Website Trend: The Importance of Images
Google+ suggests using imagery in posts. The popularity of Pinterest shows that people love images and that image sharing is viral. This and more suggests that images are important now and for the future of websites, even more so than words. However, this isn’t a recent idea.
Human culture has always valued images, and the Internet is aware of their importance. The human brain operates photographically rather than linguistically and therefore images help save time by conveying an entire concept in one glance. Sears and Roebuck’s great success came partly from using illustrations in their catalog. Magazines began to thrive from their inception because of great visuals that took precedence over copy. The success of television goes almost without saying.
The 1943 Sears News Graphic wrote that the Sears catalog “serves as a mirror of our times, recording for future historians today’s desires, habits, customs, and mode of living”. Years from now, the same will be said about our Facebook posts, our Pinterest pins, and our Flickr accounts.
The biggest difference today is that content is most successful with a captivating image plus a catchy phrase––as long as that phrase and image tag are keyword-rich. You have to write copy like you design a scavenger hunt––how is the image going to be found? You also need to think about a message that connects interest. Connection is about searchable words and answering an information need, or providing entertainment. The iconic Absolut ads could be a good example that still applies on the digital platform–limited copy, use of brand name in limited copy, visually striking and interesting which may encourage sharing.
How can you apply this to your business?
- Look around you, use your smartphone to take photos, and learn Instagram.
- If you don’t have a smartphone, use your digital camera and some photo editing software.
- Start thinking, “How can I use an image of this day to promote my business?”
- And sometimes, hire a professional photographer.
Trends in Marketing for 2016 and Beyond
Marketing is a dynamic field constantly evolving and never resting. 2016 is no exception to this rule. Each year, exciting trends in marketing cause marketers to scramble to keep up with marketing Joneses.
Innovation, not stagnation, is the best rule of thumb when approaching a marketing strategy for this year and beyond. Though the basic tools of online marketing haven’t changed, how we use them fluctuates as consumers expand their usage of social media and online platforms from year to year. As the collaboration of technology and businesses become apparent, there are many solutions that people have not yet come across because they are so innovative, which is the best part of being involved in any industry. Let’s look at the real estate industry for example. You may not initially look at this field and think about the concept of marketing. But it is just as important as any. If you are new to this field, a Guide to ringless voicemail may interest you. But most importantly, give you an idea of ways that technology can benefit a business. New ideas are always formed around the ideas of what will benefit the company and also what will help the customers in the way where they can receive effective services.
So what does this mean for marketers?
1. Content Marketing
Roughly 80% of marketers use content marketing as part of their business plans according to Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs 2016 Content Trends. On average companies save about $20,000 a year using an inbound content strategy versus traditional outbound efforts. Like we saw in 2015, content marketing continues to be extremely cost-effective strategy, and there is no indication yet that this method will cease to be productive any time soon.1
2. Digital Marketing
North America has the largest digital ad market. Marketers in the United States will have spent $62.07 billion on digital formats in 2015, a 16.8% increase over 2014. This year, 31.8% of total media ad expenditures will go toward digital formats, a share which is expected to reach 41.4% by 2019. The steady increase in consumer usage of the online platforms is why larger and larger percentages of marketing budgets will be spent on online advertizing as opposed to traditional methods. Some online business have been using something similar to this Sales funnel template in order to reach and in keep in touch with their customers. Expect your team to make suggestions on budgetary shifts in the general direction moving into 2016 in order to maintain a connection with an increasingly digital market.2
3. Social Media Channeling Versus SEO
In 2016, social media companies from Facebook to Snapchat are looking to bolster their innovative ad offerings and continue growing into major players for ad dollars. According to the Pew Research Center, 65% of adults used social media in 2015, nearly ten times the number in 2005. Facebook and Instagram alone make up 1 billion and 400 million users respectively.
There is a slowly developing change in user behavior when it comes to searching out information on products and services. While using search engines like Google or Bing to find information is still the most common behavior, there are many users who are skipping the search engine and performing their searches directly on social media. This means that online advertizing specifically on social media channels is going to become more and more popular. If SEO is what you decided to go with, my friend told me that This article tells you all you need to know about WhiteHat, they are a fantastic SEO company, so I hear.3
4. Video Content
2016 will likely be a landmark year for online video. Social networks Facebook and Twitter are investing heavily in both the promotion of video and providing new ways of consuming it. Companies will have an increasing range of options to reach consumers with video, creating both new opportunities and new challenges as the extremely rapid rise of Facebook as a video content platform demonstrates. The overall trend for online video in 2016 is almost certain to be overwhelmingly positive.
In an online survey of B2B companies about their video marketing strategy, 96% of B2B organizations are engaged in video content marketing and moreover 73% say that video has positively impacted marketing results.4
However, the expansion of digital tools doesn’t mean that old marketing knowledge doesn’t still apply – we just apply it over different mediums. Even the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, still agrees that, “People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.” We aren’t abandoning the person-to-person trust that helps companies succeed. 2016 and beyond is all about utilizing digital advertising methods to expand that personal reach, and connect people and businesses from all over the world.
Following the trends in marketing for 2016 will help keep your business on the upside of marketing innovation. Use new trends and traditional tools in your marketing strategy to create effective campaigns in 2016 and beyond.
Sources:
1. http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_Report_Final.pdf
3. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-and-seo/ – http://www.marketingdive.com/news/with-eyes-on-mobile-and-video-facebook-hits-1b-daily-active-users/408687/ – http://www.marketingdive.com/news/why-social-media-is-so-attractive-for-advertisers-heading-into-2016/410179/ – http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/
4. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/top-5-video-marketing-trends-2016-infographic