Author: Chris Talbert

Be bold. Be unique. Be limitless. Be human.
Trend lists abound this time of year, showcasing not only what worked in 2015, but what made the biggest headlines, the biggest blunders and what could be the next marketing must-haves  in the New Year.

We’ve compiled our own trend list and we’ll get to that shortly, but one thing to consider is that many other marketers are going to be reading and acting on these and other forecasted trends. This is an opportunity to embrace the same trends other marketers will want to capitalize on  while still standing out.

Whatever you pursue within these trends or otherwise, we suggest you add a mantra to your marketing mix. Be bold. Be unique. Be limitless. Be human.

Be bold.
Marketing should never be passive, timid or just going with the flow. No matter if we’re talking about a visual identity or integrated marketing plan, be bold in your decisions and actions.

Be unique.
Nonconformity is a virtue for marketers wanting to stand out from the crowd. Corporate boards, committees and maybe even your own conscience may take creative to a conservative place, but there is always an opportunity to be unique in a way that elevates engagement.     

Be limitless.
Shift thinking from limited budgets and lack of time to ideas and actions that, regardless of dollars committed or hours invested, will advance your marketing goals.

Be human.
While every component of marketing and communication is inclusive of some type of technology, don’t let that technology blur the significance of being human. Hand-lettered typography, minimal retouching on photography and a person’s voice at the other end of a customer service call are just a few examples of embracing organic, emotive and human touches.

With this marketing mantra in mind, here’s our roundup of trends for 2016.

1. Activating Micro-Moments in Mobile: Google is now defining micro-moments within larger moments throughout our customer journey. This fleeting time can be pivotal during purchase decisions, and mobile devices play a crucial role. Google suggests considering four key moment types that represent a full range of user needs: I want to know moments; I want to go moments; I want to do moments; I want to buy moments. Find out more about micro-moments here.
    
2. Video Everywhere: eMarketer predicts investment in digital video ads will top TV ads in 2017. This means marketers need to consider digital ads, and how video will play a role, as well as the roles video will play in campaigns. Video as content can be edited and repurposed from a paid digital ad to a social post, to content on a website and a traditional TV spot. Contently shares other futurisms here.
    
3. Design for Employees: Fjord, the in-house design team for Accenture, reported that investing in the employee experience was the fastest growing category of work for its firm across many industries. We understand that customers and their commitments are vital to your success, but employees are just as significant. Communication tools are playing a larger role in fostering collaboration, accountability and connectivity. Here at Designsensory, we’re hoping to improve our internal process and client engagement through Mavenlink, a new collaboration platform, and we’ll have more to come on that later. Learn a bit more about this and other trends from Fjord here.
    
4. Add Layers of Realities: Both virtual reality, which is an immersive reality experienced through a headset, and augmented reality, which provides an added layer of information, visuals or other information, are becoming more mainstream and incorporated into branding. Some agencies even have in-house labs set up to test equipment and campaign components. Here’s more on this trend and others in a recent Forbes article.
    
5. Listen to the Value of Podcasts: Podcasts are huge—and because this platform is still relatively new—brands have opportunities to take the lead in sponsoring content through traditional advertising within podcasts or in creating owned content of whole shows or segments. Here’s more on podcasting from the NiemanLab.
    
6. Be Quiet . . . Sometimes: Getty Images shared that this quiet trend focuses on making space for consumers to breathe and reconnect in a cluttered marketplace, engaging our emotions and spirit with visual haikus. Here’s a commercial from Kit Kat that puts the spotlight on absolutely nothing. Check out more Getty predictions here.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or breathing new life into your old accounts, here are five things that will get you on the right track for social media according to our social media specialist.

1. Research your audience. If you’ve chosen to use Pinterest to target men, which, according to Pew Research Center, captured 13% of online men compared to 42% of online women in 2014, you’ve got an uphill battle on your hands. While this gender imbalance is no surprise and serves as a broad example of picking the right social media platforms, Pinterest can be a strong channel for your business to reach a subset or niche audience of men. For example, a high-end men’s clothing brand would likely perform better, since men use Pinterest as a visual bookmarking system with an intent to buy. It’s important to understand your business and audience in your selection process. Your audience will change over time, and realignment may be necessary.

