Four Marketing Trends That Matter in 2017
Content marketing got more complex in 2016, requiring advertising agencies to adapt quickly. Those who hopped on rising trends in 2016 were successful, and those who didn’t were left behind. 2016 was the beginning of many digital and content marketing trends that will have a big impact in 2017 as well. As we progress into this new year, the complexity of these new content marketing trends will only multiply.
Here are four marketing trends that ad agencies saw change how businesses interact with their customers and how they remain successful online:
- Market to current customers. Adobe found that 40% of an average company’s income comes from current customers, but only 2% of the budget is spent on retention efforts and marketing initiatives. It used to be that content creation for new customers was enough. The thought process behind this at many Denver marketing agencies was that once a customer or prospect has progressed through the marketing funnel, he or she doesn’t need any more motivation to stay onboard. That is changing in 2017, with more options for products and services for more people making retention more difficult.
- Marketing on-the-fly. A great example of this is showing live software demos or product unveilings. 2016 was the year of the DIY film crew. With new technology, such as Facebook Live and Canva, you can record and produce useful, relevant marketing content and broadcast it directly to your prospects and followers. In 2017, with even more technologies and programs likely to become available to cheaply and quickly produce useful content, expect more businesses to embrace this notion of on-the-fly marketing.
- We’re back to Non-Fiction now. Storytelling became an ever-more important tool for marketers last year, but telling a fictional story has become less effective in the Millennial demographic. Millennials love truth. As they become the most important purchasing cohort for more businesses, telling the story of a product or brand rooted in truth becomes more significant. Live video technology has already begun to force companies and brands to create documentary-style marketing stories for their customers.
- Test everything. Most digital marketers at marketing companies are moving towards less but more effective content. This doesn’t mean you have to spend twice as much on an advertisement project, it only means you have to test everything all the time. Test headlines, images, and conversions. Conduct A/B testing using new services like GutCheck to organize fast focus groups. Taking a little extra time to ensure that your advertisements will be effective will be more crucial and easy in 2017.
Most agencies are already adjusting early in 2017 to follow these and other marketing trends that will change the game. There will undoubtedly be a new wave of technology and services that will allow digital and content marketers to expand their reach and become more effective for their organizations in the year to come. How companies manage their digital marketing content could be in for still more changes by 2018.
adam-oleary
Adam is a graduate of Colorado State University (bachelor’s degree in marketing), and he has experience on both the client and agency side of the marketing world. These experiences led him to come up with a unique, more efficient business model, which he’s incorporated into Encite Marketing. Adam sets the strategic direction for all Encite projects, developing integrated marketing campaigns that bring results. He takes a consultative approach with clients, educating them about how the process works, and keeping them in the loop about end goals, steps, and tasks.