2014 Marketing Trends & Opportunities

2014 MARKETING TRENDS
8 emerging opportunities for marketers,
advertisers, and brand managers in 2014.

How this report was created
By sitting with some of the best young minds
I know.
The great young talent that contributed their insights to this report aren’t the “personal
brand” types, or the personal promoters. These folks are the go-getters, the people who
never stop learning, are relentless in building their businesses, and work on the front
lines and in the trenches of their industry. They live and breath this stuff.
A big thanks goes out to those folks!
Amy Schmittauer
Vlog Boss Studios

David Sherry
Brand Swell

Carolyn Kent
EXPRESS

Christina Christian
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

Amanda Larrinaga
Modern Entrepreneur

Matthew Russo
30 Lines

Steve Michalovich
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

8 Areas To Watch in 2014
These 8 areas to watch represent opportunities to implement strategies in emerging
marketing categories. These are the areas where first adopters are playing and where
consumers are beginning to gravitate.

5

Growing impact of
community managers on
the organization

2

Retailers benefiting from
social & mobile

6

Niche social media
networks proving beneficial
for marketers

3

Shifts in how people find
and share news

7

Privacy & security becoming
marketing strategies

4

Brands evolving as
media creators & owners

8

Stories are bigger than big
data

1

Consumers increasingly
connecting with video

2014 MARKETING TRENDS | TYLERDURBIN.COM!

CONSUMERS INCREASINGLY
CONNECTING WITH VIDEO

Investment in video to increase in
2014
86% of brands are planning to increase their video
ad spend in 2014.
That’s because video is creating a connection with and spurring actions by consumers.
After viewing a video online, consumers are 64% more likely to purchase than after
viewing a text ad. And after viewing a product demo video, they are 85% more likely to
follow through with a purchase.

“If you're still saying 'video is nice to have' then you're
behind. To make an impression and really stir emotion in
your audience so that they will not only remember you but
act accordingly, you must incorporate video into your
communications strategy.”
- Amy Schmittauer, President, Vlog Boss Studios

Source:
Adap.tv’s
Q4
2013
State
of
Video
Industry
Report


Pop culture is driving video sharing
on social networks
40% of the 1,000 most shared videos on Instagram
are from brands
MTV is the most shared brand on Instagram,
generating 134,110 shares across Facebook, Twitter and
the blogosphere (this also tells us something about the
demographic of heavy Instagram users - millennials).
The 2 most popular verticals in the top 1,000 are
Entertainment and then Clothing and Apparel.
9 out of 10 Instagram video shares occurred on
Facebook
14 of the top 20 most shared user-generated Instagram
videos came from Justin Bieber, with his top three
videos generating a total of 522,029 shares.
Source:
UnrulyMedia.com/insight


3 new trends driving branded video
creation and success
Small brands driving creativity - helloﬂo.com
Hello Flo, a feminine care subscription service, created an awkwardly comical
concept “The Camp Gyno” that sparked a controversial debate on how we
educate young girls on feminine issues.

Social good messaging – bit.ly/YasiinBeyHunger
Rapper and Hollywood star Mos Def (Yaslin Bey) took to social media to
share the experience and treatment of detainees on hunger strike at
Guantanamo Bay by being force feed in the same manner.
The video is disturbing and powerful.

Pepsi MAX impersonators – pepsimax.com
A disguised race car driver on a test drive and an NBA player looking more like
a grandpa has lead to tens of millions of views for Pepsi MAX as these
undercover athletes terrify and wow their victims, respectively, much to the
delight of online viewers.

RETAILERS BENEFITING FROM
SOCIAL & MOBILE

Is “showrooming” good or bad for
retailers?
ShowŸroomŸing [verb]
A phenomenon whereby shoppers visit stores to examine merchandise in person
before buying the items online.
DID YOU KNOW….26% of social media users report visiting a store to view a
product only to go online to find the best deal.
IN FACT….4 in 10 shoppers will comparison shop from a mobile device while
they are in the store.
BUT… 41% said they practice “reverse showrooming”— browsing online and
then purchasing in stores.

