Something interesting happened in 2015, probably a lot sooner than traditional-minded people had expected: Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic. It happened in 10 countries, according to Google, which released the “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update to phase out those sites not optimized for mobile devices. Mobile marketing is the future. And for the near future, namely 2016, here are for so that you won’t be stuck in the past like a Commodore Amiga.
- Mobile Will Continue its Dominance. If 2015 was the year that mobile overtook desktop, 2016 will be the year that it crushed it. Desktop computers are rapidly going the way of the landline. This is good news for marketers, as your potential customers are accessible everywhere they go. Congratulations, you’re now a stalker.
- Advertising Costs Will Rise. As competition increases to gain a foothold in this relatively new space, so will the cost of advertising. That’s Econ 101. Financial factors will likely allow bigger companies to shore up market share while smaller companies could be forced out of the game.
- More Apps, Lots More. There is an app for everything now and every business wants into the game. Some are helpful, some are useless, but it’s one more battlefield in which to compete for visibility. Ideally, an app should do everything a website does but in a more streamlined, convenient and intuitive manner. But don’t mistake more apps for better apps — two different things.
- All-in-One Apps. So there’s a lot more apps, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be downloading them all. All those wonderful apps aren’t so wonderful when one’s data runs out. Due to the limits on bandwidth, apps that hope to survive the cut will have to become more integral to people’s lives. A weather app is well and good, but a weather app that delivers chicken noodle soup and picks up the kids from school is even better. Not that anyone is working on that app… yet.
- More Video. Users have come to accept video ads as a reality. Facebook and Twitter run video ads already, so does Bing. Google bought YouTube for a reason, and in 2016 that purchase is going to start paying even bigger dividends than it already has.
- Wearable Technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). “Smart” devices will become the next big thing. The first generation of such items have not fared too well, but the next generation promises to fix the bugs and offer prestige to the wearer. The Apple Watch, for example, which was unveiled in 2015, is not a necessity in our daily lives. But as the technology advances, it could become as important as shoes.
- VR. Virtual Reality is coming. Yes, it’s been promised for decades now, but look to 2016 as a pivotal year for the technology. Oculus Rift will set the stage when it’s released in the first quarter of the new year. The technology will require a new approach to advertising as we currently know it.
- Digital Assistants. Digital Assistants, such as Siri and Cortana, are replacing traditional search engine models in the mobile world. And it makes sense when you consider the uselessness of the standard Google results page. This being the case, it presents new challenges to optimizing this new form of search.
