URGENT ONLINE MARKETING THAT MUST BE IN YOUR MARKETING GAME PLAN FOR 2015

So often business owners get busy running the day to day business that they forget about the part of their company that brings in 'business', business marketing, as well the digital part of this marketing gets lost in the day to day shuffle! Effectively setting up your Online Marketing Plan is critical for marketing in 2015. What is the most important items to be placed into your online presence & internet branding strategy?

1. FIRST IT'S NOT AN EASY THING TO SWALLOW, BUT BRANDS ARE HAVING TO BECOME EXPERTS AT CONTENT CREATION, authors, and publishers. It is all about the content. And not just regurgitated content, but something people actually want to read. Wheew, and that is difficult. I mean think about it, does anyone like to hear you talk? Do they ever get bored of what your saying? Sure they do!

So it takes focused effort and research to curate up content that is relevant, trending, resourceful and useful to your target market. So before you "type", "publish", "blog", and "post", STOP and think is it relevant, trending, resourceful and useful content? If not don't bother wasting your fingers to type, you'd be better off getting a manicure, at least that would equal something beautiful in the end.

2. AUGMENTED DIGITAL MARKETING & WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS. What?? Yes this is the digital world we live in and people are hyperconnected through the technology available! Augmented Reality is a digital technology that overlays text, images or video over physical objects. At its core, AR provides all types of information such as location, heading, visual, audio and acceleration data, and opens an avenue for real-time feedback. AR provides a way to bridge the gap between the physical and digital experience, empowering brands to better engage with their customers and drive real business results in the process. -Wikipedia

From shoppable windows to products that come alive in your hand; the spheres of augmented reality and physical brick and mortar retail have merged in recent years. (I personally have a pebble watch, it keeps me connected and up to date!) With so many retail brands trying to vie for shoppers attention, consumers have become desensitized to traditional marketing methods. So brands and companies must evolve and that’s where augmented reality comes in. Consumers blend retail with online, mobile, and bricks-and-mortar shopping for their exact wishes. Brands and the shoppers themselves are looking for this new technology to serve up what they want to buy and make it easier to have the right information, right now!

Within the next 10 years automobiles and mobile devices will be fully integrated with augmented reality. Think about navigation for cars displaying on the front windshield with visuals moving from the mobile device to become integrated with our physical world.

3. SEARCH WITHIN SOCIAL. I BELIEVE EVERYONE WILL AGREE WITH ME WHEN I SAY SOCIAL IS NO LONGER JUST A LUXURY. Social has become a necessity. A digital reality that must be kept up for any brand to stay on top of mind. Consumers search within social. Consumers connect within social. Google ranks higher based on number of social accounts, and frequency of content (relevant & authentic content). Multi-Channel platforms with each having it's unique personality and best optimization tips specific to them! Check out this blog from entrepreneur about the meticulous details for optimizing each social platform, and the full 411 on Social Media 2015 Trends!

There is so much more for your online strategy and this blog article could go to the depths of the earth if we were to hit every topic regarding what you need to do for online marketing in 2015. But above are some of the most important concepts to understand when developing your online strategy. One Last morsel of information, we can't forget, get mobile with it!

FUN FACT! YouTube revealed this year that half of all its video views now originate from a mobile device! The mobile world is growing at leaps and bounds. If you are not yet focusing on integrating a mobile strategy I would urge you to set one up, don't wait, don't put it off, you'll be left behind.