For the majority of people, December marks the start of the Christmas preparations, your mind being occupied with the list of presents still to buy, finding the time to write and send Christmas cards, who is getting the turkey and the mountain of food that accompanies it and you haven’t even thought about New Year!
For marketers, December means new strategies and budgets for 2015. What are you going to do? When is the best time to do it? How can you meet and exceed the next set of targets? So much to think about and that is on top of all your Christmas plans!
It is no secret that the magical world of marketing is evolving at light speed. This time last year, I wrote a blog about the trends for 2014 and how you can implement them. Fast forward a year (although it only feels a few months) and there is a whole new set of trends that you may not even be aware about.
So here I am again, giving you some insight into these new trends for 2015, what they mean and how you can bring them into your strategy for the year ahead.
Before that though, it is important to point out how your customers have changed in the last year. Customers have more power than ever before! Thanks to social media, they have a voice that could potential be seen by hundreds of people, hopefully saying positive things of course! This also means that you can listen to them as social media is doing some research for you. The results of which may influence your strategy.
As well as having a voice, customers also have a choice! A choice about whether they want to listen to you or not. It has become a lot easier for customers to ignore you either by fast forwarding through adverts (how many of you do this?), by blocking adverts on websites and social media or unsubscribing from your emails. So what now? How can you ensure that they listen to what you have to say? That’s where the trends come in. The trends highlight how you can overcome these modern day obstacles and get back in the face of your customers.
PERSONALISATION
The major trend for 2015 is more personalisation than ever before! Although this trend is not so much a trend as it is here to stay. Research has shown that consumers are more open than ever to share information with brands as they are now realising how this will benefit them in the future. One think I have loved about sharing information with Tesco through scanning my clubcard at the checkout is that now I receive vouchers for the food that I buy the most.
CREATE A BRAND EXPERIENCE
It is becoming more and more important to create a customer experience that is consistent across the whole brand, whether online or offline. By living your brand values at every point you interact with your customer, you will automatically create a consistent experience.
MARKETERS BECOMING AUTHORS
Ok, well not to the extent of a novel. You are the expert at what you do so tell the world about it. Content marketing is more popular than it has ever been before. Write about what you know and also what your customers would like to read about. Writing great content demonstrates that you know what you are talking about. At Happy, we all take it in turns to write a blog post to show how clever and talented we are.
RE-PRIORITSE
In recent years, the number of marketing channels has grown significantly and due to this, the time has come for marketers to stop what they are doing and go back to the basics. Re-evaluate who your customers are, where they are in terms of channel and determine what is working and what isn’t.
Incite marketing and communications, presented the following table to highlight which channels are the most important to brands. The results may shock you but will help with your decision making in 2015.
So, there you have it, the top marketing trends for 2015. Personalisation. Content. Re-prioritising channels.
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and are well prepared to start implementing these trends in the New Year.
Rachel Sutton is a Creative Thinker and Happy Account Executive at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk or follow us @happy_creative.
