Are you prepared for the Digital Challenges in 2017?

By Carolin Hyzyk

We’re at the beginning of December and looking in retrospect at 2016, we know that 2017 is going to be a great eventful year for us, our clients and the digital world in general.

Here are some of the things we’re keeping our eyes on for the New Year:

  1. We’re in the mobile age now – We don’t want to mention that mobile has taken over as that has been the case for a while now. At this point in time, one has to emphasize that for some segments the age of desktop has been completely skipped and some have entered the age of mobile directly. The development of mobile apps has now become very popular as business realize the potential of tapping into mobile users.
  2. More than ever it’s the year of videos – We’ve noticed the trend a couple of years back but it’s now very clear that video is emerging as a very strong element in the digital strategy on a day-to-day basis.
  3. Deliver better value in terms of convenience –The successful businesses online are keen to identify what streamlining needs to be done to offer the customer a faster, more accurate and efficient service. This can mean more complexities in the logic and backend but ultimately one needs to ask “What do I need to put on my website to make sure my customer recommends me?” Naturally User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are primary components when one wants to provide a delightful online experience.
  4. The rise of influencers – As more companies engage in content wars, generating a multitude of digital assets, one cannot overlook the ever-important online influencers who can act as a bridge between your organisation and your audience. The first task is recognizing who these are and making sure you get on their radar.
  5. AI gets more prominence – Now it’s time to get excited about AI. AI has been around for a long time, but now a lot of things in the industry are indicating that all is ripe and many applications in 2017 will be featuring more and more artificial intelligence.  Be on the lookout for intelligent Bots embedded with the Apps like Messenger and start thinking how Bots can also help with automating Customer Relationship Management further.
  6. More marketing options – It’s a great time to work in digital marketing with so many options at hand. Comparing our work to that of an agency 20 years ago, it does look like we are very lucky to be able to focus on more engagement with the very precise target market using the likes of remarketing, Facebook Pixel, etc….
  7. Internet of Things – It’s time to get serious about the fact that everyday objects may have constant connectivity to send and retrieve data. In 2017, businesses will become more aware of how IoT can help them reach more customers and provide more value-added services. Beacons will be more widely used.
  8. More Augmented Reality – We’re closely reaching a point where our reality is more frequently infused and enriched with augmented reality. For example a couple of years ago, Zappar was not a widely used, but recently it has gained traction and it now used widely to enhance brand experiences and bring in more fun!
  9. Complex analytics – Customer journeys involving different touch points over different channels and platforms have been one big point of contention for many marketers who are serious about measuring ROI and identifying attribution to conversions. 2017 may just carry this diversity further forward.

As we come closer to 2017, it’s good to have a thorough website check-up, sit back and analyse if your digital strategy is in line with times. You might not need some of the things mentioned here, but it never hurts to be on the lookout on how you can improve your digital marketing stance!

Want to share your thoughts? Would you like to discuss your web presence? Drop us a line here.