Okay, so I'm being a little facetious. Fact is, my crystal ball is styrofoam, but we're already seeing suppliers investing more in marketing at the end of 2009 and that's good news.With all this marketing soothsaying happening around me, I'm compelled to make a prediction:
HR suppliers will invest more in marketing in 2010.
Okay, so I'm being a little facetious. Fact is, my crystal ball is styrofoam, but we're already seeing suppliers investing more in marketing at the end of 2009 and that's good news.
But where are they investing?
I read two articles yesterday - one titled Trends to Watch — All of eMarketer’s 2010 Predictions and the other 10 Online Marketing Trends for 2010 from Entrepreneur. Both of them include similar predictions and trends that are also applicable to the HR marketplace.
I will play addendum revisionist. Mind you that's not the same thing as hobbling the healthcare bill.
First off - my daughter loves Baby Einstein and Baby Genius. Everyday she'll point to the TV and say "dat", which is her way of saying one of two things - "what's that?" and "I want that". And we say "video" and then she giggles up a storm. "Dat - I want that."
Video will continue to grow as a valuable and emotive marketing tool. Whether it be short viral marketing videos that are easy to consume and easier to share across social media platforms, video tutorials for your products and services, video testimonials and case studies, video blogging and video interviews, recruiting videos and employer culture videos - videos will become more prevalent next year. People dig talking pictures.
But doesn't anybody read anymore? And what about search-optimization? From the Entrepreneur article:
Video presents a great opportunity for small-business marketing, but don't think of video as a replacement for text. As powerful as video can be, it can be more cumbersome than text because you can't scan a video as quickly as you can scan a page of headlines, links and text to quickly find the exact information you need. Use your investments to find the right balance for your customers.
I love my iPhone and all the cool stuff it can do. Not so in love with AT&T's network. A contradiction to be sure, but the fact is smart phones of all kinds are on the verge of flooding the market.
Mobile marketing will be bigger and better. And you'd better be a part of it. Ensure your website is mobile friendly, ensure your email marketing campaigns will render properly on mobile devices (text and HTML), test texting as a mobile marketing solution, create smart phone applications that gives users access to your product or service (direct access, taste or a trial). Location-based mobile marketing, like personalized local search, will be on the rise as well.
According to eMarketer:
Mobile ad spending will rise from $416 million in 2009 to $593 million in 2010 as more brands and agencies integrate mobile into their marketing mix. The fusion of mobile and social and the appetite for apps (among both consumers and brands) will continue unabated. In fact, location- and social-aware apps and utilities will be a key avenue for brands looking to engage consumers on the go.
Stop the methodical marketing madness and start a conversation. Get a little messy. It’s real and it works.
That's what I mean by adding social media marketing to your mix. I’m a big fan of the softer outcomes such as familiarity and trust and sharing our valuable content and that of other influencers, customers and prospects. The more familiarity and trust I build with my customers, prospects and influencers, the more valuable my company becomes to them.
Relationship building helps us grow our company. We hear it anecdotally again and again of late from our customers and agency clients.
However, I get the fact that in order to know if your social media efforts are helping your grow your company, you don’t want touchy-feely bunnies, unicorns and rainbows. (Remember, at some point you have to shut-up and sell.)
So while it's good news that more CMO's are investing in social media marketing, I recommend that HR supplier marketers:
Joy to the world of social media marketing!
Other continuing HR marketing trends of note and future blog posts include:
Dat indeed. Happy New Year!
Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!
Labels: marketing and PR, mobile marketing, social media marketing, video marketing