what’s next for marketing?

The Festival of Marketing is fast approaching, so it’s a great time to consider what marketing has in store.

By looking at the status quo of marketing in 2017, I’ll explore what the future may hold for these trends and where marketing may be headed in 2018.

the future of content

No matter the content medium trends, what will remain a constant for content is to answer your audience’s questions and needs. If you’re not answering a question, then you’re not as relevant as you could be.

Whether you answer the question with an article, video, infographic, app or something completely different, as long as you’re answering questions and inspiring people you’re on the right track.

What the future does hold for content is how consumers prefer to engage with it.

virtual reality

According to Statista virtual reality will grow by 3,000% over the next few years. It’s predicted there will be 171 million users by 2018.

Currently, some of the big brands like Google and Samsung are using VR in isolation (channel-wise and platform-wise), but we can expect to see VR being integrated into overall marketing strategies in 2018.

The key focus in VR is naturally content. No consumer will want to engage with VR unless there’s a key reason. That is if VR stays as tech we use day to day. There is the danger of it being a novelty, and not adding anything meaningful (think of 4D – did smelling your movie add to the overall experience?).

There is the danger of it being a novelty, and not adding anything meaningful (think of 4D – did smelling your movie add to the overall experience?).

Rather than answer a question, VR focuses more on inspirational content and the consumer experience.

artificial intelligence

When talking about AI and marketing, a lot of people will think back to Facebook’s attempt of utilising AI in 2017. This resulted in Facebook shutting the robots down (because the robots weren’t meeting the goals of the project).

However, there are other more relevant ways we can use AI for marketing and content.

Predictive marketing is likely to be the term most associated with AI for marketers in 2018. This is the process of using AI to better segment your customer base with computers predicting potential interests and behaviours. This means you can send the right message at the right time to the right person much faster.

What predictive marketing will also mean for content is better, quicker access to vital consumer data. The AI system Watson from IBM is a key example of how AI is being used for market research.

What predictive marketing will also mean for content is more and quicker access to vital consumer data.

Content marketers love using data to confirm theories, ideas, and messages. Rightly so, as we as consumers like data-driven information.

the rise of advertainment

Advertainment is already in practice in 2017. What we’re likely to see in 2018 is more of the big brands getting behind this. I’m also expecting a good amount of smaller yet innovative brands adding their creativity to the mix.

If you aren’t familiar with the term “advertainment”, it’s the practice of interlinking entertainment with advertising.

The current most relevant example of this is Apple’s Ad for the iPhone 7:

‘The Rock X Siri Dominate The Day’.

The Rock’s natural charm carries much of the advert, but also the fact that the core message (“Make every day count and use tech like Siri to make this easier”) runs through the entertaining parts. Namely, The Rock completing a lifetime’s bucket list in just one day. Because he’s The Rock, what else did you expect?

In an entertaining manner, the advert answers the question of how Siri can help you organise your schedule – the key feature of Siri, of course.

At the time of writing, advertainment is associated with big budgets. However, the key to this medium is creativity.

The most creative content is usually developed when resources are in short supply. Utilising ‘less‘ to do ‘more’ is a key skill utilised by marketers. You can expect to see an increase of advertainment in use in 2018.

the future of social

Social media marketing is ever changing, especially when it comes to platform popularity. The big three used to be Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

While Twitter once led the way in social media best practice, 2017 hasn’t been a kind year.

Generation Z will also grow in influence in 2018. The oldest of this generation are entering the workforce meaning their significance in the market is increasing.

the social split

What these two facts have in common, in my opinion, is that social will become more fragmented across the generations.

This makes truly identifying and knowing your own audience even more relevant than ever before. For instance, a social media campaign purely focused on Generation Z using only Twitter and Facebook is less likely to be successful in 2018.

Snapchat and Instagram are the platforms of choice for this generation, while Generation Y is yet to fully embrace Snapchat.

2018 will be an interesting year of change for social media habits and messaging strategies.

video

A content medium for social, which is likely to only increase in 2018 is, of course, video. 2017 saw a significant increase in video sharing and engagement across social channels.

Live video streaming has grown in popularity and this is likely to continue in 2018. The increase in popularity hasn’t, however, been in the form of live event streaming as many expected, but in live hangouts.

The app Houseparty has attracted 1 million users so far and is likely to grow in significance with others trying to replicate its success.

Sharing experiences with multiple people at one time could be adapted by brands using social influencers in their marketing.

There’s potential to see more hangout style apps and reasons.

the future of business

An interesting article from Forbes proposes that rather than new marketing tactics, a new business model is needed.

The most widespread business model is currently: build / market / sell.

This is the most traditional approach to business.

A manufacturer who has taken the new business model to a competitive level is Tesla.

To launch, they used the model: market/ sell/ build.

While companies starting on Kickstarter have championed this model, the scale of Tesla’s success in a very product focused industry has got people taking more notice of this model.

Thanks to their market/sell/build approach, Tesla was able to sell four times as many cars as its closest competitor within 24 hours.

What seems to be mainly behind Tesla’s success was to market the customer experience instead of the product on its own.

Considering how content and social media trends both champion the consumer journey, with more experience-themed ideas coming into play than ever before, this new business model is likely to gain in popularity for 2018.

the future of consumer behaviour

While AI and VR will have an interesting impact on content marketing in 2018, another new technology likely to impact consumer behaviour is Sensory Reality.

Continuing to enhance a consumer’s experience of a brand, sensory reality will not only let you see and place a product in your home but let you feel, smell and sense said product.

The Reality Pods enable the consumer to engage with the product through all the different senses. It’s still a new technology and it’s yet to be seen if the pods can recreate the experience in the way consumers will expect. However, it further highlights the need for experience focused marketing.

However, it further highlights the need for experience focused marketing.

what will remain the same

Despite all the future trends for marketing, there are still key elements, which remain the same. As Mark Ritson points out in an article looking at digital marketing and marketing overall, the measurement of strategies will remain as ever before, namely: “(…) insight, creativity, positioning, engagement and, ultimately, effect”.

Marketing theories are interesting to explore, but at the end of the day, it’s the overall results that are behind successful marketing strategies.

Brands tailoring their strategies to their audiences and using a variety of communication channels- with different messages- tend to dominate.

Innovation, rather than replicating risk-free one-off plans, will remain at the heart of good marketing.

looking for a marketing agency?

If you’re looking for a marketing strategy that is tailored to your audience, then why not try the integrated marketing agency with creative spark?

Have a look at our marketing strategy service page and get in touch today.