It is that time of year in which we all turn our attention to the new year and the changes that it will bring. While the majority of marketing changes are slow to come about, it doesn’t hurt to discuss the trends we are seeing and will continue to see in the year to come.

Content has reigned supreme in the last few years, and this isn’t going to change. What will change is what we consider content worthy of our time and how search engines will rank the various kinds of content. Without further ado, we present Keen’s marketing guide to 2017:

CREATIVE CONTENT

Don’t just write blogs, get creative. Produce visual content that appeals to your target audience and that will grab their attention. Content comes in many shapes and sizes; it refers to text, images, sounds, video, animations, illustrations, and more. Basically, content is anything that adds to a user’s experience. The good news is that search engines have become much more sophisticated and are now capable of indexing more than just text.

GET SPECIFIC

The days of high-level, general content are long gone. It is all about being specific now. When producing content don’t just scratch the surface, go deeper. What do we mean by going deeper? We mean taking a topic and getting as detailed as possible. What makes you stand out is your ample knowledge of the different aspects or features of a particular subject. There is a lot of general information being pushed out there which is not very valuable. Content must have substance.

SHOOT VIDEO

If you own a smartphone, you should be shooting video. Did you know that videos bring the highest ROI? That stands true across all platforms. If you are sharing a video on Facebook, you’re going to get more engagement because people love videos. How many videos do you watch a day? In 2017, Syndacast predicts that 74% of all traffic will be generated by videos. One important tip for your videos is to make sure captions are included. The majority of people don’t have their audio on when they watch videos, they opt to read.

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RETENTION-FOCUSED

We put a lot of attention on increasing awareness, but rarely do we talk about increasing our retention rates within our existing audience. The best advice I can give you is to concentrate on maintaining the attention of your faithful audience, as they are already engaged with your brand. Never neglect those that have proven to be loyal users in your ardent quest for new clients.

DESIGN FOR MOBILE

Everyone is well aware that we need to design responsive sites, but rather than making the creation of a desktop version our primary focus, we should begin with mobile. Once you’ve designed the mobile version, scale up to the desktop. Mobile usage surpasses desktop use, so why relegate mobile design to second place? With 1.2 billion mobile users worldwide, mobile design should not be a secondary goal. In the US alone, 25% of people only surf the web on a mobile device, meaning they will never see the desktop version of your site. It might not be fun or easy to tackle its implementation,  but it is a most.

PROTOTYPE EVERYTHING

The days of explaining the animation of a site are long gone, so static wireframes and mockups have become obsolete. With easy to use prototyping software, UI developers can test the usability and aesthetics of their site design, and so can clients. We don’t program any website that the client hasn’t had a chance to test and see as a prototype, which makes the entire process much more efficient.  

DON’T USE STOCK

Stock photography was at some point the greatest thing since sliced bread, but by now we’ve seen the same images too many times. We aren’t impressed when we see stock photography, and it only makes sites blur together to form a confusing picture in the public’s mind. To top it all off, having to design for mobile has made sites pretty similar, so what makes them stand out is great photos. It is then a great idea to invest in photography. People love authenticity and real photos will help customers connect with your business.

MAKE IT BOLD

The small fonts we've all grown tired of are getting replaced by big, bold, and beautiful typography. That’s right, the farsighted can rejoice in this new trend that doesn’t force you to wear your glasses to be able to decipher a message that is close up. Not only are bold fonts in, so are bold colors. If you want to be a trend setter, start incorporating bold colors and oversized fonts to your marketing.

There are more than just 8 observable trends for 2017, but with attention spans getting shorter, we figured we’d limit ourselves. Other new marketing trends will include: more live video streaming, a greater use of virtual reality/augmented reality, native advertising (again), and shorter content. There are plenty of exciting things happening in the world of marketing, and we are thrilled to help you adapt.

If you're interested in upgrading your business' marketing efforts for the upcoming year call your local South Florida Marketing Agency, we have the knowledge and experience to take your business to new heights.

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