Future trends in marketing communication

Problem: Future trends in marketing communication  

This time our group had the chance to choose a topic we are interested in. After we chose future trends in marketing communication as the new topic, we came up with the following learning objectives:

1. New Channels

    a) Opportunities, Threats, Innovation

2. New Markets

    a) Opportunities, Threats, Innovation

Before starting with the learning objectives, I would like to point out that most of the problems that brands face nowadays result from problems in marketing communication and marketers that have not updated their strategies to todays's trends.

- consumers are more demanding in terms of customer service

- consumers are less loyal to favorite brands

- consumers are more resistant to traditional marketing messages

General trends according to Chrzanowska (2015) and Newman (2015):

1. Add blocking will continue to grow: Marketers should be aware of the massive cost of ad blocking and move towards alternative ways of communication. Today, only 6% of Internet population use ad blocking. However, in 5-10 years time, this number will increase significantly.

2. It is all about listening: Social platforms are so urces for news, information about friends and entertainment. They let users express themselves, share their experiences and views, interact with others and ask for opinions. Marketers who do not listen their audiences miss the opportunity to reach out to the most promising leads.

3. Emotional marketing: People want to hear stories about real humans, stories they can relate to. Relevant stories that speak to consumers make brands meaningful.

4. Influencer marketing: users are more willing to trust a favorite blogger rather than a recommendation from a brand. Thus, bloggers and other influencers have the power of shaping consumer opinions. They are more credible to today's audiences.

5. Dream and Market in 3D: Virtual reality literally drops people inside their favorite TV show, provides an on-the-ground preview of their next vacation, or puts them behind the wheel of their next car. Customer experience is priority number one and 3D technology will move from novelty to mainstream. Smart marketers will look for ways to bring their products to virtual life. (Newman. 2015)

In an article of Dugdale Consulting (2014), a few thoughts were mentioned regarding the future of marketing communication:

- Knowledgeable Consumers

- Consumers as Advertisers of their own content

- 3D printing conceptual information and holography

- Consumers will want to ‘Find’ an answer on demand, not ‘Search’, but we should expect this to be automated

- Consumers lives will be more chaotic, so will need convenience providers to help them trade ‘time’ for money or favours

- Attention span will be less, but there will be a rapid Judge and Execution

- Consumers own Video’s will be routes/channels for your Marketing Communications and tools will become available to make that happen

- Consumers will demand/expect very high Content quality and highly intuitive

Trends regarding channels:

1. Mobile advertising: According to William (2015), the market for mobile advertising is exploding. The mobile as a medium is expected to outgrow all other digital ad platforms. Marketers and advertisers realize that the future lies in mobile marketing and are taking big steps to incorporate the power of the platform in their strategies. However, the mobile advertising platform remains immensely underutilized due to a lack of knowledge in maximizing the space.

            - AdBlock usage

            - people are now spending more time than ever on mobile apps (about 86 percent of        the total time spent by users on mobile devices)

            - By 2017, spending on Mobile Advertising is expected to be double that of Desktop     Advertising

Sources:

Chrzanowska. N. 2015. 4 trends that will change your marketing communication in 2016. URL: http://www.smartinsights.com/traffic-building-strategy/integrated-marketing-communications/4-trends-will-change-marketing-communication-2016/. Accessed: 24.04.2016

Dugdale Consulting. 2014. Marketing Communications and the Future. URL: https://dugdaleconsulting.com/2014/02/18/marketing-communications-and-the-future-a-view/. Accessed: 27.04.2016

Newman. D. 2015. The top 10 marketing trends that will define 2016. URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/11/03/the-top-10-marketing-trends-that-will-define-2016/#218d1367d582. Accessed: 26.04.2016

William. J. 2015. A Hand-Held World: The Future of Mobile Advertising. URL: http://www.business.com/mobile-marketing/the-future-of-mobile-advertising/. Accessed: 27.04.2016