… predictions for 2012 … so here’s a few of mine from my myopic marketing perspective…
1. Mobile internet access, which is now huge, will become gigantically humungus. Tablet apps, smart phone apps, social media apps, Qr-code readers are all just the start. For example: Of the 800 million active Facebook members 350 million access that site through their mobile phone. Ebay generated US$5 billion in sales during 2011 from mobile devices including smart phones and tablet PCs such as iPads.
2. Video will become the main communication medium of almost all effective online marketers (which should include you). Video is like www on steroids. Acceptance of video as the benchmark communication standard will accelerate in part due to www.YouTube.com where 2 BILLION videos are viewed each day. Mind boggling. People want to feel engaged and entertained and video does that a whole lot better then text alone (tip: use both).
3. Banner adverts will overtake direct mail as the world’s #1 source of cost effective marketing for low ticket sales items. Re-targeting, which is the ability of a banner to almost literally stalk you around the internet, will become insanely and justifiably huge.
4. More and more operational software will move off desktops and servers and head for the cloud.
5. As Eisner said “Change is like a steamroller and you get to chose if you want to be a part of the steamroller or a part of the road”. Digital marketing is that steamroller and pardon me for mixing metaphors but there will be an increasing gap between savvy digital marketers and the others. And that gap will eventually become a chasm the divides the wealthy business owner from those that simply survive.
BTW: if you don’t know what re-targeting is, or what the cloud is or what a Qr-code reader is … you are in danger of becoming a part of the steamroller and you should seriously examine my Killer Marketing Club so you can stay current.