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3 Surprising Marketing Trends Businesses Should Own In 2017

  • by , Op-Ed Contributor, February 2, 2017

Last year proved to be an innovative year for marketers, with new tools like Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat bringing them closer to their customers than ever before. But what do businesses need to do in 2017 to keep their product top of mind?

In addition to embracing video platforms on social media, to stay ahead of the curve, marketers would do well to incorporate mobile surveys, emojis (that's right—emojis), and micro-targeted ads on Facebook into their 2017 strategy.

Ten percent of the world's $18.9 billion market research spend is allocated to online surveys in the U.S. alone. With so much money at stake, the best and quickest way of garnering quick and comprehensive consumer insight is through mobile phones. Mobile surveys (like the self-service ones at www.pollfish.com) can quickly influence consumers in their micro-moments with relevant content. The speed at which mobile surveys yield insights also allow brands to pivot quickly and improve their offerings in a scrappy and effective way.

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In addition to capturing customer insights via mobile phones, did you know you can order a pizza on Twitter with a pizza slice emoji? Welcome to simpler times. No longer just a cute add-on to text messages, these little symbols are giving brands a powerful way to deepen their connection to consumers.

Peer-to-peer sharing of emojis and stickers is where the future of marketing is headed, so marketers could benefit by developing custom emojis (on platforms like www.mojilala.com) that are relevant to the brand and that consumers can actually use. An emoji-friendly strategy allows brands to be a part of daily communication, one emoji at a time. 

And finally, placing ads on Facebook is old hat to any seasoned marketer—but how do you get the most bang for your buck in a seamless way that doesn't annoy your end consumer? What I refer to as "Inception PR" is a real thing that can be used to pre-seed content and "warm" up media leads for earned opportunities—all through the use of micro-targeting. By pinpointing their desired audience on Facebook, marketers can yield more results than they could by trying to reach the vast majority (the old "spray and pray" approach). 

The year 2017 promises to be an exciting year in the marketing space—possibly even more exciting than 2016. When deployed in conjunction with the latest developments in video-based sharing, mobile surveys, emojis, and "Inception PR" can deliver hard-hitting results with a lower market spend than ever.

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