Watching the Trend Watchers Are you reading all those blogs and articles to search 2014 tech trends. Do you have a clue what to plan for to make it a successful 2014 !? Throughout the year, I monitor and share on what’s happening in the world of digital technology, especially the fastest growing technology up till now, mobile technology. At the year’s end and the aftermath of CES in the begin of the year, I analyze the data to find the common denominator for future trends. My take on 2014 after watching the trend watchers ? The impact of the new digital technologies (i.e mobile and social) has been underestimated. The rise of mobile is undeniable and as such also even more trend watchers all rush into declaring 2014 the year you better take mobile serious...as a company. As a consumer we can just wander why they just get it now since who’s buying a PC or laptop these days !? Mobile technology is closely followed by the upcoming consumer power of social networks. And third, in watching the trend watchers, undoubtedly in mobile technology we will see new competition for the smartphone… Wearable hardware will go mainstream in 2014 ! So taking the hardware side of mobile tech. I personally think we will see mobile and social media integrating (even more), creating new consumer platforms where consumers flock to join racks to communicate and exchange their daily life events. As mentioned in a previous blog, brands and their ‘corporate guardians’ (marketing) will have a hard time in placing safe bets for their corporate marketing dollars. Not only the new mobile-social platforms (e.g. snapchat) will grow dramatically fast because of Generation Y and Generation Z looking for new challenges defining their own (social) life (being different from their parents). Existing major social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube. Twitter will keep growing and maturing, making it for specific brands an even more interesting platform to place more, risk-averse, marketing-spent . So the marketing challenge is a multi-multi challenge (multi-screen, multi-platform, multi-digital channel, multi-digital media) and the challenge intensifies and will call on more and different capabilities and tools into the marketing practices. Three years ago the 10 best practices in the new marketing book ‘Go Mobile’ were SMS, MMS, apps, 2d QR, ad display, paid search, location based marketing, mobile websites and tablets. Main drivers for these strategic changes are the mobile devices. And they will be. Smarter Marketing Although there is nothing wrong with the abovementioned 10 mobile marketing practices, Appsolute Value rather emphasize the opportunity to leverage the word ‘Smart’ into your marketing activities and campaigns for 2014. Smart devices provide customers with intelligence (maybe even power), self-control and much wanted great experiences. ‘Smarter Marketing’ enables marketers to render those marketing attributes and this is likely to grow while more sensors are being built into devices and more devices are getting smarter, moving towards to the Internet of Things. Appsolute Value, the pure mobile agency used by larger companies and small businesses, not only monitors mobile trends, it loves to create new, engaging mobile practices. I preview hundreds of apps on the job at Appsolute Value and blog about them. Especially those which hold business functionality, redefine business processes to ease operations or are great examples using mobile from a more effective media perspective. In our view, all lead to better companies. Just a few months back the featuring mobile practices were called ‘innovative’. Now we have bundled them to what we think are the mobile marketing practices for 2014. The common denominators here are mostly cool apps driven by interactive, sensor-driven hardware! We think of them as truly mobile practices since they use smart sensors as smart tools to create great mobile marketing campaigns with wow-experiences. The sensors are your new tools for a new marketing mix to increase customer engagement with your products or even better your brand. So in the end the true value of these mobile practices is that they will deliver against your (hopefully) newly (to be) defined marketing objectives. For mobile it should at least contribute to a better customer service, sales growth and an increased market reach through interactive conversations. Last but not least we will continue advising clients to building those great mobile experiences to as much mobile platforms as possible. Beyond Android & iOS. As we state over and over again; Donot leave a customer behind.
