Digital Marketing: 12 Predictions and Resolutions for 2014

by Darryl K. Taft

Digital marketers will reduce their reliance on IT departments, thanks to new cloud-based technologies that empower marketers to manage their own solutions and launch more revenue-generating campaigns faster and easier.

Investing in costly and time-consuming back-office data integration projects will cease to be a big headache for marketers who will start streamlining their online data unification by getting the unified data directly from the source.

2014 will see the transition from “data analysts” to “data activists” as marketers place more focus on marketing applications that enable them to take action to increase results, as opposed to offerings that only provide more reports and more trends.

Online marketers will increasingly view tag management as the foundational layer of their digital marketing technology stack because it allows for simplified deployments of online solutions, creates a standardized “data layer” across all vendors, and can be used to fuel existing digital marketing applications with highly targeted, enriched customer data.

The realization of true integration where marketers can successfully unify and leverage their cross-vendor data to provide more personalized and relevant customer experiences will become a reality in 2014. Gone are the days of marketing in silos.

Mobile marketing will see increased adoption by marketers, given the availability of new tools that make it easier to measure and optimize user interactions with mobile Websites and apps, as well as correlate the user experience across other digital touch-points. New technologies will also make the deployment of these solutions easier than ever.

Marketers will be more agile, especially through key holiday periods where traditional IT-mandated “code freezes” can be appropriately navigated via new technologies that allow marketers to continue deploying new campaigns without relying on traditional release cycles.

For too long, marketers have heard about the promise of big data without being able to capitalize on it. The secret is not in focusing on collecting an ever-growing silo of data, but in being able to solve the big data challenge at the source, and take action with that data to improve customer acquisition and retention. In 2014, vow to turn big data into big action.

Most marketers are familiar with A/B testing landing pages, banner creative, etc. This year, vow to use new deployment tools to help you test different vendors’ solutions against each before signing an agreement. This ensures you are using best-of-breed solutions that fit your digital marketing needs and prevents you from being locked into to a particular vendor.

Every year, digital marketers get iced during the holiday season because of the traditional IT-mandated “code freeze,” which prevents marketers from using new solutions or changing important analytics data points. This year, resolve to stay agile during the most important shopping period of the year so you can maximize results.

For too long, marketers have been operating in marketing silos, unable to leverage important customer data across vendors and platforms. That has all changed, allowing marketers to engage in true integrated marketing for the first time. This leads to improved financial results and consistent cross-channel customer experiences.

Every year, we hear the same thing: Marketers need to engage their customers on both Web and mobile channels. Every year, that mandate seems to fall by the wayside. 2014 will be different, however, as new tools and technologies make it possible to engage customers and measure their interactions across digital touch-points, including mobile Websites and mobile apps. Marketers should vow to make this year the year they truly go mobile.