For many owners and their businesses, every year is a time to reflect on the business trends that tend to shape the corporate world. You can never fully know what the future will bring, and spotting the business trends that truly mattered can be difficult. Here we will discuss some of the most insightful trends that may not just define 2017, but for years to come.

Video Content

Even though this trend has existed for quite some time, video content has become extremely popular throughout the years and is said to be the future of digital marketing. The web has also seen the rise of live streaming over the past year. Most companies have been able to figure out video content in a traditional shoot-edit-distribute-form, but live streaming your content will give your customers the opportunity to see the action as it is happening. Videos allow your content to be seen in a more real and authentic manner and this encourages viewer interaction. When companies figure out how to make video content work for them, then that will turn far more existing customers into ambassadors for their brand.

Customer Focus

Many businesses became more customer focused with studies showing that customer-centric businesses are 60% more profitable than ones who aren’t. In order to help people become repeat customers you need to give them a higher level of service. Companies must study what their customers consume and how they consume it, and use that information to give them what they want. In the past, marketers would rely on their intuition and creativity, but that is quickly changing. According to a 2016 report from the CMO Council, almost 70% of CEOs now expect CMOs to lead growth. Marketing leaders are now leaning on data for insight with 44% of CMOs stating that they use data to optimize campaigns. Focusing on customer data is allowing marketers set a goal of creating a more holistic view of the customer and helping with effective audience targeting.

Mobile Messaging

In organizations where internal and external communication happens within email, most users will spend much of their day with their inboxes open on their desktops. Collaborative tools such as Slack are replacing email for communication and have surpassed 4 million daily users. This does not mean companies should completely abandon email, but just change the way they think of email. There are three strategies which have started trending that seem to become more effective such as remarketing/remessaging, mobile messaging and app notifications. Since companies are straying away from emails, smart companies will use precision targeting with Facebook and other social media tools to capture their customer’s attention. When it comes to mobile messaging, over 60% of people accessed the Internet via mobile phones, according to web analytics firm StatCounter. This statistic advises that the percent of total global internet usage via mobile has exceeded all desktops for the first time. Customers are responding to instant messages and social media notifications before they even look at emails so it is a business trend to collect phone numbers and set up chat groups in order to invite your community to opt in and engage with your company.

Monitoring business trends is important for any organization in order to be connected to the world around you and to be informed about industry developments that could help your business. Building an authentic relationship with customers will ensure that no matter what happens, you have insight and understanding necessary to make better business decisions.

Founded in 1990, Winn Technology Group is a leading provider of global, multi-channel marketing solutions for the technology industry.   For both direct and channel sales, Winn supports demand creation, account-based marketing, channel management, digital marketing, social media, teleprospecting, lead nurturing, event marketing, database services, and inbound response management.