In the Moment

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The Most Daring Marketing Trends of 2017

 

As our favorite credible sources for marketing trends compile their predictions for 2017, we’re sorting through them and deducing some foresight of our own. 2016 brought with it growth in mobile and ecommerce, as well as important trends in marketing automation, mass customization and a renewed focus on the customer. However, even as marketing gets more customer-intimate, it is also getting bigger. We predict that 2017 will bring even more big changes to marketing, including some bold moves.

Pulling from Forbes, Content Marketing Institute, and Smart Insights, we’ve created our own list of marketing trends. Because we like to keep things interesting, we’ve focused our list on the most challenging, intriguing, and adventurous of the bunch.

Creating a Content Strategy

We’ve all heard that content is king, and we’ve seen content marketing rising in popularity in recent years. Content is an idea that hit in the mid 2000’s, and it’s now in need of a new twist. We’re seeing just how important a content strategy is, and what a feat it is to create a good one. According to CMI’s B2B marketing report for 2017, only 37% of B2B marketers have one. Turns out organization is a pretty wild idea when it comes to content – watch out, in 2017, marketers are going to get give method to their content madness.

Mobile and Short-lived Content

Yes, we’re talking about Snapchat. In the same way that Generation X is also known as The MTV Generation, Generation Z is beginning to be referred to as the Snapchat generation. With the introduction of “Discover,” a section of Snapchat devoted to content channels hosted by companies, the marketing opportunity for this revolutionary platform exploded. Because mobile and Snapchat are so popular, Tastemade even designed an entire vertical kitchen just to produce Snapchat content, as studies show that people are less likely to watch videos on their phones in landscape mode. As companies like Tastemade and Buzzfeed show us, tackling Snapchat content isn’t easy–but completely worth the work. Unlike any other year before, this truly is the year of mobile, and that ties directly into the rise of short-lived content.

VR and AR

From Pokémon Go’s success to the release of affordable home VR headsets, virtual reality and augmented reality are booming and will provide huge marketing opportunities in the coming year. Two industries that seem to be a perfect fit are real estate and the automobile industry, with virtual tours and test drives. Volvo is already trying it out. With the technological and price hurdles still out there for VR, but with all the opportunity, this is a challenging trend we’re excited about.

Print Resurgence: The Power of Touch

Going vintage is a bold move. But as digital opportunity blossoms, the opportunity in print is growing in parallel. To cut through the clutter of digital, many companies are adding print marketing as a way to stand out and get people’s attention. Print pieces also appeal to our human sense of touch, which is a powerful appeal, according to many researchers. This could be both the year of future and of retro.

Of the predicted trends for 2017, these are the ones we see as the most gutsy–and therefore the most interesting. As with all trends, it’s important to analyze which ones are right for your business, and to be agile in testing them. With every tactic you try, be integrative and purposeful and adjust as you go for optimal optimization. May 2017 find you bold! And find your business better than it was in 2016, and always improving.