4 Marketing Trends for 2013: New Edison Research

Edison Research, one of the world’s largest and most respected media research companies, has released the 2013 Infinite Dial Report.  This report helps marketers and organizations understand emerging trends that will have a big impact on their marketing strategies.  Check out some of the notable trends we picked up on:

Top Marketing Trends for 2013

Trend #1: The Majority of Americans Have Smartphones

We’ve been saying it for a long time, but the numbers only continue to support the idea that the future of your business is in the palm of your hand.  According to the latest research, a staggering 53% of Americans now have a smartphone, which means an estimated 139 million are using their smartphone to surf the web, watch videos, shop online, etc.

So if you’re a company or organization that wants to improve conversions and cater to your website visitor, then you absolutely must make your brand as mobile as your customer.  Your website should be designed for mobile compatibility.

Trend #2: Facebook is Still #1, but Twitter Offers Major Opportunities

Not surprising was the fact that Facebook is still the most dominant player in social networking.  According to Edison Research, 58% of Americans have personal profiles.  While Twitter seems to  lag dramatically behind Facebook in popularity, it’s important to note one interesting statistic: more than four in ten Americans hear or read about tweets almost every day.

The Twitter statistic tells us that Twitter offers major opportunities.  As long as the multimedia environment is so Twitter friendly, you should be taking advantage of the medium to promote your brand.

Trend #3: Visual Marketing is Big

As you may have noticed in the above chart, Instagram and Pinterest are continuing to gain steam, and 50% of news feed stories on Facebook are now photos.  That means it’s becoming increasingly important to use visuals in your marketing efforts. 

Integrated marketing companies like Prime Concepts have graphic designers and photographers who also specialize in marketing.  Whether you need high-quality product shots, custom social media graphics, or any other visual to utilize in your marketing, the investment is well worth it!

Trend #4: Video Marketing Continues to be Big

This is another one we’ve been focusing on for a while, but the statistics continue to tell us that video marketing is huge!  In fact, 43% of Americans (approximately 113 million) viewed online video in the last week.  What these statistics demonstrate is the fact that video is where the web is headed. Cisco even predicts that by 2015 at least 90% of all Internet traffic will be video. Just think about that—90%!

What does all this mean for you? It means you need to be marketing your business with video!

Takeaways

This new research not only confirmed the trends we’ve already been observing, but indicated that the trends will continue in the same direction.  This means it’s more important than ever to keep up with your consumers through mobile device compatibility, social media, big-impact visuals, and video marketing.

So what do you think about the trends discussed above?  Agree?  Disagree?  Do you already have experience with any of these trends?  Let us know your thoughts!