The Experts: Digital Marketing Trends for 2016

digital marketing trends

VA Partners recently reached out to local leaders and clients in the sales and digital marketing space. We asked them to provide insight about a specific topic about the startup and small business community. In the first post of this series, our experts weigh in on the biggest digital marketing trends for 2016.

Here’s what they had to say:

Data will continue to become increasingly important for digital marketers to measure the performance of their activities. Everything that digital marketers do will be scrutinized and measured so there is no place to hide. I also think video will gain momentum as brands develop new and creative ways to use different kinds of video – documentaries, live streaming (Periscope, Meerkat) and six-second videos (Vine.)

– Mark Evans, Principal at Mark Evans Consulting, @markevans

The following trends will definitely continue to rise in the upcoming year: content marketing, account-based marketing, sales enablement, contextual marketing, and marketing automation.

Also, it might be a bit soon to strategize about this, but marketers should also start wondering about the potential impact of the Internet of Things, wearable technology, and other tech trends gaining massive adoption today. According to Forrester, 68% of global technology and business decision-makers say that wearables are a priority for their firm. Marketers need to think laterally and will have to adapt their campaigns to cater to the wearable tech that matters to their buyer personas. Counting on highly granular information about an audience enables marketers to cater their content more effectively.

– José Sánchez, Director of Marketing at Sales for Life, @zesanchezr

If someone says ‘big data’ I’m going lose my sh!t. Yes, we need to secure as much info as we can about our audience. And yes, we need to mine that data as best as possible, but that is not the be all and end all. Sometimes you just gotta trust your instinct. More experimentation. More chances. More gut feelings. And for the love of all things holy, more in-person dialogue – with your consumers, your colleagues, your friends, and as many smart people as possible. I feel like I understand my consumer so much better after being in and listening to actual conversations with them. In 2016, it will be all about continuing to connect on an emotional level. There may be new tools, new platforms and new opportunities, but human beings connecting will not change.

– Jon Sinden, Vice President Marketing at Beerlicious, @JonSinden

The past few years have seen digital marketers pour an incredible amount of time and effort into optimizing their efforts when it comes to content creation, social media distribution, and marketing automation. All are extremely important elements of any great marketing strategy, but a key element has been missing for far too long – the importance of a great experience. In my mind, 2016 will see digital marketers truly embrace the concept of ‘content experiences’. Far too often, this fourth pillar of content marketing – the ‘Experience pillar’ – gets forgotten, which is a real shame as it more often than not is what makes or breaks a piece of content. As Uberflip’s CEO Yoav Schwartz likes to say, “Without a great experience, you’re serving piña coladas in a garbage dump instead of on a sandy beach.”

– Sam Brennand, Director of Customer Success at Uberflip, @SamBrennand

I think we’re going to see a major shift in web 3.0, artificial intelligence and virtual reality in 2016 and beyond.

  • Web 3.0: We’re going to see more websites modify themselves to deliver a personalized user experience to each individual. We’ve already seen the shift to creating web 3.0 experiences by major companies such as Amazon, eBay and Google. The next wave of personalized web experience will be from non-tech companies such as restaurants, car companies, clothing companies, forwarding-thinking accounting or law firms etc.
  • Artificial intelligence: Facebook, Apple, Google, IBM and Amazon are all making significant progress in artificial intelligence (AI). For example Facebook’s artificial intelligence technology, M, strives to act as a personal assistant that can handle complex commands such as cancelling your cable subscription or ordering flowers from a florist. Goldman Sachs predicts AI could be as disruptive as the Internet.
  • Virtual Reality: Advances in virtual reality (VR) has the potential of changing everything. Facebook is putting significant investment into the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset while Samsung Gear VR has been highly rated.  I used this example in recent blog post I wrote: Imagine you’re a factory equipment sales person, instead of telling a customer about how your equipment works they can put a VR headset on and you can show them how your equipment works on a virtual factory floor. Something like this could dramatically change the sales and marketing industry.

– Sourov De, Managing Partner at Stryve Digital Marketing, @Sourovde

Content is the lifeblood of digital marketing. Have excellent content that cuts through all the digital clutter online and engages and inspires people will continue to be important in 2016 and beyond. So how can you create content that breaks through?

  • Consider your target audience needs, desires, fears and motivations.  Look for opportunities to connect on an emotional level vs. a purely functional level.
  • Craft a story. Stories are easier to read and hold people’s attention longer.
  • Keep your main message simple and easy to digest/understand.
  • Produce high quality content that is enjoyable/pleasing to consume – that means beautiful design, engaging copywriting and high quality production.

– Shelley Mayer, President at Ramp Communications, @shelleymayer

Content marketing has been on the rise for the past few years. In fact, 88% of B2B marketers* now use content marketing to attract and retain customers.

I’ve always been a big believer in publishing high quality content over a high quantity of content. After all, you don’t want to publish a bunch of garbage just for the sake of meeting a deadline.

However, at Content Marketing World this year, several of the speakers talked about the importance of quality and quantity. You need both.

If you want to increase your volume of content without sacrificing your quality, you can do two things.

  • Create a content marketing strategy that describes your goals, your target audience and what types of content you will create. Then, plan your content in your editorial calendar. This will keep you on track.
  • Repurpose your content. Taking your existing content and repurposing it into other formats can help you reach a wider audience across more channels. You also won’t need to create content from scratch, which can save you time and money.

*2016 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends 

– Rachel Foster, CEO and B2B Copywriter at Fresh Perspective Copywriting, @CopywriterTO

I think that content will continue to grow importance in 2016. The reason is that content is so valuable not just for inbound marketing, but it is also a great fit supporting a B2B sales efforts. Great content can be used by the sales team to support their social selling efforts, re-inforce subject matter expertise, and to keep top of mind. The challenge for marketers is being able to stand out in a crowd. It’s important to create great educational and informative content. In 2016, organizations will need to figure out how to present content differently. As an example, video as a content delivery platform will really grow in 2016.

– Mark Elliott, Co-Founder at Venture Accelerator Partners, @markeelliott

What Digital Marketing trends do you predict for 2016? Let us know in the comments below.

Stay tuned for the next blog post in this series, The Experts: Sales Trends for 2016.

The Experts: Digital Marketing Trends for 2016