5 Online Marketing Predictions for 2016

Marketing in 2015 moved fast and it felt like every week a new update, new piece of hardware, new software, new startups or new tool was released. It is an exciting world for anyone who is keen to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, and 2016 is looking to continue at a similar pace. This article reviews some of the up-coming trends in 2016 that are expected to make things interesting in the online marketing world.

Mobile will Dominate

The last year was huge for mobile. Mobile traffic surpassed desktop in many countries around the world and Google released their Mobilegeddon algorithm update in April, a change designed to penalize websites considered non-mobile friendly. The result of these changes is a mobile-first state of mind for many forward thinking businesses. As user's develop a much more fragmented user journey involving several touchpoints, developing a multi channel strategy with a heavy focus on mobile is very important.

App Indexing

App indexing came into the spotlight in 2015, despite being around for a while, and it is bound to become an even more prominent feature of online marketing in 2016. There are many predictions that suggest that the mobile web will soon be exceeded by mobile apps and with this will come a gradually more complex ranking system for apps. This won't likely happen in 2016, but a steady adoption of apps by many more business owners will be a trend.

#Wearable Tech2016 will be an exciting year in terms of wearable tech and how businesses will manipulate the data produced from old and new wearable devices. Consumers, particularly millennials are looking for devices that are more forthcoming with information to help them improve their daily lives. Wearables will begin to change the landscape of digital by offering more personalised experiences for users based on their data. Instead of app notifications, businesses could use wearable devices to notify users when they are close by to a store hosting a sale and so on.

Marketing Automation

Next year marketers are expected to get much more intricate with their campaigns, targeting users with a much more personalised outreach. Why? Because the user has grown to expect this, and brands will find that users only click, and respect, ads that appeal to them on a personal level. The tools will be there to help too and as their algorithms develop and advance, marketers will be able determine the optimal time to deliver and message individuals to drive the highest conversion rate.

Video Advertising

Video advertising is nothing new, however now that Google is contemplating video advertising within SERP results, it is certainly more and more valuable. Naturally this aligns with the fact that Google owns youTube, and also that users are becoming more comfortable with video advertising. It will be interesting to see how video advertising throughout 2016.

So there we have it, our predictions for 2016. Do you have your own predictions? Share them with us below.