2014 has brought the usual proclamations of trends and predictions for marketers in the year ahead. Most of them take the tack of asserting how the world will be transformed and marketing forever changed. There are, of course, the contrarians who dismiss everything as hype, asserting that the only thing that has changed is the buzzwords.
As always, there is truth in both views when viewed in the proper context. Here is a short list of what isn’t changing and what has changed for marketers across every industry.
WHAT ISN’T CHANGING
1. The Importance of Emotional Connections
The best brands foster an emotional connection with people that transcends product attributes. We are emotional animals in the end, and we want to feel an attachment with the things we use and own. It does not matter how quickly a brand adopts the latest social network if it doesn’t have a reason people want to connect.
2. The Discipline of Strategic Brand Behavior
People want their brands to stay in character. The tactics can be wide-ranging and innovative as long as they are rooted in what people come to the brand for in the first place. I don’t want my sportscar fantasy interrupted by a message of responsibility and I don’t want my warm family moment put off by a sexy flirtation. Regardless of the venue, a brand still needs to be rooted in a strategic reason for being.
3. The Quest for Differentiation
No matter what media we pursue, the marketing environment is characterized by clutter. The noise of life creates the constant challenge to find ways to meaningfully stand out not just from competitors but from the hum we’ve taught ourselves to ignore.
WHAT HAS CHANGED
1. Consumer Expectations
We expect far more interaction with the companies we transact with. We expect them to respond in individualized ways . We expect to them to be where we are instead of searching out where they are. We bring an attitude to all our brand interactions that we used to only bring to our calls to customer service.
2. Performance Expectations
The rise of addressable media has increased the emphasis on measurement. Quarterly awareness tracking is increasingly inadequate for both marketers and the people they’re accountable too. Understanding and weighing the contribution of the marketing mix will continue to get more sophisticated and rigorous.
3. Expanding Toolsets
The explosion of channels has created a nearly infinite toolset for marketers. This will only continue. The idea of 360 marketing will be rendered increasingly irrelevant for its sheer impossibility. Marketers will need to strategically identify the tools and channels that make the most sense for them and their customers.
4. The Demands of Me.Here. Now
The world will keep speeding up on every level. On the cultural level, brands wanting to tap into social trends will require the means to respond in days not weeks. On the individual level, we’ll grow increasingly impatient with companies that don’t respond to us immediately. The continued rise of mobile technology will march hand-in-hand with a rising demand to engage when and where we want.
In short, the principles of brand marketing remain intact. The value of clear brand vision and a rich customer understanding is eternal. But the application of those principles demands a new mode of action that is rooted less in an architectural mindset (plan, design, build) and more in a software development mindset (build, learn, rebuild).
The Ryan Report 