Top 6 Trends for 2006 Internet MarketingThere's always too much hype out there about "the next big thing" in Internet Marketing. Separating the true signal from the static is critical so you don't waste time and money on projects that add little or nothing to your bottom line. But, of course, you do want to stay at least one step ahead of your competition. 2006 marks my 13th year in this Internet Marketing business. Over the years, I've developed a pretty good nose for what's real and what's vapor. Below are my 6 trends for Internet Marketing in 2006. I hope they help you better spend that most valuable of assets, namely, your time. Trend #1 - RSS? Yes, but... Like many technologies, Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is taking off a few years after its introduction. It's good for lots of things, such as:
But, I do not see RSS as the second coming for advertising. I don't know why it is that every new technology is always seen as the next vehicle for ads. I also don't see RSS replacing email, although it will augment existing communication channels like email, print, websites, etc. Trend #2 - Podcast Means "Narrowcast" "Podcast" was voted the 2005 Word of the Year by New Oxford American Dictionary. That's all well and good, but as Internet Marketers, how do we employ this technology for marketing purposes? Podcast technology is another good example of something that has been around for years and is just now gaining traction. MP3 files are not new. What is new is the ability to timeshift them onto an iPod/MP3 player and go mobile with the content. That's cool. But really, how many people are downloading the podcasts to portable players? Other than music (and music videos), my bet is most of these sound files are being listened to on either desktop or laptop computers. Of course, it's hard to measure this, which is why many ad budgets will pass podcasts by. This doesn't mean you shouldn't develop podcasts as part of your marketing plan. But do think hard about the payback you expect. Your biggest marketing pop may be in the press release you send out about your newly launched service. I notice that the length of many of these podcasts is interminable. My sense is they should be, well, pods - short modular chunks that people can listen to sequentially or in short bursts (as they get in and out of the car, for example).
Trend #3 - Email Marketing - The Tower of Babble First off, protect your domain's authenticity by adding your SPF text record to your DNS. More receiving mail servers are looking to see if the sending server's IP address is on record before passing the email through to the recipient. After that, you've got other decisions you'll want to make about SenderID and the myriad other protocols inbox providers and ISPs are now starting to employ. It was hoped that all these companies would settle on one standard. That doesn't seem to be happening. So, if you are a legitimate marketer, you may have to employ multiple protocols (read more money) in order to increase your deliverability. This is where that "Tower of Babble" analogy comes in. BTW, the cleaner your list is, the more emails will be delivered. Trend #4 - Video Downloads Will Be Huge Video downloads are already hitting the Internet like a house of fire. There have been over 3 million video downloads from iTunes since the introduction of this service on October 12, 2005. Different pricing models are emerging. Right now, people are paying $1.99 for that missed episode of Desperate Housewives. The image shows in a small screen, and the resolution isn't nearly as good as what you see on TV. However, what you do have is the control to timeshift the program, and therein lies its primary value. BTW, we downloaded a TV show to answer the burning question, "Does the download contain the commercials or not?" It didn't. Elsewhere on the web, you can download entire movies, including recent releases like March of the Penguins or Aviator, but it will take quite a while on a DSL or cable connection to download a full-length movie, and you still have the issues of lower resolution and small viewing area with which to contend. Once downloaded, you have 24 hours of access to that file from the time you begin to watch the movie. Thanks to Matt Lederman for his help on this trend. What about online video for commercial messaging? You can expect backward-thinking ad execs to propose feeding TV commercials online now. Years ago, I recall those very same traditional ad execs saying the Internet would not be a viable marketing medium until there was enough bandwidth to send commercials to the end user. Right, people will download that which they fast forward over on TV. Get a clue. Where I see video on the Internet containing commercial content working is in extended demonstrations. These may come from Home Depot by way of how-to videos with appropriate product placements, or they may be direct from the manufacturer or cataloger such as Black & Decker or L.L. Bean. They will help the serious buyer who's trying to make up his or her mind.
Trend #5 - Newspapers Get Bold They have to. Young folks aren't picking up newspapers the way previous generations did. What's more, the newspapers' classified ad business is being cannibalized by sites like Craig's List and HotJobs.com. Keep an eye on Google Base in this area. It's rough now, but my guess is they'll tune it up lots this year. So newspapers have to do something. Certain companies get emboldened when the chips are down. Internet stats show newspaper sites are major local hubs. The challenge for many newspapers will be how to realistically monetize their websites. They must do more than bring traffic there. In many cases, this will mean re-grooving the salespeople who have become way too used to selling only the print ad space and throwing in the website as a "value-add." This type of thinking will have to change. Trend #6 - Multidimensional Marketing At the time of writing, there are many new and exciting applications that have far-reaching implications for Internet Marketing. The use of online maps and the subsequent overlay of datasets over those maps is one vivid example. You can look at a map of a geographic area and see what properties are available for sale or rent. Or you can get a handle on where in the world visitors to your website come from. Find WiFi hotspots or dead zones for cellular networks. These are early examples. Stay tuned. We'll be covering these sites in upcoming issues of Web Digest For Marketers. The layering of visual data like maps with numeric data will be a boon to marketers and market researchers alike. Things are getting very interesting in this Internet marketing business. Traditional media never did accelerate with innovation like the Internet does. Better reception or color TV took longer to evolve and were more predictable improvements. While the velocity of innovation is many times greater for Internet Marketing than any other marketing channel, it doesn't mean that which came before it is finished. In previous years, I recall many saying the Web is dead or email marketing is dead, neither of which came true -- nor are apt to in the foreseeable future. One mistake many marketers make is to assume their target audiences are adopting new technologies at the same rate they are. This is a classic mistake for many marketers. Don't you make it. That's it. I hope the above 6 trends serve you well in this new year. We will cover all of these trends and others extensively in upcoming issues of Web Digest For Marketers. If you're not already subscribed, you can sign up at http://www.wdfm.com. Cordially, Larry Chase, Publisher: Web Digest For Marketers
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