2012 Online Marketing Trend Predictions

Here are five 2012 marketing trend predictions according to Econsultancy.com.

1. Online marketing will begin to drive in-store retailing. Technology such as Google Wallet and near field communications will allow brands to track the impact of online activity on in-store sales. Google’s paid search for mobile enables brands to serve relevant ads to consumers while they are in the store vicinity, as well as providing directions to the store.

2. Online marketing will be driven by smart multichannel attribution. Many predicted that by 2011, brands would be able to have a complete, single view of their customers. Thanks to improved analytics technology such as Google Funnel, an evolution of Google Analytics, this will soon become a reality.

3. Google may entirely dominate the search market. The current search market share of Google is 90% plus it owns 98% of the mobile search market globally. With over 100 innovations from Google in the past year, Google continues to grow and become a dominant influence on consumers. With 90% current market share (98% for mobile), next year they could well and truly leave Bing and Yahoo! behind.

4. Brands will invest more in getting to know their customers. With the 2012 economy prediction looking gloomy, the demand for discounts is expected to increase again. Some brands will be looking for a stronger promotional strategy. Some clever brands are going beyond offering discounts by offering deeper understanding of their customers’s drive to buy in order to gain loyalty from the customer and maintain a good relationship with them.

5.Facebook won’t master social commerce. Facebook hasn’t been successful in social commerce so far, with Facebook Deals closing only four months after launch. Brands should consider Facebook as a social medium to understand and communicate with customers and to build brand reputation, not as a direct selling tool.

BoxPark next to Shoreditch High Street station

BoxPark is the World’s first pop-up mall, based next to Shoreditch High Street station, just a a minutes walk from our office at The Cube in Spitalfields. It’s opposite Pizza East/Shoreditch House.

It’s a novel idea that looks unique, with an impressive list of brands too, some established and some fresh/innovative organisations like Art Against Knives.

Perhaps there will be more of these in future, I’m unsure how long it will be there or what will be done with the space afterwards.

ABUZE / AMNESTY SHOP / ART AGAINST KNIVES / BOXFRESH / BOXPARK / BUKOWSKI / CALVIN KLEIN / CHOP’D / CRUSSH / CYBER CANDY / DAVID MAYAR NAMAN / DC SHOES / DOCKERS / ETNIES / EVISU / FARAH VINTAGE / FIFTY FIVE DSL / FOXCROFT & GINGER / FRAE FROZEN YOGHURT / GOLA / HOP-NAMO / IRREGULAR CHOICE / KANGOL / LACOSTE L!VE / LEVI’S / LUKE / MARIMEKKO / MEXWAY / NEW ERA / NIKE / OAKLEY / ONE TRUE SAXON / ONEPIECE / ORIGINAL PENGUIN / PALLADIUM / PHAIDON / PIEMINISTER / PLAYFUL PROMISES / PUMA / ROUTE ONE / SMILEY / THE NORTH FACE / URBANEARS / VANS