2011: A Pivotal Year for Marketing

The new year always inspires a wave of industry forecasts that offer varying degrees of inspiration and pithy buzz phrases. Certainly the parade of fairly new gadgets like 3-D TVs, tablet PCs and home videoconferencing systems provide the basis for much trend fodder.

But if we look beyond the new product intros, there are some new realities that could make 2011 a truly pivotal year for the marketing industry:

1. The mass acculturation of digital technology has fundamentally changed our way of life. How we communicate, share information, shop, learn, experience entertainment and even find love has undeniably evolved. These sweeping changes in behavior offer brands more involving ways to create value exchanges with consumers. Moreover, we have more ability to transcend demographics to engage audiences based on behavior and mind-sets.

2. Social media is turning individuals into the most influential media channel. Social media is impacting many aspects of our industry and is fundamentally reshaping the traditional product purchasing funnel. Through social technologies, we are amassing an enormous database of brand reviews that heavily influence product purchasing decisions. Consumers now have instant access to communities to gather information in their evaluation of brands. And we are likely to see the rapid growth of social commerce in 2011, providing Facebook and other social network users with access to special discounts and pricing offers.

Continues at:  2011: A Pivotal Year for Marketing.

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