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What’s next for Digital Marketing in 2013?
Posted by: ianh on Thursday 20th December 2012
2012 has proved to be another encouragingly prolific year for the world of digital marketing.
It’s fantastic to see brands enjoying even more opportunities for improved integration, engagement and insight. The importance of data is now greater than ever. Moreover, competition to hold the attention of savvy online users who can share, like, tweet and +1 your business at the click of a button is fierce.
We’ve witnessed a huge shift in the requirements of highly-connected consumers across multiple online platforms. The market is demanding increased brand focus on UX for those vital web conversions, personalisation for that human touch and location services for relevance and speed.
SEO agencies have also had to adapt swiftly to match Google’s content-favoured algorithm changes. While the information you offer may be plentiful, if it’s not quality and shareable too, it loses its value.
To understand where your marketing investment should be allocated, it’s important to understand and define your aims. Each channel will offer specific opportunities and challenges dependant on your business size, agency, internal marketing team, processes, competitors, consumer needs and business requirements. All of this should link back to a well-researched marketing plan that is tailored to your business objectives.
So, what exactly should you be planning for in 2013?
1. Google+
Although take-up has seemed slow, the reality is that Google+ is driving web rankings more than you may think. Your content authors need to read this page: https://plus.google.com/authorship and ensure any contributions to your website are linked back to Google+ profiles. This is known as authorship, and will play a big part in gaining an advantage over your competitors in terms of how much your content is read, shared and listed.
After the 2012 Panda and Penguin updates, relevance and quality techniques are going to be crucial factors in your search ranking success over the next few months. The cream rises to the top and search is becoming more complex as it matures. Content is requiring more time, tweaks and research to meet Google’s criteria in the name of improving its service.
2. Mobile compatibility
Year on year, mobile seems to play a bigger role for marketers. This is simply because the sale of devices as well as their functionality and usage continues to increase significantly. When viewing your Google Analytics reports from a B2B or B2C perspective, mobile access is likely to play a huge part in the way people research, contact and choose your company or service.
Mobile and tablet access no longer requires expensive applications such as social or location services for functionality. Responsive Design which enables users to access content no matter what screen size or technology they use is something which Google favours, and is rapidly becoming a necessity.
3. Content Marketing
Consumers are demanding more from brands in terms of personalised content. This is an exciting challenge which provides the need for great research, creativity and skill from agencies. It takes real ingenuity to capture the hearts of consumers and encourage them to share content, and it’s something I’m proud to say LHM do very well.
2013 will also see the necessity for more visually appealing content. Whether you use video, email, ads or copy; it’s important to make sure your work stands out and is tailored to your audience. Its main focus should be to entertain and/or educate while delivering value. But most importantly, it needs to provide the user with the right functionality to be shared, in order to guarantee a ripple effect.
4. Marketing Automation
The need for marketing automation is driven by the requirement to generate, qualify and convert more leads. It also supports quicker responses, and provides businesses with the right information to achieve an accurate customer profile.
At its base level, automation helps to cut down on manual tasks. Companies who are successfully employing this technology are achieving increased revenue, as well as a 25% reduction in marketing costs. Your digital marketing, CRM and website should all work together to ensure your business remains as efficient as possible, and guarantee your objectives are attained.
5. Big Data
When using the web, we leave a huge digital trail. 2013 will see a major focus on big data and how, if used effectively, it can help companies deliver better services and products as well as improve performance. With the huge increase in social media and associated tools, there’s no real structure to collate all the data from point-of-sale terminals, Facebook posts, YouTube comments and online reviews into a single platform. A number of the existing and emerging players offering data services will no doubt be working towards this over the next year.
6. Integrated Marketing
Your customers will expect a faultless user experience and online presence via all mobile, social, email and web channels. Your campaigns will need to be targeted, feature relevant messaging and offer value throughout. Engagement will most likely be at the heart of your integrated marketing campaigns; building meaningful relationships with the people that use and recommend your brand.
Summary
It’s also worth remembering how important offline marketing is and how it can greatly enhance your online campaigns. This platform is often overlooked by digital agencies due to a gap in the skillset, but its value should not be ignored.
This year, LHM catapulted new greetings card website Card Town into the mainstream and scooped ‘Best Retail Campaign’ at the prestigious Dadi Awards. Our success could not have been achieved without the inclusion of offline activity in our marketing plan, proving traditional advertising can work brilliantly alongside primarily digital campaigns.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a wonderful 2012. We can’t wait for 2013 and we’re certain you’ll continue to see LHM achieve further growth, deliver the consistent added value we’re known for and support our clients and partners in being happy and successful.
Written by Ian Hughes Managing Director of LHM Media
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