Any agency worth their salt has forecast their top 5 (or 10, or 20) corporate communications trends for 2016. And varied as they may be, there are a handful that keep coming back, serving as the backbone for all the greater and smaller trends to watch. From your brand story and how you choose to tell it, to increased security and reliance on the cloud, we’ve selected our top picks for you.
'The traditional sales message is not the only way to gain attention for your brand in 2016. By sponsoring great content, wherever it lives, brands can be associated with genuinely engaging videos, imagery and interactives which work on the platforms their audiences are using. '
Master of the Universe
Where last year content was king, this year it has officially become Master of the Universe. Keyword-laden websites and articles have been in the doghouse ever since Google’s 2011 Panda update, and with the rolling-out of the Hummingbird platform in 2013 even more attention is being paid to each word in a query, ensuring that the whole query – the whole sentence or conversation or meaning – is taken into account, rather than just particular words. The idea being that pages matching the meaning do better in search engines, rather than pages matching just a few words. This has put the onus squarely on producing relevant, interesting content that engages audiences across the board.
Additionally, consumers have become significantly better at spotting the meaninglessness of ‘cheap’ content, recognizing a lack of purpose in your message within seconds and excluding you from the content they wish to consume. Sharper positioning of your brand, the focus of your message, cutting through the clutter, condensed and more to-the-point content is the key to communicating online in 2016. Connecting your inner value system holistically with your audience will increasingly provide guidance and direction for how you create your content: authentic, engaging and from the inside out.
Emotional Marketing
Another big trend in the world of corporate communications is brand storytelling. According to the Brand Storytelling Report 2015 by Headstream, more than a half of consumers are more likely to buy a product if they really love the brand story. People want to hear stories about real humans, stories they can relate to. Relevant stories that speak to consumers make brands meaningful. On top of that, they can go viral, giving brands organic recommendations that are more trustworthy than any other corporate messages. Emotional marketing helps businesses to stand out in the highly competitive market.
Apple, for example, don’t sell computers. They offer a way of thinking and a challenge to the status quo by making their products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. It just so happens that they fulfil this vision by making computers. Coke doesn’t sell softdrinks, they offer happiness, Samsung doesn’t sell mobile phones, they give you emotions and moments. Redefining your marketing strategy in 2016 can change the way people perceive your brand and bring them around to your offer.
Rise of the Social Influencer
That said, customers often trust peer recommendations more than a company’s sales message and curating user generated content (UGC) will become an increasingly important marketing activity. Internet users are more willing to trust a favourite blogger rather than a recommendation from a brand, making bloggers and other social influencers exceptionally powerful in the shaping of consumer opinions. Of course, word of mouth has always been a valuable source for customer acquisition and retention. However, with social media development it moved to a different level.
Conversation Starters
The traditional sales message is not the only way to gain attention for your brand as we move beyond the traditional publisher/advertiser relationship in 2016. By sponsoring great content, wherever it lives, brands are no longer reliant on display ads and banners to generate awareness. Instead, they can be associated with genuinely engaging videos, imagery and interactives which work on the platforms their audiences are using. Sponsoring content associates a brand with the site and topic at hand. Native advertising allows brands to develop their own content which looks and feels like a piece of journalism.
We’ll also see more companies partnering with industry peers and organisations with common goals to share know-ledge, start conversations, work on projects and campaigns together, and to generally increase the breadth of communications within the world they operate in.
Thought Leadership
Hot on the brand story’s heels is the increasing priority of thought leadership. Thought leadership is a newer marketing trend where business leaders and companies position themselves as experts in their area of business, which in turn serves as a great framework for related PR tactics and campaigns. From the publishing of white papers to appearing as a keynote speaker or putting yourself out there on LinkedIn with well-written opinion pieces, thought leadership is fast becoming a great way to get yourself and your company noticed, so make sure you get your story straight, keep your content original and most of all, be engaging.
Continued Shift Towards Mobile
With more communication taking place over the web, traditional communication tools have become increasingly obsolete. In addition to ensuring your business contacts’ information is available at all times, the real benefits of mobile devices are seen in the applications that they run.
According to Techcrunch there are now over 2 billion deskless workers in the global workforce, outnumbering desk workers 3 to 1. Collaboration platforms and productivity applications are supporting this trend towards remote working by allowing staff members to conduct business on the go as long as they have internet access.
These types of tools give employees access to business data and CRM platforms via almost any mobile device. Thanks to the power and versatility of mobile platforms and devices, the increased adoption of enterprise mobility is able to continue without hindering any business processes or negatively impacting employee performance.
Increased Reliance on Cloud-Based Solutions
This increased mobility provides an opportunity for cloud-based communication solutions to prove their worth. Many companies are already employing cloud technology because of its reduced cost and easy implementation. However, leveraging this technology’s capabilities will become necessary for companies who want to remain competitive.
Hosted real-time communications provide a superior business communication solution and integrating this technology with existing CRM software gives client-facing employees, such as sales staff, customer representatives, or office executives, a single place to access client data to manage customer interactions seamlessly. This level of service enhances customer experience while improving business efficiency. It also offers the added benefit of allowing employees to log onto the back-end systems on any device, even if their company-issued hardware is not accessible at that time.
Bigger Emphasis Placed on Enterprise and Cloud Security
While this notion is nothing new, maintaining enterprise-grade security will be as important as ever in 2016. With organizations continuing to migrate towards mobile and cloud solutions, the increased number of associated devices means more potential breakpoints.
Recent high-profile cyber-attacks have highlighted just how exposed any system network can be. The technological progress that continues to provide us with new business tools means that new opportunities continually arise for hackers. Each new technology has its vulnerabilities that must be identified and secured, and the rapidly-changing threats to communication applications require dedicated efforts to ensure the continued integrity of sensitive business communications.
And finally, we predict this won’t be the last set of trend predictions you come across this year!
Sources: smartinsights.com; newsweaver.com; tech.co;
addison-group.net; forbes.com; cotap.com; headstream.com; brandaffairs.com; hotwire.pr.us
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