Categories: Business & Finance

Startup Marketing Trends For 2016

April 22, 2016

Other than regular promotional work, successful marketers also take time to analyze the new market trends and find new ways to engage their audience. In this article we decided to list some of the latest marketing trends that can be applied by startups and see what makes a business successful in 2016.

Virtual Reality

This is one of the most popular new technology concepts and we are counting seconds before it becomes recognized by marketers for all the promotional abilities that it brings. With the help of virtual reality marketers will be able to make 360 degree promotional stories, which will be 100% personalized and therefore interesting to both Millennials as well as Generation Z.  

Real Time Marketing

A year ago nobody could imagine using Snapchat for marketing purposes, but according to experts this website will become one of the hottest places for online promotion. Website is currently building its standard marketing platform and companies will soon start flocking to Snapchat and uploading their ads. Difference between Snapchat and other social networks is that this website is mainly visited by youngsters and it offers real time self-destructive posts and messages.

This criterion will probably be applied to Snapchat ads, which will target audience in real time with promotional offers that will be presented in limited number of characters and will come with expiration dates. Short, catchy and simple marketing offers, reviewed on smartphone and smartwatch devices, by people who are commuting and waiting in lines, represent the future of marketing in the fast world we live in.

Internet of Things

Audience targeting will be much easier in the future due to increasing number of devices with advanced networking options. Wearable devices that can be connected to the internet, like smartwatches, smartphones and cameras, will disclose consumer’s personal information, location and preferences to online marketing platforms that will become even more precise in disclosing consumer’s preferences.

Location Based Marketing

One of the main benefits of e-commerce websites comparing to brick and mortar stores is their ability to target audience without any geographic limitations. In 2016 and following years, brick and mortar store concept will strike back with location based marketing technology. Shops and restaurants will include small Bluetooth transmitters that will promote company’s offer to nearby smart devices.

Promotional Videos and Live Streaming

Videos are the new black when it comes to internet marketing. In the same way as top companies in one moment in history switched from newspaper ads to TV commercials, digital marketing will move more towards well produced video ads that will replace articles, textual social network posts and photos. Live streaming is also becoming highly popular recently, especially after popularization of Periscope app, which was acquired by Twitter in 2015 for a price no less than $50 million. The app enables users to stream videos from their smartphone cameras in real time, and it has great marketing potential, mostly because it enables users (and marketers of course) to share highly personalized view of current events.

Influencer’s Will Earn Even More

Online communities created many authorities “from scratch”. People who were as ordinary as me and you, were turned into popular influencers with huge number of followers, for sharing interesting and populist social network posts. These self-made “rock stars” are the future of celebrity advertising and in few years we will see certain influential bloggers promoting big brands and earning as much as LeBron and Rihanna.

Increased Popularity of Big Internet Media Outlets

Although most experts thought that widely available internet will result in people finding more sources and browsing small anti-establishment websites in search for information, it seems that majority of internet users still enjoy the comfort of big news portals, even when they are forced to turn off their ad-blockers.

New Facebook app called Instant Articles will boost news portal’s popularity even more, because it will allow users to view articles from limited number of publishers directly on Facebook. Instant Articles app is great addition to new Facebook Videos and event discovery engine that will be released soon, and it represents Facebook’s attempt to take over huge part of internet traffic for itself. Marketers will need to adapt to new rules of the market and make their content interesting to big news portals, which requires implementing advanced press generating strategies.

When I see marketing “professionals” trying to engage people by cold calls and suggestive SMS, I feel vicarious embarrassment, but who knows, maybe one day  we will feel the same way when somebody streams promotional video or pays Facebook ad. That’s why being up to date with new marketing trends is the duty of every marketer.

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NateVickery

Nate M. Vickery is a business consultant from Sydney, Australia. He has a degree in marketing and almost a decade of experience in company management through latest technology trends.

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