The From Line

For this episode of Trends and Takeaways well be looking back at five past predictions that are now more relevant to the marketing world than ever. So take heed ladies and gentlemen, the following are KEY INSIGHTS into what your marketing campaign should already include.

1. Selling B-to-B? Video Will Lead The Way: “According to Forbes Insights, the research division of Forbes magazine, “video is becoming a critical information source for senior executives,” with more than 80% of executives watching more video online than a year ago”

(Hit) With marketers constantly struggling to produce relevant content, video has emerged as a medium with serious potential for driving traffic and increasing sales. It can be implemented as a client testimonial, product demo or even pertinent industry news. Zappos is an excellent example of this. They’ve seen videos have a sales impact of 6 to 30% and are planning to increase their video demos from the current 8,000 to 50,000. The key here is that they are creating simple approachable content. Their videos augment their current marketing campaign instead of clutter it. 

2. The Bridge between Offline and Online Experiences: “QR codes were popularized more than five years ago in Japan and are now used globally as physical world hyperlinks. Like updated versions of traditional bar codes, QR codes are images that can be scanned to relay information. A code scanned by a smartphone instantly links a user to mobile content, fostering greater customer engagement.”

(Hit) I see this becoming even more popular in the future, if for nothing else than its uncanny ability to link the mobile experience with everyday life. The most impressive aspect is the sense of exclusivity it creates. In its early stages, QR codes allowed consumer’s access to special content only available through that specific channel. It created urgency and excitement which increased the chance that the message would be received accurately. Obviously the fad has stuck, with total scans increasing 810% from 2010 to 2011.

So we’ve heard it a million times, “less is more”. However, we as marketers don’t always subscribe to that mantra. Frankly, if we did, we’d be selling ourselves short. But what happens when the influx of customer information becomes so great that we require an additional system in place to make sense of it? This is one of the challenges we are facing today. A recent study by IBM estimated that 90% of real time data that constantly flows from platforms like Facebook and Twitter is going unused. Marketers have no concrete system in place for gathering it. I can’t help but be reminded of the I Love Lucy episode in the chocolate factory. Lucy and Ethel alternate wrapping and eating chocolates, but before they know it, the production line is moving so fast they can’t keep up. Chocolates are streaming out at such a rapid rate that most fall to the floor untouched. At some point, our conveyor belt of informational goodies went on overdrive and the marketers of the world are now trying their best to keep up. But unfortunately, much is getting lost as the pace of data dispersal has greatly increased.

Platform extensions are more critical to social media than the sites themselves.

Social media’s super growth cannot continue to defy the laws of physics forever. The time has come for fatigue to set in. According to the GlobalWebIndex Wave 5 Trends report, social media growth has essentially halted amongst 16 to 24-year-olds in the US. Even more surprising, in some countries, social media usage within this demographic is actively declining. The GlobalWebIndex report cites, among others, the following declines in social media activities from July 2009 through June 2011: messaging with friends, sending digital gifts, installing applications and joining groups. These activities are decreasing faster in the US than in other countries, and are doing so at an accelerated rate among American college graduates under the age of 30. The report also revealed an increased demand for professionally developed content including news sources, music and brand information.

Trend: Smart marketers are leveraging interactive games to overcome short attention spans.

With the anticipation of Zynga’s upcoming IPO, interactive gaming has been getting a lot of attention lately.  Unfortunately, according to Forrester Research, this attention has yet to transpire to mainstream marketing, as 84% of marketers have no plans to incorporate games into their promotional mix.  For the remaining 16%, their efforts are sparking a revolution in marketing, influencing the proliferation of gaming technologies resulting in its access by marketers and agencies of all sizes.  More importantly, games are providing the much-needed content to hold consumer and prospect attention – an extension of the bilateral conversation brands strive for.