14 Marketing Trends for Thriving in the Digital Era

Marketing Trends

Marketing trends emerge when the rules of marketing change.

And marketing has changed have changed because of the new digital tools.

That’s the blunt message from marketing guru Seth Godin in his best-selling book Meatball Sundae. (I summarized as the Book Rapper issue Marketing How-Now).

Seth defines 14 marketing trends for thriving in the digital marketing era. These are:

1 What’s the Big Idea?

In the New Marketing the only way to get people talking about you is to be remarkable, unique, funky, quirky, engaging or compelling. You need a big idea and an outstanding product – one that stands out because it outstanding. 

2 Attract the Interested

The New Marketing works like a light bulb to insects. Light it up and they come. You just need to illuminate your offer and those who are interested will see it. Stop trying to attract everyone and focus on those that are interested. 

3 Slice and Dice

In the New Marketing, the whole has been cut up into pieces. Google and the other search engines have dismantled the world, they’ve sliced it up into individual pieces. Keyword searches mean we no longer enter web pages via the home page, we go straight to the piece we searched for. The same applies to your products, we don’t want all those bundled extras, only the bit we truly value.

4 Strengthen and Outsource

In the New Marketing, almost everything can be outsourced some where in our global economy. You don’t have to be a manufacturer or producer anymore, someone else can do that for you and probably quicker, cheaper and better. Focus on your strengths and your uniqueness; outsource the rest. 

5 Source or Abundant

In the New Marketing, some things that were abundant are now scarce. For instance, attention. We’re so flooded with messages that you’ve only got 10 seconds to capture my attention on your website or I’m clicking elsewhere. There are 10 million other sites to look at! Look for opportunities where scarcity exists.

6 Cheap or Best

In the New Marketing, everything has splintered into two groups: the cheapest or the best. Which one are you going to be? Cheap? Best?

7 Hits to Niches

In the New Marketing, Chris Anderson’s Long Tail demonstrates that niches are king. Amazon profits more from the thousands of books that sell up to 100 copies a year than it does from the handful of books that sell in the thousands. The biggest selling product in most categories is now ‘other’. Find lots of little niches.

8 Infinite Channels

In the New Marketing, you simply want the right audience to pay attention to your product and the new marketing channels are way more effective at just that. Be really selective and specific about your message and how you illuminate it. Sure, less people will notice; however more will act.

9 Authentic Stories

In the New Marketing, we hear many sides of the same story. The impact of a business’s advertising spin is falling dramatically because we have so many other sources to listen to. We can read blogs or forums where real customers are venting their true feelings. The most powerful marketing tool you have is to create an authentic story about who you are and to live it every day. 

10 Blink Attention

In the New Marketing era, there is huge competition from multiple media and that means the amount of time we’re willing to spend on some thing – particularly some thing we have zero interest in – shrinks too. To be seen and hear simplify your message. 

11 Consumers to Producers

The New Marketing consumer wants to talk to producers. They want to be heard now. They want you to listen or they’re going elsewhere. The good news is you can now talk with them directly. This means you can find out what they want and co-create it with them.

12 Consumers to Consumers

In the New Marketing, consumers are not just talking to a few friends face to face, they’re talking to the producers of goods and now they’re advising each other what to buy and not, openly online and all over the planet. Make it easier for your customers to talk with each other. Create your own customer group.

13 Marketing Trend: Consumers Getting Louder

In the New Marketing, consumer opinion has the tools to voice itself. Not only are consumers talking to producers and to other consumers, their collective voice is getting louder. Listen up! Look after your customers or you’ll hear about it – and so will everyone else. Today, everyone’s a critic and has got a blog or a website to prove it. 

14 No Gatekeepers

The New Marketing has no gatekeepers. Now, the game is more like Show and Tell with the opportunity to converse directly with your audience. Gone are the filters, the time constraints and the need for money. Get out into the web playground and start making friends! Strut your stuff through all the new social media. 

COMMENT: Which one of these marketing trends is the one you need to transform your business?