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.

Trend: Infographics - Helping Marketers Cut Through The Clutter

Marketing in the 21st century has become immensely complex due to channel fragmentation and an avalanche of data creation. On any given day, Internet users will create 1.5 billion pieces of content on Facebook, tweet 140 million times on Twitter and upload 2 million videos to YouTube. According to a joint study conducted by IDC and EMC, it is estimated that the general public will create 1.8 zettabytes of data in 2011, with that number expected to double within the next two years. To put 1.8 zettabytes into perspective, the number is equivalent to 200 billion high definition movies each 120 minutes long. These new data complexities are the result of convoluted digital relationships, advances in scientific discoveries and the speed of new media.

Will Google+ Change the Face of Social Email?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’re probably well aware of Google+, Google’s initiative to dethrone Facebook as the Web’s premiere social destination.    The socialsphere is buzzing about what changes Google+ will bring and early adopters are offering everything from concert tickets to iTunes’ gift cards for a sneak peak at the new network.  To combat a potential mass exodus to Google+, Facebook has already blocked a Chrome plugin that allows Google+ users to transfer their friends’ information from one network to another.  Watch for major battles between these two behemoths over the next six months as Google tries mainstream Google+. 

Really Dumb Moves By B2B Marketers

The B2B marketers who didn’t learn their lessons with traditional email marketing systems are making the same mistakes with marketing automation.  “Dripping out text messages to purchased lists from marketing automation systems will yield the same sub-par results” says Michael Weisel, Chief Technical Officer of Gold Lasso.  As a veteran in the email deliverability space, Michael thinks investing more money in better technology will have no effect on email deliverability and conversion rates for the long run.  By purchasing lists, B2B marketing executives are attempting to justify their latest technology purchases quickly.  This tactic often results in dire consequences that no business can afford such as email blocking, loss of software licensing and the squandering of a marketing budget.

Trend: With a mean score of 60% professional marketers still have more to learn

Download the quiz results and share with your co-workers

A few weeks ago Trends & Takeaways asked its subscribers to participate in a fun quiz to learn more about professional email marketing topics.  Since this was an advanced quiz, subscribers did better than expected however the mean score was 60%.   The reason why we chose to make this quiz advanced is because advanced email marketing tactics, or any advanced marketing tactics for that matter, are now needed for long-term success.  The pace at which the marketing discipline is evolving has rapidly changed from linear to parabolic requiring constant updating of not only skillsets (as mentioned last week) but also general knowledge.  The mean score indicates that professional marketers still have a way to go in mastering email marketing.  However, you can take comfort in Phil Kotler, distinguished professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management words of wisdom, “marketing takes a day to learn and a lifetime to master.”