The Top Marketing Trends of 2017

Content Marketing

Content marketing has been around for some time, but recently more and more marketers have been jumping on the bandwagon. For those that aren't familiar, content marketing is the practice of generating and distributing relative and interesting content to attract potential customers. It's a layered process that works well with any overarching marketing strategy.

You can write blogs that provide entertaining and educational insight to your business, something people will seek out. Or, you can write eBooks and generate leads via call-to-actions. You can even make infographics: innovative and easily digestible designs that provide information through graphs and pictures. In a world of ad-blocking software, it’s no surprise content marketers experience 7.8 times more site traffic than non-content marketers.

Interactive Content 

Interactive content is one of the marketing trends that's taking businesses by storm. It’s all about providing customers with an experience: an activity they can enjoy in a way that makes your brand memorable. This is commonly done through online quizzes, polls, surveys, games, and contests.

Through these tactics, companies gather consumer insight that can be applied to future campaigns. Interactive content can make your business stand out from competitors and even double consumer conversations and site visits. Even 91% of B2B buyers say they prefer to consume interactive and visual content.

Mobile Priority

Desktops, laptops, and tablets are still widely used. But you’ll have to optimize your website, ads, and content for mobile viewing if you want to keep competing. 80% of internet users own a smartphone, so it’s safe to say mobile visits make up the a majority of web traffic. There’s a reason of marketers believe mobile marketing is core to business. Most users consider anything that isn't mobile-friendly out of date and unprofessional.

Native Advertising

Commonly confused with content marketing, native advertising is the integration of advertising with content that already has the interest of readers. This is accomplished by seamlessly fitting into the setting of a third party platform, meaning it passes off as content native to that platform. It is a content-based, paid opportunity that marketers deliver “In-Stream.”

Marketers and media publishers like this method because it feels organic and does not take away from the user experience. You can learn more here.

Livestreaming

Livestreaming is fairly new phenomenon, and although it still has some refinement to go through, it’s one of the fastest growing marketing trends. The industry is even  theorized to reach $70.05 billion by 2021. With streaming, companies can instantly connect with viewers in real time and use it to unveil new products or cover events. Big names like Facebook and YouTube make up the largest amount of traffic, but that list is growing.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

We all remember the worldwide trend of last summer: Pokemon GO, a mobile game that operated through augmented reality. What we can take from this trend are the possibilities something like augmented reality has to drive a business.

Also worth noting are the new developments in virtual reality. This immersive piece of tech supported by platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. However, The possibilities can go beyond a mere game or show. Companies can use it for online shopping, monitoring factory building processes, hands on simulated training, or even tourism.

Short Lived Content

SnapChat pioneered the concept of “short lived content.” The main draw to short lived content is its exclusivity: once a piece of content disappears, it’s gone forever. This adds value to content posted because it creates a sense of urgency and catches the attention of users. It’s that attention grabbing that is key when marketing to Millennials or generation Z.

Picture and Video

The truth is, be it Facebook or Twitter, content accompanied with visuals performs better than content without. People simply respond better to visuals. Visuals are engaging, easy to digest, and they create a more compelling narrative. Pictures, videos, infographics, are all great ways to grab attention and connect with your audience.

Influencer Marketing

Although influencer marketing has been around since the 20th century, it’s going through a metamorphosis with the rise of social media. People respond more positively to recommendations from sources they trust. Most recently, those trusted sources are internet celebrities. Instagram models, YouTubers, and podcasters are all potential avenues of marketing and can deliver an authentic and transparent advertisement.

Personalization

Consumers stay informed these days. They can tell when they’re on the receiving end of a sales pitch and, quite frankly, they take it as a turn off. That’s why it’s becoming more important to segment consumers into lists and categories based on their interests, preferences, and habits. That way, you can market on a more individual level and grab attention more effectively.

Stay On Top of These Marketing Trends

It’s exciting to explore new marketing trends and it’s just as exciting to see where they take you. But how will these marketing trends change in the coming year? What kind of disruptions will they make? With an industry as ever-changing as marketing, it’s impossible to say what trends will still be going strong by this time in 2018.