As the months of 2014 seem to fall away with ever increasing speed, it’s high time to look to 2015 and, if you haven’t already, begin to consider next year’s marketing strategies in depth. To that end, I wanted to share my thoughts on what I believe will be key trends and some insights into how to build them into your marketing plans.

Creating relevant, useful and customized content can be a very powerful way of keeping your customers engaged, and will continue to be a growing trend in 2015. However, it’s important to tailor content to each marketing channel – from email to social media to print – and be cognizant of the different mindsets and ways in which people interact with brands in each channel. For example, a sales-focused tone on social media can seem jarring, and at worst intrusive. But social media has the potential to be a useful channel for providing value, for example by allowing better customer service communication.

Here at ARTÉMIA, we talk about being in the business of ‘brand articulation’ and content marketing is really the ongoing embodiment of this. For that reason, it’s important to maintain a high quality of content and to be consistent. This can be a challenge for resource-hungry small businesses, but the myriad communications channels that are now available to us mean that we can stay connected with customers throughout the complete lifecycle, so it’s worth considering.

Mobile – Get on It

If mobile is not yet part of your marketing strategy, now is the time to embrace it. Responsive website design is a great functionality that provides optimal user experience whether your website is accessed via mobile, tablet or desktop, and that signals to your customers that you are a modern company with customer experience front-of-mind. Mobile is also great for location-based marketing and highly specific targeting.

Digital is a Must, Not an Option

As I touched on above, with multiple marketing channels we now have the potential for end-to-end communication with our customers. This means it’s crucial not to put digital channels in silos but instead build a truly integrated plan where each channel supports the others in the execution of the overall brand strategy.

Have a Realistic Social Media Plan

Changes earlier this year by Facebook and Twitter to their algorithms mean that businesses will realistically need to pay in order to secure any real customer engagement. I am increasingly of the opinion that Facebook is not necessarily the right place for small businesses, but Twitter and other sites including LinkedIn could have value. A change in mindset, and again getting meaningful, targeted content on these platforms can pay dividends and the good news is, spend is easy to track and change.

For more 2015 planning inspiration, check out these great articles. And of course, we’re here to help! Please do get in touch to discuss how we can support you and together we’ll make 2015 a great year!

Until next time.