After a very strong finish to 2015, we enter 2016 full of anticipation. To kick things off, we’ve assembled our top predictions for the New Year.
- Industry statistics suggest smartphones and tablets account for over 60% of all online traffic, making the significance of search, content and responsive web even greater in 2016.
- The importance of custom and direct mail print products will continue to evolve in meaningful ways.
- Just when we think we made it through one of the mildest winters on record, we’ll get buried by a massive snowstorm.
- As more companies understand the importance of social media and web analytics, “ready, fire, aim” will be replaced with “ready, aim, fire.”
- The use of images and video will continue to increase from the existing staggering numbers. Taking YouTube as an example: there are 1 billion YouTube users and 4 billion YouTube video views per day, yet only 9% of small businesses use YouTube.
- I may have put more revolutions on the wheel of my branded pizza cutter last year than on the tires of my SUV, and in 2016, quality promotional items that are useful in daily life will continue to be intelligent marketing tools.
- We will experience further recognition that all websites are not created equally, responsive is pretty much a requirement and that design is only one ingredient in the important recipe for a successful website.
- Tank the office dog will add a mid-afternoon nap to his already scheduled afternoon nap.
- Less will be more. Distilled marketing messages will be simpler and cleaner.
- As business gets more competitive, the successful people will continue to be generous. This idea comes from a blog post on Addicted 2 Success about a best-selling book, The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea. In the book the authors share five “laws” for achieving success in business:
- Value: Your worth, professionally speaking, is determined by how much more you give in value than what you take in payment.
- Compensation: How much you get paid is a result of how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
- Influence: Your influence grows as you place other people’s needs first.
- Authenticity: It’s difficult to provide great value if you have no passion for your work. Successful people are genuinely excited about what they do, get excited about what they do, or they find something else to do. They don’t fake it.
- Receptivity: If you don’t know how to comfortably receive from others, you don’t understand how to give value effectively.
And there you have it, our top 10 predictions for the year. Best wishes for a healthy and successful 2016!
