Overview
In May 2014, online marketing guru, Lee Odden, wrote an article for his TopRank Blog titled “21 Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2015”. To compile his list, Odden reached out to 21 different eMarketing experts (including himself) and asked each of them to comment on where they feel the future of digital marketing is heading.
Odden purports that business content needs to be more than informative – it should entertain as well. As such, he asked each expert to share a “selfie” of themselves to go along with their 2015 prediction for digital marketing. The responses from the 21 industry thought leaders is varied and includes their insights about the use of mathematics, big data analytics, coding, and content creation. One expert even insists that good writing will matter more in the world of video/podcast/Instagram because words can convey depth for audiences.
Making the human connection
The one resounding theme I perceived from the collection of insights is hinted at by Odden’s request for each of his experts to take a humanizing selfie. The future of eMarketing must focus on making the human connection and being empathetic to audiences. It won’t suffice for marketers to use platforms to sell, sell, sell. As one expert, Mike Stelzner (@Mike_Stelzner) put it, “it’s time to actually care” about consumers and provide them with more value online. Those that do nothing but pitch customers will be dismissed and I agree.
We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information from mobile phone, television, radio, tablets, etc. – there’s even a term for this now, infobesity. I think about my own online interactions and know that most of the time, I ignore the vast majority of what’s displayed on my Facebook newsfeed. Once in a blue moon, an image or a string of pithy words catches my eye and prompts me to click through. It is on an even bluer moon occasion that I actually deem something “shareworthy” and repost a video or an article. This is true for everyone. If digital content tugs at the heartstrings or makes you laugh out loud or makes you pause for thought, the chances for spurring action or sharing its message along is very high.
Even Odden’s request for the marketing experts to take selfies is a way for the author to weigh in on where he sees the future – marketing to the individual and providing empathy in the content.
Another expert interviewed, Tim Washer (@timwasher) predicts that 2015 will mark the year of humour in eMarketing. He believes that brands will learn that making authentic connections online may mean spurring a clever laugh or creating silly content as the “most efficient path to earning trust and loyalty”. We see this happening today already. Increasingly, brands will create a commercial for a major event such as the Superbowl that is just plain funny – and laughs are shareworthy and, generally speaking, people like to laugh.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is somewhat the wild west of the marketing sector, with new territory constantly being discovered / developed. With that said, it was not surprising to me that the various predictions about 2015 spanned multiple aspects of marketing. This diversity made me think about an ideal stock portfolio and how this sample of 21 differentiated digital marketing experts, follows the similar logic to it. One aim in a portfolio is to have grouped 20 negatively cotangented stocks, the portfolio should statistically balance out and in theory the portfolio should grow at the same rate as the entirety stock market. In using this argument the reoccurring themes within the article, as long as the ideas and experts are diverse as possible, should provide the direction in which digital marketing is headed.
I believe Odden did achieve this diversity and in turn hit the nail on the digital marketing head! With empathy and the concept of having the audience being involved with brand makes me believe that before something is posted the editor should be asking themselves “is this shareworthy or uploadable?” rather than “will this sell another widget?”. Digital marketing will strive to build conversation with clients, allowing them to direct the newest product to market.
In marketing we are always told to talk about the story, and teams try to build the brand identity, while doing this they chase the digital dragon’s tail. The only way for marketers to lead is for them to hand the rains over to their chosen brand identifiers. Allowing the people and groups that follow, love and relate to the brand to lead it! Having them ask the brand to provide the solutions for their problems. It’s bold, it’s new, but it’s a conversation and the only way harness the dragon of digital marketing.
By: Keith Phillips
Appendix