According to Forbes, in comparison to recent history, 2013 is going to be a year filled with atypical marketing strategies. Lately, we as consumers have been bombarded with flashy, over-stimulating and often confusing commercials and constantly haunted by over used social media messaging. However, in their recent article “5 Surprising Marketing Trends for 2013” Forbes is predicting a break from these tactics. Along with simplifying marketing strategies and streamlining social media use, the article also suggests trends of moving away from campaign based marketing, improving mobile marketing strategies, and also working towards evaluating marketing efficiency based on revenue generation. The trend of cutting back on social media presence I believe will be a welcome one from both sides in the buyer and seller relationship. Social media provides a huge platform for marketing, however, for companies it is exhausting trying to keep up with the most popular sites in the ever-changing online world. Also, it is frustrating as a viewer of these internet marketing tactics to see the amount of overlap that is currently going on due to products trying to be everywhere at once online. The idea of progressing more into the mobile marketing sector I found fairly surprising. The popularity and sales of smartphones have grown exponentially over the past few years and according to Forbes marketing teams are just now trying to catch up and fully implement this area of consumer interest into their overall long term strategies. The trend I find not only the most interesting but also the most necessary is the idea of trying to simplify marketing tactics. As the article discusses it is not only important to move towards a more straightforward marketing strategy but also to focus on showing us, as customers, how the products can simplify our individual experiences. A few years ago Google came out with a commercial that I feel utilizes the idea of “less is more” when portraying their message through advertising and provides evidence on how their service can help us navigate through everyday situations. Hopefully, as predicted by Forbes and as seen in the Google Ad I’ve attached, more companies will decide to focus on simplicity in 2013, and promote their products in a way that will not add to the continuous sensory overload that we have been experiencing over the past few years.

(video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS4Lb-ie4Lc

(article)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/01/23/5-surprising-marketing-trends-for-2013/