2. Keep your brand consistent. Let’s say you’ve decided to go with Facebook and Instagram, currently ranked first and eighth respectively for social media platforms according to market share. Make sure your usernames, profile pictures and bios are the same or similar. After you’ve built a relationship with a follower on Facebook, make it as easy as possible for them to recognize you on Instagram. Consider it this way: You visit a new grocery store and look for your favorite cereal. When you find it, your cereal has a new logo, the box color has changed and its description isn’t in familiar language. It’s not bad, just different. Do you still buy the cereal?

3. Be tactical in your messaging. It’s a hard balance—the right amount of the right content at the right time. To add to the complexity, the solution is different for each social media platform. Consider the focus of content, the frequency of posting and the dead zone for each social platform. These numbers may vary across industries and organizations but should serve as benchmarks for successful posting.

4. Organize your content. The value of killer content is greatly reduced when it goes out a week late, and worthless if it never goes out at all. We recommend a content calendar to ensure you’re hitting your important dates, giving all of your accounts attention and aren’t repeatedly posting content that performs poorly. This is typically a simple spreadsheet that details what you will post, on what day and time, and to what platform each month, but can certainly be more in-depth.

5. Manage it all. After you’ve populated your content calendar, you’ve got to get it online. Take time to research a social media manager that will adequately meet all of your needs and is easy to use. Three primary functions you’ll want in any software are scheduling, monitoring and reporting. Respectively, these functions allow you to draft and schedule a post for later, keep track of multiple accounts simultaneously and access in-depth analytics.

“Out with the old, in with the new.” This attitude seems to be an overarching mentality in our society. Today’s ever-changing technology landscape posits people as quick to write off the “archaic” and eager to adopt the latest, greatest trend. However, an example of electronic communication with staying power—one that has proven its worth—is email. 

The e-newsletter is another form of communication that has maintained popularity since its inception. Readers’ appreciation for the e-newsletter format can be attributed, in part, to the format’s palatable “bites” of content. Due to an endless stream of information—readily available to anyone with an Internet connection—vying for our attention, we readers are becoming increasingly discriminating. Readers grow listless when searching for the exact content they want. We want curated content, summarized into a finite package from a credible source. 

While businesses continue to focus their efforts on social media and forgo email marketing, studies have shown that email is 40 times more successful in acquiring new clients than Facebook or Twitter.

Our goal at Designsensory is never to cloud our subscribers’ inboxes with unwanted mail, but for each individual to find value in our work and the case studies presented in our e-newsletter. With this in mind, here are few best practice tips to keep in mind for your e-newsletter.

E-Newsletter Best Practice Tips
A newsletter must be substantial in terms of length and content. There’s a delicate balance to keep it from being too short or too long.

A piece with a high word count, say 1,000 words, well-written and informative, can reveal the writer’s level of expertise on the subject. However, verbosity shows a lack of regard for the reader’s time. We recommend one article of 500 words, with succinct, informative pieces comprising the remainder of the newsletter.

Keep the format of your newsletter visually appealing, streamlined, focused and mobile-friendly. With the latter, bear in mind that 41 percent of emails are opened on a mobile device. We suggest using graphics when possible. Ensure that the ALT-text for your graphics is descriptive as well, for readers who have images disabled or for those using text-only browsers. You may want to read your webpage text aloud—including the ALT-text—to test how readers will comprehend the page information. 

Remember: Email-based marketing is permission-based marketing. Make it simple for potential subscribers to opt in and for current subscribers to unsubscribe whenever they choose. 

After hours of writing, editing and tinkering with your newsletter, the last place you want your great content to end up is in the spam folder. Avoid running into spam filter issues by following the tips of a tried-and-true email marketing service provider, such as MailChimp. And, ask your readers to add the email address tied to your newsletter to their contact list, assuring it hits the primary inbox every time.

Finally, while being on the recipients’ contact list will improve delivery rates, it is important that tone and delivery time—same time, same day, every time—stay consistent to properly meet readers’ expectations.

We, at Designsensory, continue to push ourselves to stay on top of best practices in all facets of our business and aim to share what we’ve learned with those invested in our work.