“Retailers must take a "mobile first" mentality in any marketing campaign or digital
strategy to deliver a true omnichannel approach to engaging with customers in social,
and affecting both online and in-store traffic and sales.”

-Carolyn Kent, Social Media & Mobile Marketing Manager, EXPRESS
Source:
Vision
CriKcal
&
Harvard
Business
Review


Pinterest is an especially popular
driver of in-store sales
Of surveyed Pinterest users. . .

79%

say that pinning an item inﬂuences their decision to buy it.

21%

say they have bought an item in-store after pinning,
repinning, or liking it.

36%

of those who have bought an item after pinning,
repinning, or liking it are under 35.

Source:
Vision
CriKcal
&
Harvard
Business
Review


Shortening retail sales cycles and
increasing digital marketing ROI
Pinterest isn’t just a driver of web traffic.
The social platform introduces more qualified customers to stores. In fact, customers
from Pinterest are 10% more likely to buy and they spend the most per purchase than
any other social network or search engine (average per purchase order is $80).

In the 2nd half of 2013, orders from pins have more than quadrupled.
“Pinterest offers not only a more curated experience, but a
more controlled one. It makes not only the audience more
qualified (for businesses) but makes it easier for
consumers to find what they’re looking for—making it an
overall better experience.“
- Amanda Larrinaga, Founder, Modern Entrepreneur

Source:
How
Pinterest
Drives
Ecommerce
Sales


SHIFTS IN HOW PEOPLE FIND AND
SHARE NEWS

Social media is changing the way
people get and share the news
Facebook news sharing driven by family & friends
The percentage of people who get most of their news links from…

News Outlets

Family/Friends

70%

36%

Source:
Pew
Research
Center’s
Excellence
in
Journalism

13%

27%


Facebook not a news destination, but
a source for news and current events
Facebook is proving to be an emerging strategy
for news outlets who are losing the traditional TV
and print consumers.
Ironically, only 4% of people report using Facebook as a primary news source; but 47%
admit that the social network is one of their top sources of news and current events.
38% of Facebook news consumers who say they follow the news all or most of the time
say Facebook is an important way they get news
…that percentage rises to 46% among those who say they follow news some of the time
…and increases to 48% among those who follow news less often

Source:
Facebook
News
Survey
Aug.
21-‐Sept.
2,
2013,
Pew
Research
Center


News feeds shift focus to deliver
more quality news content
LinkedIn Launches LinkedIn Pulse
In April 2013, LinkedIn acquired news reader and mobile content distribution company Pulse. Seven
months later, LinkedIn announced the launch of LinkedIn Pulse, a personalized news feed based on
your LinkedIn network. This integration signals LinkedIn’s migration from a job hunting site to a
technology-powered media company.

Facebook Focuses on Showing More “High Quality Content”
During the first week of December 2013, Facebook announced changes to it’s all important News
Feed algorithm in hopes of promoting “high quality content” (and less kitten memes). The changes
have seen online publishers experience unprecedented referral traffic and is creating a ripple
throughout the entire news industry.

Guardian Says Twitter Surpassing Other Social Media For News Traffic
During a July 2013 Twitter event for CEOs, Andrew Miller, Guardian News & Media CEO said that 10%
of the newspapers online traffic was now coming from social media and that Twitter is at the core of
the newspaper’s digital marketing strategy.


BRANDS EVOLVING AS MEDIA
CREATORS & OWNERS

Inbound marketing activities taking
over digital marketing strategy
Content creation and management account for the
2nd largest share of brands digital marketing
budgets.
This seems to be driven, in part, by the desire to populate the nearly inﬁnite customer
touch points and inbound marketing channels being created by mobile and social
technology.
Today’s customer journey is very dynamic.
Humans are constantly checking text
messages, Facebook notiﬁcations, @replies,
bank transactions, emails, and calendars.
The customer touch points are woven
throughout this maze digital habits. The
challenge for marketers is that this is all
done dynamically, no routine, no process,
just random acts of content consumption
each and every day.


