The Top 10 Marketing Trends That Will Define 2016 [SlideShare]

Glittering glasses and the glowing Time Square ball drop may ring it in with a bang, but partying like it’s 1999 isn’t the only thing that ensues with a new year.

A new year also marks the pivotal point for updating marketing tactics.

Over the course of 2015, there were updates, new strategies, and technologies that changed the landscape of inbound marketing forever.

To stay competitive, adjustments were made and new channels embraced (I’ll be watching SnapChat this New Years Eve) to remain visible and relevant.

But with changes happening every day, how can Marketers plan strategies ahead of time for 2016?

The answer unfortunately is, you can’t! Fortunately, what you can do is look at how the landscape changed over 2015 and make some predictions to where marketing will continue to grow in the coming months.

Marketing firm, V3B, created a great SlideShare presentation with the 10 marketing trends they see that will drive conversions in 2016.

Let’s take a closer look at just a couple of examples of the trends they shared.

Non-Intrusive Advertisements

V3B took a closer look at the recent changes to ad blockers and questioned how it could change the marketing game.

Ad blockers aren’t new (they’ve been on desktops for years), but with mobile usage increasing year over year (the number of smartphone users worldwide will surpass 2 billion in 2016) it has sparked a new debate.

Instead of marketers seeing these changes as a negative, we should be asking ourselves: how we can appeal to consumers in a way they don’t feel compelled to block our ads?

The solution: native advertisements.

Paid ads will need to be constructed to flow naturally with the content of the site it is placed on.

For example, I’m sure you’ve seen those sponsored ads on Facebook (like the Dollar Shave Club below). It’s a paid ad, but it seamlessly flows into my Facebook feed and feels more like a friendly shared post rather than a blatant ad.

For your 2016 strategy, begin to think about how you can use more native ads on your website and social media feeds.

By doing so, you’ll be less intrusive and begin to build a better relationship with them.

Make sure that you follow best practices to develop long-lasting engagement.

Data-Based Decision Making

In their presentation, V3B has marked 2016 as a big year for analytics to be incorporated more into marketing decisions.

They predict that anyone in the C-suite will be looking at marketers for data before, during, and after everything they do to validate the return on their marketing investments.

Which is great ammunition for marketers looking for a bigger budget!

Just remember, there is a difference between data accuracy and data relevance.

In order to really prove to your boss that efforts you’ve been making all year are working, you need to be analyzing the right data.

It’s nice to see you received 2000 more Twitter followers, but how is that impacting marketing ROI or conversions (what the C-suite really wants to know)?

For your 2016 strategy, look back at your 2015 data to better optimize your overall marketing plan. Focus on expanding on what worked well and use those positive data points to make some future strategy suggestions.

Keep reading to view the remaining 8 more trends that as marketers, you should consider incorporating into your 2016 strategies.