With the start of the new year, marketers have realized that the challenges and opportunities for them in 2015 have been like never before. This requires a heightened awareness of the latest trends in the digital world, which contributes to improved customer experience, personalization, and cross-platform marketing techniques.
It is important to stay on top of changes in consumer behavior and trends.

Consumers are embracing new technologies and this is affecting consumer spending and redefining marketing strategy. Knowledge about the latest marketing channels and the importance of improved connectivity helps any marketer design new and improved marketing communication.

Strategic questions for digital marketers(1)

  • How do consumers spend their time across various devices, platforms, and virtual channels?
  • What is the pattern of consumer spending on these platforms and channels?
  • How do you define tagline shapes to define the most appropriate marketing message for these consumers?

Top Digital Trends: The Key to Success for Marketers

Brand responsiveness:

In 2015, smartphones have become the remote control of our lives with increased technology adoption. Marketers are challenged to be responsive in terms of usability across a variety of virtual devices and platforms. Brands must be action-oriented and relevant at these touchpoints.

To be successful in the digital world, brands need to be responsive in terms of design that is compatible across various platforms and device types. With the changing marketing paradigm where mobility and social networks are important aspects, brands must be fast, flexible and fluid.(2)

Being responsive allows a brand to provide a portable and personalized user experience to its customers. According to E-consultancy’s ‘Digital Marketing Outlook’ report (April 16, 2014), customer-side marketers consider certain areas that keep them ahead of the curve. These areas include social media, data-driven optimization, mobile, embedded design, and responsive design.(3)

Customer experience:

Many companies see customer experience as a competitive advantage for themselves. This requires aligning the objective of all the teams that work within the organization towards the joint achievement of this objective. E-consultancy’s Digital Trends Report (2014) shows that 44% of business organizations see customer experience/service as a key differentiator versus 28% who see product quality as a competitive differentiator.( 4)

Personalization:

According to Adobe’s ‘Digital Roadblock’ survey (2015), personalized communication acts as the most important marketing tool and the main digital concern. According to the survey, other top priority areas for marketers involved content optimization, social media engagement, viral marketing, search engine marketing, mobile optimization, and mobile app engagement. Personalization does not work in isolation. It works across the entire customer journey with omnichannel and multi-device communication for a personalized offering of services and products.(5)

Mobile presence:

Marketers must realize that mobile devices have become indispensable in our lives. It touches everything, including our personal and professional sphere. Whether to listen to music, book tickets or order food, the mobile has become a substantially powerful tool. Mobile devices have redefined our concepts of entertainment, commerce and content. According to the Emarketer webinar, by the end of 2015, 70 percent of all search in the US would be done via mobile devices. In a mobile-centric world, context would be an important feature.(6)

Cross-device segmentation:

Today’s consumers focus on multi-screen multitasking. Marketers need to understand this behavior and improve sales by targeting customers across a variety of devices. The use of location data, user identification and re-engagement through mobile applications help marketers redefine their strategy.
E-consultany’s Measurement and Analysis Report 2014 has focused on important analyzes that digital companies could use to evaluate the changing paradigm of consumer behavior.

Important attributes include:

  • Track consumer behavior across multiple channels and multiple devices
  • Personalization and segmentation
  • Identify the most valuable group of consumers for companies
  • Assessing the customer experience as a whole
  • Recognize the design of the interaction with the content and the response to an ad/campaign

Internet of Things (IoT):

This involves the entire group of things: people, places, and objects that are and will remain connected through the Internet to collect data that will be transferred across networks through devices and applications. The data is analyzed to understand the information. For example, through IoT, businesses could closely monitor their inventory level through a mobile app. The potential of IoT is simply huge, as it will very soon be integrated into our personal and professional space. IT has the potential to become a multi-dollar market.(7)

conclusion

In 2015, the mobile and social scene will become integrated and coordinated through increased brand responsiveness, personalization, customer experience, multi-device selection, and IoT. Marketers need to realize the changing landscape and coordinated slogan strategies surrounding elaborate sets of consumer behavior. Marketers need to understand the synchronized effect of major digital trends and spend accordingly to justify their overall brand value.

References
(4.5) Electronic consulting. “Digital Trends 2015: CX and Personalization Remain High Priorities.” September 2014. E-consulting.
(1,2,3,6) Elkin, Noah. “Key Digital Trends: 15 Things You Need to Know for 2015 – Webinar”. December 11, 2014. EMarketer website. January 30, 2015
(7)Forbes. “Top 10 Strategic Tech Trends for 2015.” 2015. Forbes website. January 30, 2015