Marketing and Digital Trends of 2017
/The retail and shopping landscape is changing... changing very quickly. Many brick and mortar retailers are all realizing that eCommerce/ Digital is here to stay. Other industries such as urban transportation ( think Uber), product and service delivery (think Postmates), and finance ( think Square) are all being fundamentally transformed by the advent of online shopping and eCommerce. As the smartphone is becoming the bedrock of daily life, we are transforming into a culture where everything can be ordered at the push of a button. What are the strategies that companies are using to reach their customers? To answer this question: Here are the biggest online trends that we foresee in 2017…
The Omni-Device Experience
The majority of consumers have a mobile device as well as either a laptop, computer tower, and tablet. Due to the variety of devices, many shopping experiences may start out at home on the laptop computer and may end during the day on the mobile phone. Think about popular services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video: They advertise that you can watch videos on all devices! You can begin watching house of cards from your home on your TV or computer, and then continue watching the show while you are on the train or bus from your mobile device. This same concept holds true with businesses who are online. They are now focusing on that "seamless" e-commerce experience between devices to accommodate the transient nature of customers’ shopping behaviors. Why is this important?? The more time that a customer spends on a website between different devices, the more likely that same customer will buy. $$$
Content is King
Not only are businesses focusing on an omni-device experience, they are making sure that customers can easily find their website. This is where content steps in and has been making huge strides in the way that businesses now attract new customers and also increase the amount of products and services they sell. Think about this scenario… let’s say that you are thinking about a hotel to stay at while on vacation in Italy, or the best Asian-Fusion restaurant in Seattle, or would like to understand the best methods for replacing the roof on your house. The majority of consumers will now go to a search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) for those answers and look at the content which is being served. In that age of instant reviews on Amazon and Yelp, content is definitely king. The more content you have, the more likely customers will find you!
Video Marketing and Vlogging
In the same theme of content is the new wave of video marketing that has been taking place and we estimate will become a huge portion of anyone’s online and marketing strategy into 2017. With the shift to consumers looking at videos on their mobile devices, and actually disconnecting their cable subscriptions, video marketing has become more important than ever to reach your customer base. Video marketing does not necessarily need to be an expensive advertisement. Many business owners and companies have now taken up “Vlogging” or Video-Blogging to discuss their products and services, vlog reviews, etc. You Tube and Vimeo has become a power marketing and content tool. Just look at the last presidential debate series in the United States. Many households opted to watch this via social media platforms including, You Tube, Facebook Live, etc. instead of traditional TV. Video Marketing and Vlogging has become SO popular that many bloggers and businesses have ditched traditional marketing methods in favor of this to become quite successful! One of my favorite Vloggers is “The Points Guy" who has created a business out of Vlogging about maximizing airline points. His online following is so large that now advertisers pay him to advertise on his website! This is definitely a fundamental turn in the tide of traditional marketing and online shopping… instead of aggressively going after your customers, let your customers come to you based upon quality video content you put into the marketplace.