right digital marketing strategy will be the one that can “integrate technology platforms” with the best in terms of marketing automation, digital and consumer analytics, targeted personalized content etc.

This will also bring about business alliances in a beautiful fashion. For eg. Amazon is doing a wonderful job in this section. It is enabling users to integrate and communicate using services for eg Amazon Dash to connect with their day to day shopping requirements while giving them an amazingly easy Amazon experience in real-time. Another wonderful example of this is the Spotify integration with Uber app. This enables users to stream their favourite music during their journey with Uber services.

Marketing will get more and more predictive from being automated to simply researched. Bots like voice search, for eg. Siri will see a surge in usage.

With all these trends that we feel will impact 2017 for brands, users and marketers alike, cybersecurity will also see a massive growth. We might even see new laws being added to Cybersecurity to empower ans safeguard users interests, information, organization’s IPR etc.

Well, these are our views on the trends that will impact the year of 2017 in digital marketing.

Do share your views and comments with me here, would love to hear from all of you.

 Be Well

Let’s Connect  – Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – Social media Brand ROI Book – Corporate Training on digital marketing – Learn social media digital marketing (India & International Programs: USA, DUBAI etc)

Ananth V

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