Marketing Predictions for 2016
I’ve read through more prediction articles and blogs than I care to count. So I’ve condensed all reading about this new long-tail search, virtual-reality, predictive-analytic, programmatic world into three big buckets:
Bucket 1: Connect. Video is the preferred way to communicate ideas and concepts on the Internet. Live streaming will continue to grow with apps such as Periscope, Blab and Instagram. Can’t get everyone to attend your groundbreaking? Broadcast (stream) it live on your website. Watch for video outlets, apps and new video uses. Video allows you to add an emotional edge to your messaging.
Bucket 2: Motivate. Customer journey mapping. Most of us want to find the “one thing” that will work for marketing. As we dig into more data, we are finding that an integrated communications model works best. You must map from the first touch to the final sale and make sure every node is a relevant step forward on the success map. Journey mapping is not new, but big and little data are making it easier to pinpoint the steps. Experience will be key to the journey — we will all need to think more human in this programmatic world to make sure meaningful, personal connections are still achieved.
Bucket 3: Measure. Absolutes will continue to draw attention, but will be mostly wrong. Things are changing, but the “changing” is even happening to the new things (Yahoo! is finding that out). Absolutes should be replaced with agility: Constant testing and measuring should lead your thinking and win the day, not declarations that the sky is falling. The car replaced the horse, but there is still a very large horse industry out there.
Connect, motivate and measure.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
