Digital Marketing Predictions For 2016

Last week saw WISH Digital at Bettys Tearooms in Harrogate where we held our first digital marketing seminar, aimed at offering advice and up to date information on how companies can get the most out of their online presence, in particular focusing on our digital marketing predictions for 2016.

Thanks to those of you who joined us, it was great to see you all and we hope you took away some useful information. For those of you who weren’t able to make it, read on to find out what you missed!

The seminar commenced with the following Google video about landing pages and confusing user journeys:

We were delighted to be joined by Sean Moore from Google Partners, who has been invaluable in assisting us and our clients build stronger and more impactful online campaigns. He gave us his top digital marketing predictions for 2016 and confirmed his commitment in supporting Wish Digital in answering any queries our clients may have.

Director of Wish Digital, Chris Kell, hosted the free event and spoke for around 40 minutes on a variety of topics. Kicking off with an overview on where we are currently, it was interesting to note that ‘The world has more mobile screens than humans!” According to the Brookings Institution, the number of cellular connections across mobile devices is 7.5 billion in 2015 – more than the 7.1 billion people in the world.

Everywhere you go now, and in every situation, you will see those around you on their mobile devices. At the restaurant during a meal, in the bus queue, on the train, in bed, at home watching TV. Seemingly, on average, we check our phones 150 times a day! People are online all the time, 24/7.

Mark Zuckerberg’s new venture at Internet.org was explored, as the initiative aims to give regular internet access to almost two thirds of the world that don’t currently have it. The below video clip illustrates their ambitious plans, with solar powered planes flying for months at a time, transmitting the internet to remote areas:

Google Now is changing the way people use search, voice searching is a particular focus of Google, so a digital marketing prediction for 2016 is that this is in turn altering the information Google need from websites – webmasters must alter how they provide relevant data to Google. This topic proved very interesting as whilst Google are driving voice search, virtual assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, are also becoming common and widely accepted technology, so all around us, voice activated devices are becoming accepted technology.

So, with all of the internet access we have, and the future expansion of the ‘world wide web’, it’s no surprise that you need to make sure that your customers have easy access to information via on the go devices and not just via their desktop. To catch the customer you need to be right there when they are searching for a business, supplier, product or outlet, wherever they are.

To do this you need to:

• Anticipate when your audience may need or want you or your services
• Ensure your website provides a great user experience
• Deliver the right options in Google search results – use the Google tools available
• Be in the right places when advertising

Chris went on to discuss how you can optimise your website for the future and keep ahead of the game.  Along with being mobile-friendly, you need to look at things from the perspective of your users, focus your efforts on making their experience quick and seamless. Check page titles, meta descriptions, page structure, menus and URLs. Do you have great content, have you considered voice search and Google’s Knowledge Graph?

Sean’s presentation focused very much on Google’s ‘Micro-Moments’ view on mobile and search. It’s these micro-moments that businesses must think about for future success online, being there at the exact point someone needs information related to your products or services. Local search is intertwined with this concept, so for businesses reliant on location based business, micro-moments are a very important topic to investigate.

So, lots of digital marketing predictions to think about! Both Chris and Sean discussed the range of tools available from Google and how to use some of these to further your campaign.

Other topics discussed included SEO and what elements you should ensure are covered to maximise your business potential. Along with this Chris discussed wider digital marketing campaigns and how make the most of online budgets. If you’re going to be using Social Media then the importance of defining your strategy to establish what you want from these platforms before you start. Our own ‘TrickOrTweet’ campaign, combining offline and online marketing channels proved a great case study for social media marketing – with users uploading images and videos to Twitter and YouTube in response to the Wish Agency campaign.

Getting on-board with or revitalising your digital strategy may seem a bit daunting. It is a constantly evolving area but there are basics you can start with that will get you on the right track. Here at Wish we’re here to help make it all a bit simpler so if you weren’t able to join us and would like to learn more, give us a call or look our for our next seminar.

We look forward to hearing from you.