Virgin is becoming the standard for
brands as media companies
Lead by it’s billionaire founder Richard Branson, Virgin has become a leader in creating
it’s own content to support its company mission and brands.

“Tell your story on your own. It's
more authentic that way. Companies
need to act as their own media
companies, producing compelling,
dynamic content regularly. In
addition, you must engage in the
dialogue that is already occurring
around your company, product,
cause, or brand.”
-Steve Michalovich, Interactive Marketing
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company


Your Brand: The Next Media
Company
In the 2013 book Your Brand: The Next Media Company, author Michael Brito shared 5
characteristics of media companies that brands should encompass when creating their
own content.
Media companies. . .
1)  Produce massive amounts of content
2)  Provide content that is relevant to their
audience at a particular moment of time
3)  Deliver content that is fresh, recent, and
breaking
4)  Are present everywhere and leverage
multiple channels
5)  Move quickly and aren’t held back my
approvals and lawyers

The best opportunity to capitalize in
2014
Experienced marketers have always been great at
assembling large audiences.
The missed opportunity is assembling an audience that will ultimately deliver the real
bump in ROI brands are seeking. Assembling an audience or creating a community
does not deliver ROI on it’s own—it merely creates the opportunity to start a
conversation that can eventually deliver ROI.

What marketers should be focused on in 2014
•  Developing the skillset required not only to lead a conversation and build your
community but converting these communities into a tangible ROI
•  Targeting positive ROI over the long haul and not just after a massive launch or
campaign
•  Implementing strategies that keep the audience engaged over extended periods
of time with authentic, creative content

GROWING IMPACT OF COMMUNITY
MANAGERS ON THE
ORGANIZATION

Dedicated online communities have been
declining for nearly 10 years
Brands have gone where their customers are
already interacting—Facebook & Twitter—and now
even more niche communities.
The idea of community has shifted. Communities can improve a user’s experience and
it can keep people coming back, but to get them in the door, it’s just not something that
people perceive to be valuable until they’ve experienced it.

For more trends and insight visit
TheCommunityManager.com, the main
source for all community managementrelated information, including news, case
studies, and reports.


Understanding the role of your
community manager and how to hire
for it
Identifying the need for a community manager
and hiring for it is quite difficult.
Just ask any community management professional. Understanding the need, defining
the role, and setting expectations can be challenging for general marketers trying to
hire a community manager.

“It’s incredibly difficult to hire for a community manager. Finding a community
manager is easy, but it's the magic mix of skills that make them relevant to your
community that's the hard part. Being a successful community manager, and in turn
building a robust community, manifests itself through a series of skills that boil down
to effective communication, great customer service, learning, and listening.”
- Christina Christian, Events Director, Jeni’s Spendid Ice Creams


Today’s community managers create
value beyond their traditional role
Great community managers make the
organization more porous.
A community manager can signiﬁcantly improve responsiveness to the consumer by
connecting the organization to itself in ways the typical hierarchical structure can not.
Community managers are not analyst, but they have intimate and candid knowledge
that no other part of the organization has access to. Leverage their insight to inform...
CRM strategy

Media buying

Product development & road mapping

Messaging

Very few in the organization have a better
pulse on the consumer than a community
manager. Provide them the opportunity to
recommend CRM strategies.

Community managers are interacting with
the consumer every day. They hear the
highs and lows of every voiced experience.

Interacting with the consumer across
channels gives community managers a
glimpse into how their consumers are
ﬁnding and sharing information.

The community manager knows how the
consumer talks. Let them use that
knowledge to inform messaging.

