Just when you felt good about your results, Google and Baby New Year threw their annual wrenches in the mix.
As many agencies set their sights on this new year, most hopefully felt confident in their plan. You probably looked at what you did in 2013, analyzed your results, identified a goal and then set a plan of action. You may have even declared, “This will be the best year ever!”. You shared the plan with your entire team, closed down for the holiday, and then…BAM! The clock struck midnight and a slew of 2014 trends were upon you. So, what are the new trends in digital marketing? There are plenty of lists, but based on our work in digital & inbound marketing inside of the insurance industry, this is what we believe you must be focused on.
1. Social media is no longer a nice to have. It is an essential business strategy.
2. Images will outrank words for engagement.
3. Focused content marketing in place of speaking in generalities will be crucial in the eyes of Google.
4. For most leading firms, digital will exceed traditional marketing budgets.
5. Agencies will embrace social media for engaging with customers and prospects in real-time.
6. Agencies will hop off their soapboxes and transition from monologue to dialog based content and interaction.
7. Hashtags will become increasingly important in search, possibly becoming a leading tool.
8. The insurance industry will finally come around to noticing mobile; and do something about it.
9. Agencies will begin promoting the personal brands of their client-facing employees much more in order to enhance the agency brand.
10. Most agencies will push the boundaries with their website, moving away from the traditional design and functions associated with ‘insurance’. Here is a list of 5 Web Design Trends developed by our Art Director at Quintain Marketing. Jessie-Lee knows her stuff!
11. Agencies will get serious about doing inbound marketing, realizing that it is the way B2B marketing works now.
12. Agencies will understand the importance of Google+ and Google Authorship.
13. Video. Enough said.
While this seems like a daunting list of trends, leading agencies will increasingly realize that simplicity will be the name of the game in 2014. These firms will finally look at the activities they’ve engaged in over the past few years, and will begin to scale back on low return activities. Most firms we speak with know that they’ve wasted resources, and have tried a lot, but have not received much of an ROI. Look to 2014 to be a year that is marked with agencies restructuring their business development centers. They will also increase overall spend but in the right places in order to capitalize on the trends, and to hyper-focus on a few strategies that will give them visible growth.
Here’s to 2014!