Five online marketing predictions for 2016

Mobile, apps and video ads may dominate campaigns.

By Alexander Rauser

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Published: Wed 23 Dec 2015, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 25 Dec 2015, 11:07 AM

Marketing in 2015 moved fast - and it felt like every week a new update, a new piece of hardware, new software, new start-ups or a new tool was released. It is an exciting world for anyone who is keen to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, and 2016 appears set to continue at a similar pace.
Here some of the upcoming trends in 2016 in the online marketing world.
Mobile will dominate
The last year was huge for mobile. Mobile traffic surpassed desktop in many countries around the world and Google released their Mobilegeddon algorithm update in April, a change designed to penalise websites considered non-mobile friendly. The result of these changes is a mobile-first state of mind for many forward thinking businesses. As users develop a much more fragmented journey involving several touchpoints, developing a multi-channel strategy with a heavy focus on mobile is very important.
App indexing
App indexing came into the spotlight in 2015, despite being around for a while, and it is bound to become an even more prominent feature of online marketing in 2016. There are many predictions that suggest that the mobile web will soon be exceeded by mobile apps, and with this will come a more complex ranking system for apps. Although this may not happen by 2016, a steady adoption of apps by many more business owners will be a trend throughout the year.
Wearable tech
Next year will be exciting in terms of wearable tech and how businesses will manipulate the data produced from old and new wearable devices. Consumers, particularly millennials, are looking for devices that are more forthcoming with information to help them improve their daily lives. Wearables will begin to change the landscape of digital by offering more personalised experiences for users based on their data. Instead of app notifications, businesses could use wearable devices to notify users when they are close to a store hosting a sale and so on.
Marketing automation
In 2016, marketers are expected to get much more intricate with their campaigns, targeting users with a much more personalised outreach. Why? Because the user has grown to expect this, and brands will find that users only click and respect ads that appeal to them on a personal level. The tools will be there to help and as their algorithms develop and advance, marketers will be able to determine the optimal time to deliver and message individuals to drive the highest conversion rate.
Video advertising
Video advertising is nothing new. However, now that Google is contemplating video advertising within SERP results, it is certainly more and more valuable. Naturally this aligns with the fact that Google owns YouTube, and also that users are becoming more comfortable with video advertising. It will be interesting to see how video advertising will develop throughout 2016.
The writer is the chief executive officer of digital agency Prototype. Views expressed by him are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.