There’s precious little time left to finalize your plans for marketing in 2014, so let’s get our predictions in here in time for you to do something about them.
Some of these have been around a while and then are a few that are newcomers to the game. We’ve identified five of these trends that will make a difference in your marketing in 2104, and here they are!
Content Marketing – Making sure your content is top-notch and that there’s a lot of it is your task for 2014. If you’re marketing online, this is how you’re speaking with your prospects, so boring and smelly content won’t do! Besides that, studies are showing that companies using a blog regularly get 67 percent more leads than those who don’t.
Visual content takes the cake! – The current web browser is much more likely to be captivated by visual content instead of large blocks of text, so once you have the opportunity to use visuals, do so! Using images, videos, slideshows and more are far more likely to be shared far and wide.
Retargeting – This is the practice whereby your online advertising is coded to follow around those who have requested a particular search term. Sounds a bit like stalking, however retargeting is catching on fast and it works, keeping the brand in front of interested, targeted surfers. Companies like Adroll and Google are the leaders in this at the moment.
Social Signals and SEO – Although some point out that social signals carry little weight in the search algorithm thus far (like they know!) it’s likely to be poised for a greater role as we become a progressively more social web. This means there’s no time like the present to implement a social media initiative!
Micro-Targeting in Ads – Many of the ad platforms, particularly Facebook with its promoted posts and custom audiences, as well as LinkedIn are helping marketers target incredibly niche audiences easily, and the results can be extremely good. 2014 will be the year this takes a firmer hold on the paid ad scene.