Are you Keeping Up with Online Marketing Trends?

Are you Keeping Up with Online Marketing Trends?

As you have browsed around our website and viewed other information, you may have noticed us mention online marketing trends. We like to make sure our clients know how important it is to stay current on the new trends and technological changes that come along with it. You’re probably asking yourself, “Just how can the Phoenix Business Cycle help with this too?” Well, keep reading and you will soon find out!

What Exactly ARE Marketing Trends?

Quite simply, marketing trends are anything that can give you an edge over your competition in terms of catching the attention of your target audience. In years gone by, this could have been done with large, full color ads in magazines or high value advertisements placed on television, but with the advances in technology today, this now means a flashier website, powerful SEO with high ranking placement, and more. With the Phoenix Business Cycle, we don’t just tell you what you need; we make it happen for you! Our client base is thousands of clients strong, and we have worked hard to ensure they are keeping up with online marketing trends as needed.

Why you may be feeling stressed is that these trends many times come with substantial changes needing to be done to your website, or marketing, but where do you turn and how can you get them implemented quickly to stay in tune with the demands of today’s consumers? Not to mention the demands of the search engines. With our program we provide the R&D, and then create for you the plan to keep you on or ahead of things happening in your industry. We have the developers, content writers, designers and everything you need to implement the things you need stress free.

A website is the online gateway for your business. According to a past Enders Analysis data collection, more than 55% of internet users in the United States alone access websites through a mobile device. This means your website must be responsive for you to tap into the wealth of potential new audiences! It is not just for your target audience, no way! Mobile apps for your smartphone or tablet can allow you to manage your finances, inventories, presentations and much more from anywhere in the world.

Taking a closer look at trends, in 2013 one of the biggest marketing trends online was the humble quiz. Yes, I said a quiz. This tiny bit of interaction between an entity and their audience opened the chain of communication. The entity was not just a money hungry seller of products or services, and the audience had more to do than just shop and buy. Over time this turned into a true online phenomenon, with the majority of commercial and private websites having some sort of quiz. Whether it was simply “what’s your favorite color?” or offered multiple choices for the product brands you wanted to see that company sell next, providing interaction between your business and your audience was a simple and surefire way to connect on a more personal level. In fact, it was not just a way to connect; it was also an easy way for you to get free self-advertisement. As one viewer took the quiz, they would share their results with friends, encouraging those friends to take the same quiz. Before some businesses knew it, their view counters were on fire with hundreds and even thousands of new views each day! Trends change often, but the businesses that can stay on top of the changes are the ones that will succeed. We have the team that can help you with that!

Forbes quoted these new trends for 2016:

  1. Video ads will start dominating. Video ads are certainly nothing new, with social channels like YouTube dedicated to hosting billions of videos and advertising platforms like Facebook and Bing already offering advertisers video options. 2016 is set to be different because Google is finally getting on board with in-SERP video advertising. It’s a sign that users are becoming more accepting of video ads online, and as that trend continues, expect to see more types of video ads popping up in more unexpected places. With Google’s ownership of YouTube, the possibilities are virtually limitless.
  2. App indexing will lead to an explosion of apps. Google has offered app indexing for a while, but as the ranking possibilities for apps become more complex, 2016 will be the year more business owners realize the online visibility advantages of a dedicated app. A mobile-optimized site works wonders for appealing to the mobile crowd, but soon, apps will begin to replace them. Apps can do everything that websites can, except in more intuitive, convenient, accessible ways. We’re still several years away from apps completely replacing websites as a medium, but 2016 will be a pivotal year in app adoption from business owner’s perspectives.
  3. Mobile will completely dominate desktop. 2015 was a big year for mobile—not only did Google announce that mobile traffic finally overtook desktop traffic in 10 different countries, it was also the year they released the “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update to phase out sites not optimized for mobile. But apparently, you don’t have to have an optimized desktop site in addition to a mobile version—according to Google, a mobile-only site with no desktop counterpart is perfectly acceptable. This alone won’t be enough to drive down desktop traffic, but it’s clear what side of the fence Google’s on; they’re banking on desktop traffic fading away, meaning the smart money rests on mobile-focused online marketing.
  4. Digital assistants will lead to a new kind of optimization. Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising are two highly popular strategies for getting your site seen by thousands of previously unknown visitors. But the rise of digital assistants is going to lead to a new kind of optimization. Digital assistants like Siri and Cortana do utilize traditional search engines, but only when necessary to find information. The key to optimizing in this new format is to make sure your business information is easily accessible to these assistants, rather than trying to funnel people to your site specifically.
  5. Virtual reality will emerge. There are dozens of different virtual reality devices set to release in the next few years, some of which are dedicated for specific applications like video games, and others which are available for general use. Oculus Rift, arguably the most hyped VR device, is set to release in the first quarter of 2016. Oculus Rift and other VR devices will introduce an entire new medium of online advertising, with integration to popular social media platforms, video channels, and even forms of direct messaging. There’s always a chance VR could fizzle as a temporary fad, but there are billions of dollars of funding in limbo, ready to bet otherwise.
  6. Wearable technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) will pave new ground. While not quite to the level of virtual reality, wearable “smart” devices should start gaining more traction into 2016. 2015 saw the unveiling of the Apple Watch, a first-generation smart watch, but more smart watches and similar wearable devices should start emerging next year. Such devices will change the landscape of local marketing, and will do more to blur the lines between “online” marketing and “real” marketing.
  7. Advertising will become more expensive. Competition in the online marketing world has increased dramatically over the course of the past few years. 2016 will see it increase even more. As the basic laws of economics suggest, an increase in demand is often accompanied by an increase in price, so all those new online marketing competitors will drive the prices for online advertising even higher. Realistically, online ads are pretty cheap, but the increases in price may drive some smaller companies out of the landscape.

These seven trends aren’t the only ones that will emerge over the course of the next year, but they will be some of the most significant. There’s no guarantee exactly when or how these trends will manifest, as much of that is driven by consumer adoption, but it’s worth hedging your bets in at least a few of these tent pole technologies and strategies. The earlier you start, the more time you’ll have to adjust and reap the full benefits of your forward-thinking campaign. This is the power of the Phoenix Business Cycle, our staff is already being trained on the new emerging trends, and are ready to provide those niche skills to your business model on demand. We pay to keep our staff on the cutting edge, and you get all the benefits without the ongoing cost in training and education.