Digital marketing trends 2016 by SiteCore

The digital marketing trends of 2016 that you as a marketer should take into account. SiteCore publishes this every year with its research among marketeers. Here the highlights.

Like I wrote for my own online consumer trends 2016, you can remove it 'online'. Everything is online. Ho, I don't mean exclusively online, but the physical world is increasingly mirrored online. The bottom line always remains the price / quality ratio in the eyes of the customer. Good marketing emphasizes the italics. As we all spend more and more time online, marketing becomes more online and so do the budgets (70 percent according to SiteCore). But beware: the physical purchases are always 3 times as much as the online purchases.

Top 5 digital maketing trends 2016

1. Content marketing: is now seriously at the top of the list. Good news for content marketers in the Netherlands! The focus must be on the target group and its specific information needs. Look at the challenges that your customers have and help them further in their customer journey. Context.
2. Personalization: every customer is different. "One size fits all" no longer works. For this you need Big Data to get personal insights. The better the personalization, the better the 'customer experienceyeah! Keep explaining to your customers why you are collecting which data: if it works for them, they will gladly give it. What also belongs to personalization is an omnichannel strategy. In short: serving the customer on those channels on which the customer wishes to be served. So can book on a mobile basis, be helped via chat or just want to get a real person on the phone.
3. Predictive analytics: Knowing where your customers are going or what they are going to do, results in savings in logistics and extra sales opportunities. For example, if you know that every time you made a shoe offer, the number 39 was sold out the first day, then you can predict that with a next offer you'd better buy some more numbers 39. Big Data again, baby!
4. Marketing automation: This is what SiteCore offers itself, so be extra critical of this trend. What is Marketing automation? Good question! Marketing automation is the orchestration of Big Data in all channels (ie Omnichannel) for a customized experience per customer. In fact it is very simple: think of your turnover. How do you get more sales? More quotes. How do you get more quotes? More visitors on your quote page. How do you get more visitors there? More traffic to your website. Helping your customer in the customer journey is what I call CRM, where the final step is a long-term relationship. With marketing automation you personalize the content and promotions to help your customers a step further ... automatically. For that you need: Big Data. Funnily enough, Big Data was the trend in previous years, and now it is no longer a goal but a means. The approach is to map the customer journey of your customers and to continue to improve point by point. Standard e-mails become more personal, the subject rules and content are AB-tested, the impact of the e-mail on the total journey is calculated.
5. Social media integration: also a hobbyhorse from SiteCore, but a good point. The point is to recognize social media as an official channel and to include it in the overall omnichannel strategy. So: Big Data with Marketing Automation ensures Personalization and therefore better Customer Experience. How? Not only send but also really help and maintain relationship. As customers become more social, the face of your company becomes more social. 

Interpret the online digital trends for this year from SiteCore yourself? Request the report here.