Let me start by saying I know, you’ve seen dozens of lists on the most important marketing trends of the year. It’s the end of a busy year, and that tends to put folks in a reflective mood.
But when we took time to consider the trends that shook up the modern marketing world in 2012, we also wanted to identify those that would continue to reshape the landscape though the next year, and beyond.
We collaborated with JESS3 to pick the 2012 marketing trends that have lasting impact, and put them together in a snackable – maybe “pinable”? – graphic. These are the trends we bet you’ll still be talking about at the end of next year.
Click for larger image and to download.
1. The Enterprise Goes Social
While the concept of social business predates 2012, this is truly the year that the enterprise doubled down its bets on social. Salesforce.com unveiled its Social Marketing Cloud, combining its purchases of Radian6 and Buddy Media. Oracle snapped up social media marketing platform Vitrue. Google grabbed Wildfire. And Microsoft picked up Yammer, a provider in-house social networking.
It’s not all about acquisitions. But it was clear that established players in technology were expecting the social enterprise to go from a nice theory to big business in the coming year.
2. Marketing Gets Back to Visuals
Marketing, it can be said, has always been driven by visuals.
While that may be true, 2012 was certainly the year that the need to catch the eye was a hot topic. Pinterest, the social network for sharing the Web in visual form, became one of the primary traffic drivers on the Internet. Facebook put $1 billion down on Instagram. You need only a quick glance at Microsoft’s redesign of Windows to see how the visual format is taking hold.
Clearly, in 2013 marketers will need to step up their visual panache to stay in front of buyers.
3. Tablets Go Viral
Before the iPad, the tablet market was a joke. Apple ended up laughing all the way to the bank.
Spurred by Apple’s massive success, others jumped on board big time in 2012. Microsoft unveiled its Surface with much fanfare (and huge ad budget to boot). Tablets running on Google’s Android operating system skyrocketed. Not to be outdone, Apple released its iPad mini.
For marketers, here’s the gist: as tablets proliferate – in the workplace and at home – the need to create immersive, engaging experiences designed for the tablet will become a top priority in 2013, 2014, 2015…
These are the big marketing trends we picked. Stay on top of future trends all year by subscribing to our blog. And let us know your picks in the comments below!
