Looking back at the marketing predictions made at the start of 2012, it seems the ones that carried most relevance were the proliferation of mobile and video content…
But what does 2013 have in store for us? This is the question I’ll be hoping to answer in a feature I’m going to be putting together for the magazine next month. And I’d be keen to hear your thoughts.
For what it’s worth, I think we’ll be hearing more about both mobile and video, with savvy brands investing in responsive sites and more polished video output. But those predictions are pretty safe bets.
If I were to stick my neck out further though, I’d repeat my belief that Google+ will continue to refuse to die. It will become increasingly relevant, whether its users like it or not.
I also think there’s a chance prince context may finally replace king content as our monarch. Though regurgitating these hackneyed phrases lost its appeal long ago, brands looking to create more personalised campaigns and experiences for their customers are going to have to start dishing up context-relevant content. Customers require different types of content at different stages of the buying cycle, at different times of day, and on different platforms. They’ll even differ depending on how old the target is, their sex and whether they’re in a good mood. If brands want to create the Nirvana of B2P marketing, they are going to have to start thinking more about context.
So this could lead on to things like greater marketing automation take up, more brands turning to crowd-sourcing and embracing public discourse, and, even, some brands starting to tackle the data issue they’ve been ignoring for so long.
Another prediction I’d make, and one that seemed pretty widely agreed upon at the recent B2B Marketing Conference, is brands that continue to be scared of trying new things, and spreading their digital wings, are going to start finding things increasingly difficult.
Now, over to you: what will we all be thinking about over the next twelve months?
