Experts Outline Key Digital Marketing Trends for 2014

by Ben B.

*The following article originally appeared on The Guardian on December 6th, 2013 by Adam Davidi* As we look ahead to the new year, we asked five marketing experts for their big trends in digital marketing for 2014. Here's what they came up with: Joby Russell, marketing director, Confused.com Twitter and TV: After a well administered flotation, Twitter will increase their sales focus in the UK and court investment from major brands. In particular, those brands with significant broadcast budgets as they promote the power of the platform to amplify TV spend. The emergence of new platforms to allow advertisers to now link TV spots to tweets is testament to Twitter's ambition to link these two mediums in a way that commercialises the platform without seemingly making it too intrusive to users. Over 90% of all online, TV-related conversations are now taking place on Twitter and the platform will continue to explore ways to make this commercially viable in 2014. John Barnes, managing director digital and tech, Incisive Media Data: 2013 has seen enormous changes in the digital advertising landscape through the importance now being placed on first party data. This will present a tremendous opportunity for media owners in 2014 and in particular those that invest in premium content, because despite the hype, content builds high value audiences and is the engine room of first party data. It is the publishers mojo. Roisin Donnelly, corporate marketing director, Procter & Gamble UK/Ireland Multi-channel marketing: As multi-channel becomes mainstream, there are exciting opportunities in marketing communications and ebusiness. Retailing innovations pioneered in the UK across online and mobile are world-leading and the UK remains a creative hub for marketing and communications innovation. But we have more work to do to really harness the power of multi-channel; to become more seamless in bringing the online experience in-store and the in-store experience online. We need to integrate communications across multiple platforms so that digital will drive in store purchase and in store research will drive to online sales. Next year is about finding the multiplier effect in a multi-channel, multi-media world. Scott Logie, strategic marketing director at St. Ives plc and chair, Direct Marketing Association UK Digital retail: My prediction is that 2014 will be the year that retail and digital finally become bedfellows after all the flirting. With the high street retailers feeling more positive, money will be spent on making shops work harder to connect the customer to the online store and offers. In-store mobile connection will put the fun back into shopping and allow customers to buy in-store or online for free home delivery. And finally …. just like that end story on the news, the cute pet gets everyone interested and 2014 will see pets take over social media. You'll be purring with delight. Brian Streich, international marketing director, StubHub Integrated marketing: It's not enough to be coordinated across channels for a campaign; marketers must work together to understand how one impacts the other and how customers engage with your brand. For example, direct response channels need to work closely with social and brand to ensure we're leveraging content or campaigns and understanding the ancillary value. The line from traditional to digital marketers has blurred and the current trend shifting to mobile where conversions are lower, we need to move away from a channel focused view, we need to become holistic marketers otherwise we risk being left behind.