Projecting the Top 10 Internet Marketing Trends for 2010 – Part 2
Let’s continue our journey through the top 10 hottest internet marketing trends in 2010.
6.Email Marketing Makes a Comeback
Not that email marketing ever died, but 2009 saw the rise of the school of thought that email marketing was no longer a relevant tactic. According to Panelists at the Internet Summit 2009, email marketing is the most common tactic used by internet marketers. Email is still considered the number 1 form of communication by a growing percentage of the population.
What to Do?
Don’t think for one second that email marketing is a dying trend. You need to maximize your email marketing efforts by being relevant, planning for the future, as well as understanding your audience and delivering what they want. Do this by first understanding that the dynamic of Email marketing has changed. Bulk email efforts no longer work effectively. However, personalized email efforts do work. I recommend using software like Infusionsoft for getting the most impact on your personalized email campaigns. Email marketing is still one the best ways to communicate directly with the people who buy your products. Continue to build your list and profit from it.
7.Real-Time
Many people have started to compare the increased popularity of the real-time trend to the Web 2.0 trend in 2007. This trend shows us that people expect immediacy, and if you do not provide it, your competition will. Google Wave is an excellent example as it is trying to be a combination of wiki, email, and instant messaging. While the utility of Google Wave has not become mainstream, or completely understood by many, it is an example of what many future technologies will look like.
What to Do?
Don’t fall behind the curve and start planning now. Much of the technology has not become commonplace, but will. Start planning your strategy now so that you will be prepared for when it takes hold.
8.Widget Marketing
Widget marketing has grown by leaps and bounds in the last several months. Widgets are now being used to quickly introduce their services and new products to their readers. A large number of blog oriented services have put a great deal of effort into ensuring that widget marketing will be successful. In addition, you can even enhance your boring Facebook fan page by building a custom widget with Sprout Builder.
What to Do?
Widget marketing will continue to grow in 2010 and could prove to be a very effective means on online marketing. It could also lead to a trend of selling widget space instead of ad space on many blogs and websites. You need to decide early if widget advertising or the use of widgets on your websites could be productive because every marketing trend is most effective when it is new and users have not gotten used to it.
9.Video Search
Right now, videos are searched and sorted by meta tags, titles, and descriptions. In 2010, there is a good chance that technology will start be released that can interpret what the content of the video actually is and images. This will make videos an even more powerful tool for building a brand and gaining recognition within a community. Google and Bing have already taken small steps towards this goal by adding image-recognition to their arsenal. In the long run, this will greatly affect what is being said in a video. The future of designing and scripting a video may very well follow the same guidelines as SEO content writers follow today.
What to Do?
Keep doing what you are doing for video marketing right now. However, start to alter what is being said in the video and optimize it, just like written content. This way, if technology is released sooner rather than later to interpret video content, you will already have videos in place to take advantage of the change. This will keep you much farther than a step ahead of your competition.
10.I Know You… Or I Will Soon
Everyone is a social star in their own right. However, as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and the like continue to grow, every person is creating their own personal brand. As these companies sign over rights to their content to search engines, people will start to notice a voluntary erosion of privacy. With public sharing growing at astronomical rates and the rise of location-based services, anyone can learn anything about everyone. Personal privacy online is a thing of the past.
What to Do?
There are really only two things that you can do. First, you should keep your eye out for a very serious debate to rage about personal privacy online and pay even more attention to the results. If nothing changes, then personal privacy will continue to erode and you will be held accountable for every click that you make online. To this end, plan your actions out far into the future, so you don’t get caught in the crossfire or called out by an angry customer.
2010 holds a lot of promise and could be an exciting year with all of the potential changes ahead. Some of the these changes could continue to enhance Internet marketing, while the effects of others are far from known. Just keep an eye on the ever-changing trends and stay one step ahead of your competition. Happy New Year!
