User Experience and Other Marketing Trends for 2015

User Experience and Other Marketing Trends for 2015

User Experience and Other Marketing Trends for 2015

It’s a new year and most likely, you’re thinking of new ways to reach your target market. Last year we made some digital marketing predictions for 2014, but what’s becoming exceedingly clear is that there should not be a separation between marketing and digital marketing. It’s true that there are traditional marketing tactics (i.e. direct mail, print advertising) which still have their place, but digital marketing should not be an afterthought. “Digital Marketing” should automatically be included in your marketing mix.

“98% of marketers plan to increase or maintain their spend in 2014.” – 2014 State of Marketing

In 2015, the marketing plans that thrive will include content marketing and SEO strategies, make mobile a priority, a great user experience, and they’ll make use of user data.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is becoming a normal component for brands. It’s rare to find an organization that doesn’t have a blog and some kind of social media presence.  Content marketing can be a great strategy, however, for those of you who think you can just write a blog and post it on your Facebook page (which has 150 likes–15 of which will see it), send it out in your newsletter to 500 people (of which only 10% open it–and 1% of those click on your content) and forget about it, this just isn’t true. Unless you have a large email list full of great leads or thousands of engaged social media followers (if so then congrats, you’re on the right track), this year, think about including paid ads to your mix. It’s the only way to reach beyond those same 5 people who like your Facebook posts!

“But what about content going viral. If I create something great and enough people share it, I won’t have to pay for it!” That is completely true however, creating something that goes viral without having to pay anything at all is pretty rare. Why do you think big brands spend millions on Facebook ads and PPC campaigns?

Writing (or creating graphics, interactive media, videos) about relevant topics is great an encouraged. It can establish you as a thought leader in your industry and it can aid in SEO. It can also be used as a tool to gain new leads but you need to have a goals in mind. A goal for each step of the client journey. If a client finishes reading your article and clicks off of your site without completing any other actions, you’ve lost out on a great opportunity! At this point you’ve already done the hard work of getting an interested user to your site and because you have no calls to action you’re letting them leave without gaining more information about them. Learn more about the importance of calls to action and why omitting them from your marketing mix is a huge mistake.

Brand Transparency

Recently, I wrote an article about a brand that saw the negative connotation brewing among its audience and corrected it with through some targeted content marketing, demonstrating brand transparency. The more connected and internet savvy everyone becomes, the more information is accessible–thus the easier it will be to see straight through any ulterior motives or pseudo brand promises. Brands that practice transparency will gain the respect and earn the trust of their audience.

User Experience

When it comes to marketing efforts, there are few things more important than user experience. User experience includes the behavior, perception and attitude toward (most times) a piece of the sales funnel. The sales funnel is the route that the user takes and it may include something like: an emailer > a blog post > a sign up form. The way that a user navigates through the sales funnel is known as the customer journey.

[pk_quote width=”0″ align=”none” cite=”- The State of Marketing Leadership”] 86% of senior-level marketers agree that it’s important to create a cohesive customer journey across all touchpoints and channels.” [/pk_quote]

If this experience isn’t as cohesive and comprehensive as possible, a lead might not complete the action you’re pushing them to complete. User experience can be everything from how well your website or app works across devices to how aesthetically pleasing your color scheme is.

[pk_quote width=”0″ align=”none” cite=”- 2014 State of Marketing”] 80% of marketers using mobile believe mobile efforts do or will provide ROI.” [/pk_quote]

Read more about how your site’s user experience could be costing you leads.

Personalized Experience

Have you ever been browsing on Amazon or somewhere similar and then a little while later you’re on another website and you see an ad for that exact item? It’s not serendipity–it’s remarketing at work. Think of the first visit as window shopping. Remarketing is like a little billboard following you around, reminding you of the item you were looking at. Marketing is moving more and more toward this type of personalized experience.

For email marketing, we’ve always heard that segmentation is what really drives conversions. Companies are taking this trend a step further and using user data to create a completely individualized experience. Amazon is a great example of a personalized experience done right. A week ago I was browsing FitBits on Amazon and what should appear in my inbox this morning? All of the Fitbit items that are on sale. It almost prompted me to get one. Almost.

These are just a few elements of marketing trends for 2015. Creating a marketing plan should be an all-encompassing exercise, from social media presence, brand language, logo, website, SEO, SEM, content marketing, user experience and more. Should you be just starting out you may want to read, “Developing a Content Marketing Strategy.” Still feeling a little lost? Contact us and we’ll put together a personalized marketing plan to help you start off 2015 right!

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