8 Marketing Trends You May Not Be Thinking About, but Should Be

Posted on by Patty Odell

4. PROFESSOR BRAND. A growing number of marketers will capture consumer’s fragmented digital learning attention by offering up content that empowers consumers, builds on their sense of self-sufficiency and solidifies the brand’s role as an expert.

marketing trends“This has tactical and practical application,” Alives said. “It’s an evolution of the idea of brand utility, offering content and services. Here the technology is merging with a brand opportunity. We know that people around the world see the Internet as a how-to personal university, with more platforms with video, for instance, or Google Hangout making the idea of instruction accessible to more people. More brands will capitalize on that.”

As an example, last summer GE hosted a six-second science fair on Vine that churned food coloring, dish soap and milk into a bubbling, mesmerizing kaleidoscope of color and planned to turn the popularity of that video into a longer running production to showoff the wild world of science. In another example, explained in the Upshot report, Bank of America partnered with non-profit Khan Academy, one of the web’s largest online education sites, earlier this year to offer consumers personal finance education via a standalone website called Better Money Habits and promoted it in its bank branches.

“There’s a convergence of behaviors of consumers already going online for how-tos and educational content and brands seeing the opportunity to be there,” she said.

5. LA NUEVA SHOPPER IN CHARGE. More marketers will recognize the enormous opportunity to connect with Hispanic consumers this year and smart marketers will recognize and focus on the influence of the Latina shopper. As the report states: “when you consider that almost a quarter (23%) of all U.S. births in 2011 were to a Latina mom, with nearly two thirds (63%) of Hispanic families having children under the age of 18, compared to 40% for non-Hispanic white females, it’s clear that a variety of categories stand to benefit from connecting with Latina moms.”

6. MARKETING IN THE MOMENT. Success in real-time responsive marketing will be driven by micro-messages that are relevant, respectful and welcomed by your brand’s consumer.

“We expect 2014 will see a more nuanced approach to marketing in the moment based less on a frantic need to interrupt and more so in recognition that brands can now help meet consumers’ expectations for immediacy and ease,” the report said.

7. THE CPG ECOMMERCE IMPERATIVE. Brands of all sizes will dedicate more time and resources to ensure they’re positioned to benefit from growing online CPG sales.

8. THE MISSING MIDDLE AND CONSIDERED CONSUMPTION. This is a heady trend to say the least that marketers can spend days upon days pondering. It’s no secret that middle class consumers are feeling squeezed and some of that pressure will be aimed toward assessing whether brands and retailers are supportive and understanding of their concerns, versus the needs of high and low-end customers. The conversation around this troubled middle class is something that we will hear about all year long in advance of mid-term elections.

“This is tough, because it’s just coming to folks consciousness,” Aviles said. “You’ve got success at high-end retailers and restaurants, and in some cases brands, or success at the low end of the market, like dollar stores that are fairing well. This leaves a troubled middle space. Our job is to figure out how can we weigh in from a marketing and branding perspective to put a spotlight on a sinking middle class. Consumers are having this conversation about brands and how they are speaking to consumers. This will have huge implications across the marketing landscape, but it’s not an one easy solve.”

She said these consumers will focus quality and durability and won’t see a return to a carefree approach to their wallets anytime soon.

RELATED ARTICLES:
2014 Marketing Trends off the Radar
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