Looking back at 2014 Trends and forward to emerging 2015 Trends

Christian Lowe Blog Post - 2/13/2015 A company's digital marketing strategy must not focus solely on email and web campaigns because individuals are increasingly consuming media through their mobile devices (phones and tablets). Consequently, it is increasingly important for companies to establish strong mobile marketing campaigns that are compelling and rich in content to engage the mobile audience. Unlike the traditional digital campaigns, a successful mobile marketing campaign can be tricky to accomplish because the delievery mechanism generally offers a small display (i.e. a 3" screen vs. a computer monitor >=~15"). Therefore, it can be harder to fully attracted the consumer's attention unless the mobile messaging is compelling/visible enough to capture the individual's attention. This was a challenge that occured throughout 2014 and it seems that companies have established stronger practices in their mobile campaigns. An example of this can be seen through how a lot of mobile campaigns are now videos or brightly colored. In 2015, there have been a number of key trends that have emerged but one that is of particular interest to me is the move towards optimization of a customer's experience through advanced analytic techniques. Employing statistical modeling and predictive analytic techniques enable companies to better predict what are the important aspects of their consumers' preferences and experiences. Technological innovations and software advancements have made it easier for companies to perform multiple tests and create increasingly accurate prediction models for expected behaviors of their customers. Continued demmand for these techniques will further refine the capacity companies can target their customers and personalize the messaging to them. Below is a snip from a good article about the Top 10 Expected Digital Marketing Trends for 2015: http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/digital-marketing-trends-2015/ From Conversion Optimization to Experience Optimization We are long-time advocates of structured AB and multivariate testing at Smart Insights. But these tools tend to focus on single pages in the journey rather than overall customer journeys, but they have increased hugely in their ease of setup and use recently. Tools that support analysis across customer journeys and channels are evolving: Most popular AB testing tools * Optimizely * Visual Website Optimizer * Unbounce Customer Journey Tools Content management systems are now improving in their facilities to personalise and test. * Adobe Customer Experience Manager * EPiServer * Sitecore Below is a snip from a good article about the Top 10 Expected Digital Marketing Trends for 2014: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2386192/10-digital-marketing-trends-for-2015 Mobile-First Marketing You'd be hard-pressed to find a list of marketing trends that doesn't include a mobile-first strategy. Most analysts agree that brands will have to put more thought into leveraging mobile technology in the coming months in order to create experiences that serve consumers' needs. Kathy Stromberg, vice president of marketing at Webtrends, agrees. "Marketers now have to find a way to make media concise and digestible enough to resonate for consumers who are on the go and viewing from a 3-inch screen," she says. "Best practices are still being developed, so the opportunity is around defining what works and what doesn’t in the evolving space of mobile."