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digital marketing

Digital Marketing changes again? Marketing is an industry that never stands still and what is important one year has totally changed by the next. This year is all about Content and Big Data but as new GDPR laws come in next year will our world need to reinvent itself again? Certainly email marketing tactics will change at that point and sensible marketers will change well before the crunch date in May. Will these new rulings make us even more reliant on good content and customer experience? – almost certainly. It will also significantly change what we can do with our Big Data with predictions of 75% becoming obsolete. The GDPR changes should hopefully remove some of the more dubious elements from our industry and allow customers to receive the marketing that they truly want. It may even create a world where email becomes much less important and digital Content and brand influence is all – hold on – aren’t we there already? Let’s look at the positives and there are many. We live in a world of information overload and it’s not always a great place for our customers, and as customers ourselves we all know how this feels. We’re bombarded with huge swathes of information everywhere we go now and there seems to be no respite especially if you’re one of the many hyper switched onto their mobile. It’s not making anyone happy and stress levels have gone through the roof. As Marketers, we need to admit some responsibility for this and to start helping our customers, not making their lives worse. The new laws are about greater transparency, enhanced rights for citizens and increased accountability. Surely it would be good to remove adverts that are never opened or noticed, reduce the deluge of irrelevant marketing and to actually give our customers what they want. It’s our chance to improve the industry, our brand’s reputation and to send the ads that our customers are really interested in - the ones they will actually respond to. Our careers will be more worthwhile and we may actually save time and some of our precious marketing budget in the long run by focusing on what truly brings results. The price of leads may rise to reach this new nirvana but the quality will hopefully be worth paying the price for in the long run So does life go on despite GDPR? You bet it does! The creative marketing world as ever will change and is already changing. Content Marketing has evolved substantially over the last few years although many are still finding their feet. We’ve all learnt that we have to use content but it has to be entertaining and informative The race for innovation to find new ways to engage audiences is driving technology forward. Facebook and YouTube have introduced 360 degree video, although let’s not talk about the annoying autoplay videos that almost made us shut down our Facebook accounts recently. Companies are trying to be creative with augmented reality following Pokemon Go but there is still some way to go to see truly large movement in this area. Immersive live video could be interesting but the key to innovation may rely on constantly adapting, changing and inventing rather than just following the crowd and every new shiny toy. Audiences become tired quickly of new fads and gimics – who is still playing Pokemon Go now? Does anyone get tired of being consistently looked after really well however and feeling that they are genuinely cared about? We should be focusing on how we can combine that with innovation Does Big Data become smaller data? Big Data has become a huge topic in recent years but many companies still battle with understanding how they can use it best. The Political marketers seem to have certainly understood it, manipulated it and run with it and unfortunately made the world a scarier place with their Big Data marketing. We should be putting it to use for the benefit of society and our customers. Personalisation should be able to improve customer experience and one to one marketing is becoming more prevalent as brands get to grips with it. Native advertising has meanwhile diminished and needs revisiting for the future. Maybe the answer for marketers isn’t huge swathes of big data but more detailed relevant small data where forecasting can be used with more validity and we can all focus on doing what is right for the right customers at the right time And yes this stuff is still news Every year we all talk about Mobile and nothing has changed in that respect. We all know we need to be Mobile First and we’re more glued to our mobiles than ever – this isn’t going to diminish for the time being. The same with Video – it gathers pace and then moves onto yet another level. Look at Facebook – it’s all about video now – which seems a quick change from a few years ago – and it is predicted to become even more video focused. We’re still excited about AR, VR and the Internet of Things but we’re barely off the starting blocks and we’re going to have to wait a while yet especially if we don’t want our washing machine to be over taken by terrorists or criminals. We’ve embraced wearables and they seem to be getting cheaper and better rapidly although the information overload when your wrist, phone and laptop all buzz in sync late at night can lead to yet further intrusion to our already busy lives. We were excited about Chatbots but they are beginning to be annoying already. The customer experience yet again looms as the key piece that holds everything together. It is not enough to just be there to talk to. The service must be outstanding too. Lets start understanding people better. Let’s not just look at the psychology of marketing but how we can use the understanding of psychology to make lives better in a more meaningful and sustainable way. That should be the real future of marketing.