From BizLaunch: 10 Marketing Trends Defining 2016

Submitted by Erica Lemp, Editor, eBizToday@BizLaunch

As audiences evolve and marketing moves increasingly online via social media, blogs, and web news sources, businesses must find a way to continually reach potential customers and drive conversions. If we fail to know and understand our customer, their preferences and needs, we will get left in the dust. Daniel Newman, contributor for Forbes Online outlines the top 10 Marketing Trends that are defining 2016.

1. Embrace the Customer Experience Model. It’s been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of the sales cycle and an extension of customer service.
2. Will Ad Blockers Change the Game? Consumers are sick of in-your-face marketing. As marketers and builders engage in a healthy debate about the presence of ad blockers, the truth is that if advertising isn’t relevant it’s annoying—and consumers have little patience for anything annoying. How can a good brand get noticed?
3. Dream and Market in 3D. Virtual reality literally drops people inside their favorite TV show, provides an on-the-ground preview of their next vacation, or puts them behind the wheel of their next car. Customer experience is priority number one and—although it’s still evolving—3D technology is poised to move from novelty to mainstream.
4. Marketers Will (Finally) Recognize Social Media as a Channel, Not a Strategy. Social media isn’t marketing, and it doesn’t work as a “strategy” on its own—something that seems to have finally sunk into the collective marketing consciousness.
5. Omnichannel Will be Retail’s Best Friend. Tweet for Pizza! Dominos has one of the catchiest omnichannel campaigns right now, but brands across the board will quickly learn that an integrated customer experience is essential—one that creates one smooth interaction, rather than multiple micro events.
6. Big Data IS for Marketers. Big data, which includes social and unstructured data, is a goldmine for marketers. Until recently, many marketers shied away from big data because they lacked the skills—or the big budget resources—to translate it into something meaningful.
7. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile. Marketers who’ve been lazy about pursuing mobile are about to miss the train altogether; the number of people who do their browsing on devices passed desktop users a while ago. For retailers, mobile is basic; for others, it soon will be.
8. Video Use Explodes While Live Streaming Finds a Purpose. If you want to engage with millennials, video is a must-have marketing tactic; they prefer to find entertainment and education on YouTube over conventional channels like television. Snapchat, YouTube, gifs, Vine, and more are being consumed at a rapid rate.
9. No Rest for Content. It may sounds like a broken record, but content is still king—even more so given the deterioration of interruptive tactics. But context is a stronger factor than ever. With no decline in sight for the importance of good content, the next year will see greater focus on bringing influencers on board for more organic marketing.
10. Data (Read: Results) Will Be an Overarching Theme. It isn’t enough to think you should do it; feel good marketing is over. CEOs, CMOs, and every other influencer in the C-suite will look to marketers for data before, during, and after campaigns to validate return on their marketing investments.

Read the full article here.