11 Must-Watch Trends for Digital Leaders: E-commerce Link Digest

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¡Hola, Big Thinkers! Hope you’ve had an amazing, productive, and profitable week. Let’s skip any big setup for this week’s E-commerce Link Digest and just get you right to these 11 must-watch trends for digital leaders instead. Enjoy:

1. Social Media Today starts us off with an outstanding infographic that illustrates the “State Digital Marketing 2016.” Definitely worth checking out to understand the trends you need to know.
2. Speaking of digital trends, don’t miss this recent episode of Thinks Out Loud, our weekly e-commerce and digital strategy podcast, that explored “5 Digital Trends You Must Adopt Right Now.” Great stuff, well worth your time.
3. Continuing with the trends theme, Bloomberg has terrific insights into “Facebook’s Really Big Plans for Virtual Reality.” This is a remarkable topic and something you need to pay attention to as we move towards 2017. I’ve mentioned in the past that I believe augmented reality will be more important than virtual reality in the longer-term for most businesses. But given that it’s early days you should definitely keep an eye on both.
4. Marketing Charts outlines outstanding research that asks, “As MarTech Understanding Becomes Critical, Where Will Marketers Invest Next Year?”
5. Marketing Insider Group has a terrific piece that considers “The Compounding Power of Content Marketing.” Such a smart idea.
6. Of course, you can’t receive the compounding benefits of content marketing until you get started. These “15 Colossal Content Marketing Insights to Kick off Your Week” will point you in the right direction.
7. When it comes to applying the trends, leadership plays a crucial role. Culture is more important than your tactics and in some cases, more important than your strategy, too. That’s why it’s so helpful that MarTech Advisor looks at “The First Three Steps a CMO Should Take to Better Align Sales and Marketing.” Good stuff.
8. On a highly related note, InformationWeek offers technology leaders these “3 Tips For Playing Nice With Your CMO.” Given the connections between marketing and technology these days, marketing leaders should realized communication and partnership are a two-way street and would benefit from checking out these tips too.
9. Luxury Daily looks of mobile payments beyond NFC and makes “The Case for Beacons.” It’s clear that payments comprise a critical part of your customers’ e-commerce experience, which makes this a trend definitely worth watching.
10. While we’re on the topic of payments, be sure to check out this look at “Why I’m Bullish on Mobile Payments and Messaging” as well as “A Quick Snapshot of the State of Mobile Payments” for more insights into what makes payments so critical to your business success in the coming year.
11. Finally, you can’t miss these “11 Exceptional E-commerce Insights: The Top Posts of Summer, 2016” or these “32 Killer Resources to Improve Your Digital Strategy: The Top Posts of 2016 (So Far).” Excellent information and insights to set you up for success and a great way to round-out this list of 11 must-watch trends for digital leaders, don’t you think?

If you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”:

Finally, you might enjoy some of these past posts from Thinks to help you build your e-commerce strategy and your digital success:

• 6 Mobile Commerce and Strategy Insights: E-commerce Link Digest
• Content is Still the King
• The Digital Strategy Myth
• Why Mobile Payments Will Rule
• Driving Seamless Experiences in 2016 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 149)
• Mobile is So Much Bigger Than You Think (Thinks Out Loud Episode 140)
• It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”
• 8 Killer Entries About Improving E-commerce Experience: E-commerce Link Digest