2015 Marketing Communication Predictions

It wouldn’t be right to not have a blog on predictions for marketing and communication trends in 2015, so here you go! Here are what I think will be the top areas which all communications professionals should be aware of. Let me know if you have any others you think should be included…

TOP 2015 MARKETING COMMUNICATION TRENDS

Video will flourish

Videos are now not just for fun, video will be a key way for marketing professionals and brands to engage with and gather the trust of their audiences. Creative brands will come forward with sharable and standout content. Innovative equipment such as Go Pros will increase in usage and technical ability, and those who don’t get involved will get left behind! 2015 is the year for more exciting video developments…

Increased importance and cost of social advertising

Anyone can be on social media however, results are not guaranteed, nor are they free! You have to pay for everything in life, and this medium is no different. Brands will need to shell out more on platforms such as Facebook and manage their channels better  to see a return on investment and engagement statistics which are worth shouting about.

Facebook fan pages took a hit last year as the ‘reach’ drastically decreased. This year, Facebook will also start banning over promoted posts and start basing it more around organic engagement. Simply, if you want exposure, you will have to pay.

Real-time marketing will be even more crucial

We saw the headline actions of big brands last year who caught the attention surrounding their effective and quick thinking real-time marketing, and this year, brands will need to be thinking the same. Brands reactive teams are growing to hold the demand for real-time marketing. Be bold and be standout.

Personalise me!

With the vast amount of ‘big data’ brands are collecting, there will be a time when consumers can personalise the products they buy, the things they watch or the way things are done. On the other hand, brands may look to personalise their messages to each individual consumer, we saw elements of this during Wimbledon and other events last year. Brands and organisations have realised it doesn’t take an unrealistic workload to achieve this result.

Mobile madness

Some believe that usage of the internet from mobile devices will increase and overtake desktop usage by the end of 2015 meaning brands need to be mobile savvy. Therefore, one thing is pretty certain, more and more investment will be made in mobile marketing and app development over the coming 12 months.

Influencers will be more important than ever

With increased noise online, targeting and speaking with key influencers is becoming more and more important. Celebrities and sports personalities, all the way to top Instagram profiles, are ever more in the media eye and visible online therefore making them an attractive target for brands to get messages to their key audiences.

 

Let’s Focus on 2013

Check out my recent blog on Hatch Communications Blog, or read below! Let me know what you think.

…Well, what a year 2012 was! It was bursting full of big events with the Jubilee and the Olympics certainly dominating the media platform and keeping us PR professionals very busy.

Is 2013 missing that crucial event? Or is being ‘Olympics-free’ more liberating for PR’s? We think it will open the doors to new communications strategies and campaigns and with this freedom, it lets PR’s forge their own narrative. It will however be a difficult task, especially with the economic climate still on tenter hooks and the lack of a major events for brands to link into. It will also be a tasking job to generate the nation’s sentiment but, with the right tactics, brands and PR’s can hit those headlines.

With big events lacking during 2013, us PR and Comm’s professionals can focus our time on growing themes and technologies which are continuing to quickly develop, such as the increased use of mobile marketing. For brands, this has not only created another platform for communication, it has also increased the importance for them to have updated websites and creatively-targeted campaigns – the multi-channel opportunity is more important than ever! It also means that consumers are available for experimental activity from brands at any time of the day and any location – leaving open another avenue for PR’s to explore.

As the traditional press continue to be the subject of increasingly major changes structurally and reductions in resources, journalists are becoming more targeted with what they print in order to help their publication survive the unstable environment. A landscape very unfamiliar to the years where brands messages could be seen in the forefront of major PR stories.

On the other hand, consumers are becoming more and more savvy with brands and diluting messages they don’t want to see or hear. They are also becoming increasingly interested in what goes on behind the scenes of major brands and with the access to self-publishing through social media channels this is much easier. Consumers are also pushing brands to become even more transparent than first expected. This generates challenges and new opportunities for PR professionals, as brands can now interact even more closely with their fans and audiences. If done correctly using mirco-targeted campaigns then this can open doors for great PR campaigns.

PR’s mustn’t also forget that stakeholders need to be taken into account even more in 2013, as more and more realise how their financial concerns are affected by people’s perceptions. It is not something which can be easily tamed, and if a corporate reputation is not managed well it can be a dangerous environment to deal with.

So whatever 2013 brings to us in terms of the media environment to major national events, the PR industry certainly has many opportunities to cut through and make an impact for their brands. Keeping on top of new trends is just one job for the year ahead!

Day in the Life of Sir Richard Branson

My day with … Sir Richard Branson, when he paid a visit to the Miami ePrix on the 14th March 2015 and spent the day cheering on the Virgin Racing team.

Welcome to Miami

Before the race in Miami, we headed to South Beach to explore the top sites and reflect on the race ahead… #VirginRacing

Furuasiyya FEI Nations Cup 2014

British Pilot wins Red Bull Air Race