GUEST POST: What the future holds for digital and brand communications in 2014

This latest guest post comes from digital tech professional Johnny McGinley, who shares his own predictions about the changing landscape of the industry in the not-too-distant future, and suggests digital communications will soon become less about Big Data and more about understanding social science.

They say it is always a dangerous game to predict the future.  But in the digital tech world the rate of change is so fast that we can almost become fixated with the future.  As digital tech professionals, we are always looking for the next big trend and technology in order to keep up.

I believe that truly meaningful digital communications by brands is more about people and social science and less about technology. As the social science of how people engage online with brands constantly changes, the corporate must invest further in it in order to stay relevant to audiences.

However, from a digital content and engagement strategy perspective, we do of course need to focus both on future digital technology trends and also how social science and people’s social interactions online with brands are changing with that.

Below I offer my predictions for key sectors of the digital marketing industry in 2014, and explain how they may shape how consumers act online and in the mobile digital world.

1.      The continued rise of big data

Big data will continue to rise in importance for brands in 2014.  As it does consumer awareness about privacy issues and how their data is being used is likely to also rise in direct correlation to the growing interest by brands in Big Data. Demonstrating value to the consumer in exchange for them sharing it with brands will be key.

With IBM estimating that 90% of the world’s data has been generated in the last 2 years that means there is a lot of data for brands and industry sectors to analyse!  Remember too that the real business value of big data is when it is integrated deeply into marketing and brand communications campaigns.  This is likely to see more Data Analyst posts within Marketing and Corporate Communications departments.  The reason for this is because brands will want to integrate big data insights into their brand communications and digital marketing efforts.  I think it makes sense in many ways to integrate traditional ICT disciplines or roles like Data Analysts, web designers, app programmers and SEO specialists into Marketing and Communications teams.  It helps achieve more consistent and integrated corporate communications for a brand.

As both investment and focus on big data by brands grows so too will there be a growing focus on measurement and evaluation in the big data arena. In a volatile and fragile global economy proving value for investment is becoming more critical at board and SMT (Senior Management Team) level in brands.  Indeed that is the way social media went.  If you think back first social media became “trendy” then there was the mainstream adoption phase by brands and businesses and now one of the main areas of focus on social media is measurement and evaluation.  Senior Executive buy in has become key but senior executives also increasingly now want to be able to prove the investment of time and effort by them in social media is impacting positively on the bottom line. Big data will go the same way as social media I think.  As mainstream adoption and focus on big data increases so too will we start to see more focus on proving the investment of time and effort into big data by brands is having a positive impact on the bottom line.

2.      The continued growth of mobile and video

Communication is becoming more visual and bite-sized.  The evidence of that is the growth we have seen in infographics and online video.  In 2014 as Smartphone penetration globally continues to increase this will help fuel increased growth and interest in mobile marketing. This will be particularly true for the high street retail sector and I think 2014 will be the year we see serious investment and interest in mobile by high street retail brands.  As consumers switch to online shopping senior management begin to focus more on the future of their high street retail stores. This I think may potentially become the catalyst that leads them to taking an increased interest in mobile marketing.

In the high street retail sector the huge opportunity and value of mobile marketing rests largely in proximity marketing technology. Think about Apple iBeacon that has just been released.  It is beginning to attract interest as awareness of the technology spreads. That will likely continue in 2014.  Brands will watch uses of this technology and its impact closely – particularly within the retail sector.  It is of course still very much early days but I think there can be no doubt that in 2014 this field will hot up.

In terms of how this may shape people’s interactions in the mobile digital world, increased Smartphone adoption by consumers is likely to see an increase in online mobile shopping.  Optimising a brands retail site for mobile will become business critical.  Proximity marketing technology will lead to a more interactive and targeted in store retail experience.  But for it to be truly interactive and sustainable I believe it will require meaningful two-way engagement.  The consumer will have to respond and engage with in store mobile marketing communications technology.

As in store mobile marketing technology is by and large a relatively new area 2014 is likely to see brands focusing their energy and resources on promoting adoption and two-way engagement.  We need to get that sea change in the mind of the consumer first so that they adopt mobile proximity marketing technology and consent to it. During 2013 we saw an increased focus on privacy for EU citizens. Consumers on the whole have generally become more privacy conscious throughout 2013.  This trend is likely to continue in 2014.  The privacy implications of Mobile Marketing will need to be given careful consideration by brands and any necessary consumer consent secured.

3.      2014 will be the year of increased focus on integrated communications

Social media would lead to the death of traditional media.  That was a common belief as social media took off.  Yet has it?  Certainly social media has undoubtedly resulted in a decline in traditional media BUT it has not resulted in its death entirely.

So what does this mean for brands in 2014?  It means that traditional media cannot be ignored. We cannot focus all our energies in digital. And so what does that mean?  I believe it means what we increasingly need is a more integrated approach to digital and traditional media as well as brand communications in 2014.

We need to blend traditional and digital marketing communications together in increasingly creative and innovative ways.  That is one way we gain competitive advantage and resource efficiency in the digital age. It is where opportunity lives.

As social media, digital and mobile communication technologies and channels grow in number (due to digital communications technology constantly and rapidly evolving and advancing) integrating digital, mobile and traditional media communications together in a uniquely strategic mix for a brand to gain distinctive competitive advantage from that will start to increasingly business critical.  In 2014 my sense is the age of integrated communications is likely to grow because of that.  Strategically speaking in today’s volatile, sensitive and uncertain global economy branding and corporate communications needs to be increasingly deeply integrated across channels – if not for resource efficiency as much as anything else.

Instead of seeing agencies that just do social media could 2014 be the year that we see more integrated agencies?  My definition of which would be a one stop shop agency who have staff skilled in digital marketing, social media, advertising and corporate communications. They can offer their clients an integrated solution.  We already have them of course but are they set to grow in 2014? The age of the social media only agency is coming to an end because social media to be truly effective increasingly needs to be integrated with other digital marketing methods.  It is one piece of the jigsaw puzzle now rather than the whole jigsaw puzzle.  As communications increasingly goes that way growth of the integrated agency is likely.