2013 Marketing to Women: Psychic Predictions and Prognostications!

I don’t have a crystal ball for 2013.  I don’t know if Facebook will continue to grow – or if retail stores will start to shrink because of online shopping. I subscribe to the John Naisbitt philosophy that “the most reliable way to anticipate the future is to understand the present.”

But in the spirit of the season, I thought it would be fun to gather some of the best predictions in one place for your reading pleasure.  Tell me if you think they are psychic, premature or PR poop!

Inside Facebook 2013 Social Media Predictions for Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and more. Some good input here.   Facebook users will continue to be disenchanted as Facebook tries to ad advertising value.  Google+ will become more business and local friendly.  Pinterest and other visual media will continue to grow with visual content.  Pinterest launched business pages and will soon open to third party developers.  Peer reviews will continue to be integrated into brand operations.

Forbes 2013 Marketing Predictions:  Content Marketing and Social Business  Great thoughts about the growing importance of content marketing.  We have to give customers valuable content that they want.  I am a big believer in the concept of brands as publishers.  The idea that a constant flow of curated information gives brand authority.

Hubspot 8 Insightful Marketing Predictions for 2014 and Beyond.  Hubspot correctly points out the overlap in search, social and content as SEO influencers.  It’s more than keywords.  It’s about high quality content.  And for those who think email is dead, think again.  In 2013, it will be more personalized and targeted.  Marketers will need to segment their lists and personalize content.  Marketing will be seen as more of a revenue generator.  In 2013, CMOs and senior executives will allocate more resources to creating a strong inbound engine — generating interest, traffic, leads, and conversions — to support the demand generation engine. And here’s a big one – marketing “campaigns” will decline as more marketers take advantage of the power of real-time communications to grow business. In 2013, buyers instantly engage with brands on their websites, talk back via social media like Twitter and Facebook, and follow breaking news in the markets they are interested.

Content Marketing Institute Social Media and Content Marketing Predictions for 2013.  ”My prediction is that the “Content Strategist” role will become an important part of the marketing department in more than just a handful of brands. Michael Brenner,  Senior Director, Integrated Marketing and Content Strategy, SAP.  Yes, it’s about content.  And content includes more visuals – videos, pictures, creative graphics.  And as much as I like infographics, they may have reached their peak.  As Pinterist, Instagram, Slideshare and YouTube continue to grow, we have to think about visual content.
And as mobile usage soars, we need to understand how to maximize content for each type of screen.  Responsive design is really important for web sites.

Search Engine Journal B2B Marketing Predictions of 2013.  Inbound marketing becomes more important.  It’s less about push and more about providing information that your prospective customers seek out.  It’s about responsive design of websites – and shut my mouth, maybe a return to targeted direct mail to stand out from the online clutter.

Media Post 2013 Predictions from Online Ad, Marketing Experts.  The term is “opt-in push” here, allowing consumers to feel more comfortable allowing brands to recognize location, intent and preferences through devices.  Six experts weigh in here on the death of static web pages, campaign integration, integration of search with display advertising, Google dominance in search and the continuing complexities of SEO, and the death of the term “social media campaign.”

PSFK 2013 Predictions.  This is a great compilation by PSFK of thought leaders on a variety of subjects.  One of my favorites is George Parker – The Continuing Bastardization of the English Language.  He tell us that Shakespeare created 1700 words which included advertising!  And puke.  But today we use words in advertising like “artisanal pizza”; get a grip copywriters!  Shantell Martin thinks there will be more personalization with hand-drawn images.  Tom Evans of Saatchi LA thinks brands will become more focused on creating campaigns that engage the consumer based on their interests and passions—as opposed to which social network they prefer.  Yeah!

Forbes Google News Crumbles and More 2013 Media Predictions.  Ashley Harrison says 2013 will be the year that mobile consumption finally raises the bar on both advertising and publishing in the digital age.  It’s a year of change.  Mobile devices will become the #1 way to read news.  I received my final print Newsweek in the mail, and I was a little relieved that they had faced up to the change.   I made a cake from Gourmet Live, the replacement for the venerable Gourmet magazine, that re-invented itself last year.  The gap between consumer time spent and spending on mobile (10% and 1% respectively) creates a truly significant opportunity for advertisers and platforms alike. As digital publications and super blogs get smarter and begin to tap into online and mobile advertising, it will become a major revenue stream for the top players worldwide. In the past year alone, newspapers have lost $13 in print revenue for every dollar earned in digital revenue