The hottest Internet marketing trends for 2007
I know it's only November, but I wanted to get a jump on talking about some Internet marketing trends that could make a HUGE impact on your business in 2007.
The Internet marketing trends I'm most excited about are...
- Dividing your audience into highly targeted "segments"--so you can send them information that's WAY more focused to their particular wants and needs
- Spreading the word about your business with viral marketing--especially with video!
- Using direct-to-desktop technology that bypasses email and RSS readers--so you can take your message STRAIGHT to your readers, without having to deal with spam filters or competing feeds
... AND, the mobile market that's already made up of two BILLION consumers--and is still growing fast!
If you want to know what online marketing is going to be like in the near future, just take a look at the nearest group of teenagers. I know it sounds cheesy, but the children really are the future!
Kids today are listening to music they've downloaded onto their iPods... They're text messaging with their friends and sending them photos on their cell phones... They're watching viral videos on YouTube... and they're uploading their own content to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
In other words, they're creating their own personal Web experience. They're building networks of trust. They're eliminating what's irrelevant to them, and pulling in ONLY the content they want.
And that really reflects the changes in how many people are using the Internet. So as marketers, if we want to continue to reach our market, we have to become part of their trusted networks and use these new media tools to take our message to them.
Above all, we have to make sure the messages we're offering our potential customers are HIGHLY TARGETED. We need to speak DIRECTLY to their specific wants and needs, so we don't waste their time by loading them down with unwanted information.
And that boils down to one thing: SEGMENTATION.
I talk about all this stuff in WAY more detail in my latest Marketing Tips Newsletter. Check it out if you've got the time!