Keynote Speaker 7 Trends

The Digital Trends Shaping the Future of Direct Marketing:Jennifer Howard, Google
Jennifer talked about the 7 trends shaping digital marketing today they include:

1)Be "always on"
It's important for companies to play into all of the current trends and technologies. Search trends can help to highlight customer trends. Of course, the Google Trends site is a perfect place to find this information. Howard showed some interesting data points, including how Denny's flew up the charts around the Super Bowl when they offered a free breakfast.

2)No media is an island
Utilizing all media channels at the same time is essentially to modern marketing success. Many users go online to find out more about a TV ad (37%). Thirty percent also go online to find out more about a print ad. The integrated approach allows a marketer to leverage all channel and help keep the message at top of mind. o Companies that can do this correctly have significant advantage, as many have not made the jump and linked their efforts. Offline events can also have a significant impact on online traffic, as can TV ads that drive immediate traffic through buzz and word of mouth.

3)Make a video the core of your strategy
Users are visual; videos appeal on many levels. Since the number of households that streamed video doubled in 2008, companies must make an effort to utilize this medium if they are to compete. As with the previous point, companies that do not use video are going to be at a disadvantage, whereas first-movers to video in an industry will allow companies to maintain an advantage over their competitors.

Companies using YouTube to leverage brand can entertain, educate and campaign, all at the same time.

4)Target to the moment of relevance
Companies should use trends and pay attention to what consumers are doing. There are many options to target the offering properly, including demographic (age), psychographic (causes) and behavior (buying trends). This hearkens back to point #1 as well; companies need to stay current and make sure their offerings, their targeted segments and their products are what the industry and the consumers want and will respond to.

Contextual advertising has become extremely important. Placing relevant ads alongside content is a great way to leverage a campaign to interested customers. It's important to have ads on the correct sites and in the correct places.

5)Atomize and distribute
Viral marketing is a cornerstone of any 2st century marketing campaign. Getting users and customers to spread the word of your product is essentially 'free marketing.' Relying on the "if you build it, they will come" mentality is a quick way to kill a company. Successful marketing campaigns need to distribute content outside the corporate site. One of the best ways to do this is via social networking sites. The single destination is no longer the standard; the brand needs to stay represented on the main site, but putting content on Digg, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and more is necessary now.

6)Tap into the value of communities
Communities are simultaneously the heart, soul, nervous system and lifeblood of the Internet. Communities spur on everything from debate, buying trends and more. They can make or break a marketing effort due to their ability to carry on momentum or stop it in its tracks. Communities help users feel more involved in what's going on. Plus, companies can also use communities to get user feedback and help them specifically understand what the consumer needs and wants. Some companies on Twitter making good use of this include Comcast and Dunkin' Donuts.

7)Measure, plan and optimize
Without analytics, it's impossible to quantify the success of a campaign. After you plan your strategy, you need to rely on the data to make sense of incoming information.

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