NICHE SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS
PROVING BENEFICIAL FOR
MARKETERS

Small, speciﬁc communities have a
real chance to succeed in 2014
Niche communities that offer deeper and more
focused functionality will continue to experience
massive growth.
Consumers are turning to new and smaller sites and communities to interact with
others on a hyper-speciﬁc level. The attention on niche networks will continue to grow
as consumers look for social networks to share our interests and experiences.
Other factors that will spur proliferation of niche sites:
•  Simple, streamlined functionality
•  Lower technical barrier to entry for users
•  Social networking fatigue with large networks


Niche communities offer brands
opportunity to engage with their
target audience
The opportunity for brands to engage with users in niche communities offers an
intriguing value proposition for their marketing budgets.
Opportunity for low-cost test campaigns that provide insights for future strategies
Target users who have self-identiﬁed their interests and are more likely to purchase
Improve relationships with target audiences and vendors in the category
Research the language, proper messaging, and needs of target audiences
A brand can get involved by offering similar features in its own site or app. Allowing
users to share with each other in smaller communities in addition to larger networks
can dramatically increase the number of consumers that are interacting with and
regarding your brand.

PRIVACY & SECURITY BECOMING
MARKETING STRATEGIES

Consumer security is invading the
marketing suite
Consumers are making digital purchases based
on their level of comfort with the process.
That level of comfort is determined by both the user experience and the consumers’
perception of a safe and secure process and storing of their credit information.

7 in 10
2/3s

smartphone and tablet owners have tried to make purchases on
their device
of this group report having abandoned a purchase due to a
problem with the checkout experience.

Of the consumers who have abandoned a purchase, 51% say that they didn’t feel
comfortable entering their credit card information, 47% felt that the checkout process
took too long, and 41% said the process was too difﬁcult on their device.
Source: 2013 Mobile Consumer Insights


Bridging the gap between security
and design
To be successful, marketers will need to get
security experts and designers on the same page.
But ﬁrst, they need to understand where each is coming from.

Information Technologists

Product Designers

They are the protectors. They seek out
and destroy any threat or weak link in
the system to keep the organization’s
and the user’s data safe. They are
constantly facing new threats, new
technology, and new operating
systems. Their jobs moves at the same
speed as technology. Fast.

They live and breath the consumer
experience. They believe intuitive
experiences breed trust and adoption.
Product designers seek to build purchase
paths that are simple, clean, and make it
easy for consumers to complete tasks
such as ﬁll an online cart or seek out
answers from customer support.


STORIES ARE BIGGER THAN
BIG DATA

Stories add 5,859% more value to
your product
Well, maybe not exactly. But in the case of this Utah snow globe that was exactly the
case. Writer Blake Butler created a story about the signiﬁcance of the snow globe and
the originally priced $.99 snow globe sold for a whopping $59 at SigniﬁcantObjects.com.
In fact, this is consistent with research conducted at the Ohio State University that
shows people’s beliefs can be swayed more effectively through storytelling than
through logical arguments.

“The ROI on your digital campaign is
becoming less and less meaningful, and ad
spends are becoming more and more
wasteful. Storytelling is the only thing that
matters. The good news is there are
incredible tools in place that only cost our
time to work on."

- David Sherry, Brand Swell

Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology


Allstate is a master of storytelling in
advertising
Consumers create relationships with people and
their stories, not necessarily products or services.
Allstate is a leading example of a company that understands the human side of their
brand and the potential of mayhem that quietly lurks in people’s day. Actor Dean
Winters humorously portrays the human characteristics of unfortunate situations.

Allstate puts Mayhem in ironic, but realistic
situations to demonstrate to consumers
that “mayhem” is everywhere. Mayhem is a
likable character that audiences appreciate
and root for. Allstate is a perfect example of
humanizing a brand and telling stories.


Thanks for reading
I’m always happy to talk shop.
I love talking about trends, new data, great advertising campaigns, and just about
anything else. Feel free to get in touch. The best way to say hey is via Twitter
(@TylerDurbin) or via email (TylerJ.Durbin [at] gmail).
My website is TylerDurbin.com.
…and if you’d like to get in touch with any of the contributors to this report, they all love
Twitter. Hit ‘em up!
Amy Schmittauer
@Schmittastic

David Sherry
@DavidSherry36

Carolyn Kent
@CarolynLKent

Christina Christian
@Christina_Lynn

Amanda Larrinaga
@AmandaLarrinage

Matthew Russo
@MatthewRusso

Steve Michalovich
@SteveoMic

2014 Marketing Trends & Opportunities

2014 Marketing Trends & Opportunities

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