Five Fast Digital Marketing Posts Featuring February’s Top Trends: E-Commerce Link Digest

Hope you’re having an amazing weekend Big Thinkers. Rather than bore you with a bunch of setup, what’s say we get right to the links? Here are five fast digital marketing posts featuring February’s top trends for you. Enjoy:

1. Customer Think asks, “what experiences will ultimately define ‘customer experience’?”, which is really important question. Why’s that? Well, according to Enterprise Innovation, almost all consumers abandon brands after one bad experience. That’s really, really bad for you if you’re struggling to provide a solid experience for your customers and underscores the importance of driving seamless experiences in 2016.
2. Speaking of customer experience, Marketing Charts outlines consumers’ top mobile shopping problems, which is terrible given that mobile may be bigger than you can think. Two tips to address these problems: First, remember it’s not “mobile first.” it’s “customer first”, and second, be sure to answer the two most important questions you must answer to put your marketing to work.
3. Social media thought leader Brian Solis offers a great presentation on 26 disruptive tech trends for 2016 through 2018 that marketers should know about. For just one example, check out these five reasons marketers must get ready for mobile messaging. And for another, look at cognitive marketing and the impact of AI on advertising. Though it might seem a bit futuristic, just remember the great William Gibson quote: “The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed.” Guess which side of that distribution you’d rather be on.
4. On a more tactical and practical note, Search Engine Land reports that Google wil stop showing ads on right side of desktop search results worldwide. That’s likely to drive up your costs for search marketing as they’ll be showing fewer ads. It also means organic results will be pushed further down the page. Not cool. Seems like a good time to review what drives growth in 2016 and this collection of 7 posts explaining how to execute digital effectively from our E-commerce Link Digest series.
5. Finally, you won’t want to miss these 8 excellent digital delights: the top posts of January, 2016 complete with bonus insights. Really good stuff to round-out the weekend.

And 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”: