It’s this time of year once again: the time that we come up with some predictions for the world of marketing and review our previous predictions. (Buy Facebook likes UK)
We began writing these posts on predictions in 2014, after reading Rand Fishkin’s annual forecasts.
If you’re interested in the way our predictions for the future have been, check out our predictions for 2016 and 2015 marketing posts.
We’ll continue to grade the predictions from last year’s before we decide to make a second set. SPOILER ALERT: we’ll likely be watching our crystal ball in any way.
Here’s the scale of grading we came up with within our post from 2015:
Oracle (+2) Oracle (+2) – when we’re on the right track, it’s as if we’re channeling the lovely woman from The Matrix
Oracle Training (+1) We couldn’t fully grasp the entirety of the picture, but we could still see the future
It’s as clear as mud (0) We weren’t wrong and we didn’t do anything wrong also.
Just A Little Outside (-1) We tried painting the edge of the plate but the ump wouldn’t allow us to paint.
Swing and A Miss (-2) – Like a batter who is expecting a speed but is hit with a curve, we were not far away
For 2016, we have made these five predictions 2016:
#1: People will begin to drop “Digital Marketing “Digital” from “Digital Marketing”
Grade: 0
We were aware that this would be a difficult one to assess. Eliminating “digital” from the “digital” within “digital marketing” was something we wanted to have occurred, however.
Was it really wishful thinking on our behalf? Based on our own evaluation of our answers, the truth is as evident as the mud.
There was an article on one major marketing agency’s decision to eliminate the word “digital” in all of the jobs of the company that we consider an accomplishment for us.
However, it doesn’t appear like enough people have accepted the digital realm as a marketing area.
In fact, we’re still employing it and therefore we can’t give any points for making the word “digital” “digital marketing.” Perhaps 2017 is the year that the domino is finally thrown down.
#2: Mobile Payments Adoption Rates will be able to see a significant rise
Grade: 0
Another poor prediction from us. There’s no better shopping microcosm other than Black Friday.
A recent study revealed that mobile payment transactions accounted for only 0.6 percent of all transactions during the post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping.
The fact that this was more than twice the amount of mobile payments on Black Friday 2015 is the only thing that keeps us from accumulating negative points.
#3. Content Marketing will Expand – In Every Way
Grade: +2
We said we’d give you the statistics Here are the figures:
73% of large companies have hired a person to oversee their strategy for marketing content On average 39% of marketing professionals believe their budgets for content marketing to rise in 2017.
88% of those who responded to a survey stated that content marketing was an important element
Three predictions but now we’re on the board!
4. Ads are set to Increase in Pervasiveness
Grade: +2
Yes, I’m using Waze on my commute and I do notice ads appearing constantly.
Sometimes, the ads are interactive, as all of a sudden, a message will pop out and ask me.
If I’ve been to any Tim Horton’s locations on my route. Yes, I’m living in Canada and there’s Tim Horton’s on every street corner!
The headline of the article is clear: Digital Ad Spending Will outstrip TV Advertising For The First Time in U.S. History.
It’s no doubt that ads are appearing everywhere and on our phones, computers or tablets when we’re browsing our social media feeds.
There are ads that are personalized and lurking on every corner.
#5 5: Predictive Content Tools Are Going to dramatically improve
Grade: -1
I’m a bit confused about the reason this didn’t happen, however.
I don’t believe there’s an evidence-based argument to support the assertion that predictive content tools dramatically increased in the year the year 2016.
These articles highlight the benefits of predictive analytics, as we’ve used them previously.
However, there’s more excitement over the possibilities than there is any information about the current tools available.
This is a shame although it’s possible that things will get more exciting within the next few years.
Final Score 3
We’ve been there again! With the help of our fingers, we believe that our predictions for 2016 were more correct than untrue.
In the meantime we present our top predictions of five events that will occur in the world of marketing during 2017:
#1 1: Jobs are available for Data Scientists and/or Analytics Gurus Are Set to Continue to Increase
This could already be an ongoing trend, and in that scenario, it’s a softball. However, data-driven marketers are the most effective type of marketer.
We’ll see jobs specifically for scientists who study data (or any other similar titles) continue to increase.
Full disclosure: when we say “any equivalent titles” we are able to use “geeky math geek” as a synonym for data scientists.
# 2: Marketing Influencers will gain a foothold
Up until now, influencer marketing has been operating behind the scenes of the digital realm.
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of huge sums of money being handed out to popular Instagrammers to wear an outfit and snap pictures, but that was back in”the Wild Wild West of influencer marketing.
With the rise of influencer marketing platforms and marketers becoming aware that there has to be greater interaction between brands.
For influencers and their customers, this new technique will soon become more effective.
#3: More small businesses will adopt Marketing Automation
The importance of marketing automation, it’s true.
However, the cost and the difficulty in setting up and running the process of implementing marketing automation is an enormous problem for small companies.
It’s difficult to find time to set up and learn about automation even when all you’re lacking is time.
As platforms improve and make it becomes easier to use the small business owners and the marketers who support them.
Will come to realize that automating marketing is the future of marketing automation.
#4: The use of Video will continue to climb.
The statistics show that one-third of online activity is spent watching videos and that the average person is exposed to 32.3 videos per month.
Intelligent marketers are on the ball to these figures regardless of whether they’re videos in the form of video advertisements or video storytelling or stream live.
They’ll be able to find ways to include video content in their marketing plan.
#5: A Brand New and Significant Content Marketing Technology is Coming to Market
It’s going to be on a limb just a slightly. But I am convinced that the advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence are set to revolutionize the world of digital content.
When these amazing technologies are utilized to create practical devices and applications in the near future.
It won’t take long before someone finds an opportunity to make use of these technologies to improve content marketing, hopefully in 2017.
We’ll see you next year!
We wish you all the best with our 2017 predictions for marketing.
If you are confident in us, you may gain an advantage over your competitors by applying these predictions to create the latest marketing strategies.
Don’t forget to come for updates in 12 months’ time to see what we fared and repeat the process the same way!
