Two Critical Things About Trends

The predictions about next year’s hot trends in digital marketing and technological innovation come earlier every year.

Many of us have been watching these articles pop up since summer.  Some of them are laughably obvious, while some are downright ridiculous.  Some include some solid, practical advice that will genuinely help your business.  But two things are true about trends in digital marketing for 2017 or 2057.  You must plan to be adaptable, and you must know your audience.

1.    You must plan to be adaptable.

Culture and technology do not change in response to the calendar.  If you read about a trend for the coming year in August or September, it isn’t likely to wait until January.  You can’t either.  Planning is essential, but the key is to make your marketing plan with the awareness that the game could change.  Your digital marketing plan needs to be SMART – Strategic, Measurable, Agreed by your team, Realistic and Timely.  You also need to review it frequently.  It helps to have a monthly meeting to review it and assess how it is working, and you can also make any changes to adapt to new trends then.  Of course, you can also react faster if some relevant new trend or innovation spreads like wildfire or sneaks up on you.  Encourage your sales and marketing people to share anything they notice about changing attitudes or online behaviour with your audience.  You don’t need to wait for some esteemed pundit to tell you what is happening; your own people who are dealing with your actual audience have great insight too.

2.    You must know your audience.

Not every great new thing is going to be a great new thing for everyone.  And the things that are widely popular are going to appeal to different groups for different reasons.  Campers and outdoors types might like wearables to monitor their fitness and to carry less.  The elderly might like them for safety reasons.  Middle-aged people might like to monitor health concerns and track their fitness.  You need to fine-tune your message to your audience.  And you also need to know if a trend is worth investing in for your audience.  If you are in hospitality and marketing your venue as a retreat from the world where people can experience nature in peace, it might pay to promote the notion of unplugging rather than being always on.

Yes, we’ll be blogging about hot new trends as they arrive.  And yes, it is important to know what they are, and whether or not they are critical to your business.  But whatever the trend, these two principles apply to help you with an effective digital marketing plan for 2017 and beyond.

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