AutomatedBuildings.com Column - 6 Marketing Trends to Watch in 2012

It is that time of year again when companies hurry to wrap up projects before the year’s end, and almost always make the same mistake – not looking forward with their marketing plan. Crunching the numbers as the fourth quarter ends takes priority, and thoughts of a 2012 marketing plan tend to fall by the wayside. Marketing never seems be the top priority in the month of December, yet it is the driving force behind your corporate brand. Marketing is what brings customers to your door, and makes your company known in the industry. Without it your company could be the greatest one that no one has ever heard of.

Granted it’s been a hard year in a very tough economy, and as the year draws to a close everyone simply wants to wrap up and have a good Christmas. That places your company exactly where your competition wants you – behind.

It’s a pretty safe bet that your competition is not going into 2012 without knowing the latest marketing trends and created a plan to use them. Why haven’t you?

This article will take a look at some of the upcoming marketing trends that everyone can utilize to get more out of their marketing plan in 2012.

1. Virtual Marketing Consultants – 2011 was nothing if not a challenging year for every company across the globe. Many companies know that they need tactical marketing plans or advice on projects, but simply can’t afford to hire another full time employee. Enter the Virtual Marketing Consultant / Freelance Marketing Consultant. Virtual Marketing Consultants provide a cost effective way of employing experienced marketers without the overhead associated with hiring a new employee. Using tools like Goto Meeting, and Skype, marketing consultants can operate in a virtual world while providing superior marketing services anywhere on the planet. Websites like Guru.com and ODesk are filled with virtual marketing consultants who can be hired on a per project basis to provide marketing assistance to any company.

2. The Acceptance of Social Media Marketing - Social Media Marketing has grown into its own and will become a more integral part of everything that we do when marketing or conducting business. It is no longer a separate entity, but rather another tool in the toolbox that can be used to build your brand, or market your products.

3. Business Applications getting Social – Typically when anyone mentions the word “Social” thoughts drift toward Facebook and Twitter, but the concept of “Social” is moving into business applications. Take SalesForce.com’s Chatter or Cisco’s Jabber for example. These companies have embraced the concept of providing updates for users in a very similar manner to Facebook or LinkedIn. Changes get made to contacts and data, and alerts are sent out the exact same way that other Social Media websites send them out. As a society we have changed the way with which we choose to consume information, and these cutting edge companies have embraced that and integrated it into their products.

4. Going Video – Video has been a marketing tool for some time now, but it is quickly moving past YouTube and recorded product demos. It is moving toward being a primary communications tool. Cisco has predicted that 80% of all internet traffic will be video by 2015. Smartphones are being equipped with more and more tools to enable two way video communications. Users will no longer want to read information when they can watch it. That could lead to new marketing techniques like video newsletters, or conducting training online in real-time.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]5. Branded Content vs. Advertising – One of the growing challenges in 2012 is how to have your content appear in a user’s stream. As I mentioned before the manner that users choose to consume information has changed. Users can “Like” content on Google, “Re-Tweet” a useful link on Twitter, or “Recommend” a person or company on LinkedIn. This information is then conveyed to a user’s network of friends and colleagues. What this means to marketers is that they need to create content that is good enough to be curated and shared. Good content has a way longer shelf life than a banner ad does, and it can be reused in different channels. Companies that are looking to grow their brand may choose to cut their advertising budget (i.e. newsletter sponsorships, and banner ads) in favor of better content creation.

6. Going Mobile – The age of the Tablet is upon us. Businesses need to think about how they look on Tablets and smartphones. Can customers access the website on these devices? It is the same type of trend that happened in the late 90s. Companies were forced to build websites because everyone else was, and that was the way that customers chose to receive information. Now company websites need to once again evolve and be tablet friendly.

As technology continues to evolve in 2012 I have no doubt that there will be some exciting new tools that will continue to change the way that brands are built, and customers choose to receive information about products. It is a great time for getting creative with marketing strategies and embracing “outside the box” thinking to build a loyal customer base.

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