We saw a lot of changes in the digital marketing platform in 2016. Now that the year is almost ending, businesses once again have to take a break from the daily operations and reflect on how digital marketing has worked for them. This is also the time to think about the next year, and what it has in store for them when it comes to marketing. Here are marketing trends businesses should expect in the year 2017.
Mobile Marketing Will Become a Primary Marketing Platform
Mobile marketing is still the next big thing businesses should expect in the coming year. We all know how mobile became the center of attention became in 2016. The trend is expected to continue to the next year. Google is already in the final stages of making mobile the main platform for customer experience. It has also started to drive the speed of mobile-based sites through its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) blueprint. More than 70 percent of people use their mobile devices to access the internet, meaning businesses will have to shift to mobile marketing.
Interactive Content
Customers will prefer more interactive contents in the coming year. Research shows that most people have deviated from the conventional means of communication such as emails to interactive options that allow real-time communication. Most customers in real estate have already adopted SMS as the primary means of communication, changing the long-term dominance of emails. Businesses have no choice but to think of ways to get the customers to actively participate in their campaigns.
Email Personalization
Businesses experienced a surge in the use of emails as their primary means of marketing this year. Inspired by the success of 2016, email marketing will take a new angle to enhance customer experience. We expect personalization to be the next big thing in email marketing come 2017. We already had a brief experience of the first-name personalized in emails. Algorithms applied to the clients will help to unmask what they are about to do next.
Mobile Video
In 2016, ads displayed on mobile platforms in the form of videos made up of 49% of total mobile video views. This growth rate is six times faster than desktop videos. In 2015, mobile videos toppled desktop videos as the most-viewed for the first time since digital marketing gained traction. In 2017, we expect this trend to continue and grow, especially among the millennials. It is high time businesses embraced mobile videos because we don’t see any changes that can make them redundant marketing options in future.
Live streaming
2016 was the video marketing year. We saw many blogs trying to inform businesses about the importance of video marketing. Some businesses have embraced video marketing, and others are yet to. However, live streaming is going to be the next big thing in 2017. Facebook has already taken up the challenge and introduced a live streaming option for users in the US. Given that videos have the best ROIs, live streaming will be a bonus for marketing campaign teams. Due to its cost-effective production, live streaming will be available for both small and large businesses.
Chatbots
Chatbots will be popular in 2017. The growth of bots has been fueled by the increasing popularity of messaging apps. Users all over the world are now logging into messaging apps to communicate with friends, brands, and read and watch content. WhatsApp has the highest number of users followed by Facebook Messenger. The likes of Viber and Slack are also making it big in marketing. Businesses will have to choose Chatbot models in their marketing campaigns. However, businesses will have to be patient with their models because it will take some time for customers to get accustomed to the bots.
Transparency Will Determine Customer Relationships
Customers are currently interested in meaningful engagements from businesses. We expect this trend to continue through 2017. Customers will demand more transparency. Credible and trustworthy brands will be richly rewarded.
Time Will Determine Conversion Rates
Customers are increasingly becoming impatient. Most of them will not tolerate marketing strategies that waste their time or invade their privacy in 2017. Businesses will have to be watchful of time to prevent breaking relationships. For example, they will have to estimate the correct time to send emails, call or text their prospects without creating any discomfort.