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5 Bold Marketing Predictions for 2010
By Daniel Levis | December 30, 2009
It’s that time of year again – time to dust off the old crystal ball and make some predictions for the coming New Year.
None of these forecasts are to be considered business advice, mind you.
Neither the author, his heirs, or assigns take one iota of responsibility for any business outcomes that may result from decisions based on the following conclusions – for entertainment purposes only.
The Economy Will
Continue to Suck
Oh sure, there will be fits and starts of consumer hope and optimism in 2010, perhaps even a glimmer of renewed economic growth. But the economy is inherently sick, and will therefore remain fundamentally fragile.
Since taking office, the current administration in Washington has done nothing to uproot the endemic cancer of profligate government spending that gave rise to the ongoing economic crisis. Indeed the opposite …
Instead of stopping the printing presses and letting the economy crash and stabilize, the presses are now running full tilt – non-stop – pumping funny money into the economy to prop up corporate basket cases and fund bread and circuses that make the American public increasingly dependent on big government.
The bailouts and handouts are creating debts and deficits so incomprehensible that nobody is even talking about them anymore.
A recent New York Times article reports food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month. One in eight Americans are now swiping inconspicuous plastic “nutritional aid” cards at grocery counters for staples like milk, bread, and cheese in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.
That’s more than 36 MILLION Americans now dependent on a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme. Instead of being alarmed by this shameful fact, the Obama administration is actually proud of it.
According to Under-Secretary of Agriculture, Kevin Concannon, “I think the response of the program has been tremendous. But we’re mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit.”
Washington is engineering an economy perpetually perched on the brink of disaster. And breeding a weak, unmotivated workforce addicted to government handouts.
A recent article in The Business Insider reported brisk Black Monday video game sales driven largely by the unemployed seeking to pass the time and keep their spirits up while waiting to get back to work. Oy Vey!
I’ve got news for them. The only way these people are going back to work is by getting off their duffs and becoming self-employed.
What this means is robust growth in the business opportunity and marketing information fields in 2010. And a business environment that continues to reward ruthless cost control and accountability.
The Over-40 Crowd Will Begin
Hanging up on Social Media
Consumer attention over the last few years has become hopelessly fragmented. The novelty of social media has seduced the typical PC user into having five to 10 “applications” blinking and beeping simultaneously on their desktop.
Teenagers might get a thrill from the incessant chatter, but any adult with half-a-brain will eventually realize that it’s a total waste of their time and energy having this many things constantly vying momentarily for their attention.
Flitting from one disconnected thought to another without giving yourself time to form a reasoned opinion about anything means you’re just a sucker for the next mind-sucking-meme that comes along.
I mean think about it … with hundreds of random tidbits of information relentlessly assailing you from the Twit stream and other social networks, what possible sense or use can you make of any of it?
Serious people are clueing in to the fact that plugging into all these “channels” is totally unproductive. And they’re getting tired of the increasingly vacuous and irrelevant content that’s polluting the social networks – much of it nothing more than really bad marketing.
Watch for the beginnings of an underground rebellion in 2010, and the emergence of a thoughtful and discerning minority demanding more meaningful modes of social interaction and expression.
Private Social Networks Will
Spring up to Fill the Void
Savvy marketers will create and develop their own private social networks and communities of interest where they can promote and proselytize their own products and services and those of their business partners.
These networks will revolve around good old-fashioned content. People will be attracted to them because they fulfill a defined purpose and connect them with others with like-interests.
And marketers who provide the highest perceived value in terms of content and community will enjoy the highest e-mail open rates, conversion rates, retention, and lifetime customer value.
Virtues like transparency, interactivity, and social esprit de corps will also be key success factors.
Marketers who foster and facilitate any-to-any dialogue throughout the buyer/seller community and create opportunities for recognition and fellowship within the communities they create will thrive in this emerging new world of legitimized social media marketing.
Online Video Will
Finally Go Mainstream
$100 Flip cameras, cheap screen capture and video editing software and inexpensive high capacity server platforms like Amazon S3 are slowly bringing online video mainstream.
This trend will accelerate in 2010 as more and more marketers capitalize on the full spectrum communication available through video. It is by far the most effective medium for seizing attention and making a subliminal connection with your target audience.
Within seconds you can captivate your viewers, gain rapport, and endear trust with online video. It will become the killer app for selling low-ticket items in one sitting.
It will also become an increasingly important weapon for selling higher ticket items that require repeated exposure and graduated commitment to complete the sale. When integrated intelligently with text and audio, you can effectively target auditory, visual, and even kinesthetic learning styles with equal aplomb.
If you’re selling high-ticket items, you’ll be using video to seize attention, build trust, and demonstrate your products … text to cement commitment … and audio to ear-bud along with your prospects and reinforce your sales message while they drive, walk, exercise and so on.
As video becomes commonplace in your marketing, it will make sense to develop content creation processes that simultaneously lay down all three types of media. These multiple modes of media can then be distributed sequentially to your target audience.
The True Global Village
Begins to Take Shape in 2010
In the information marketing world, especially, forward-thinking entrepreneurs can operate from anywhere in the world.
As more and more budding entrepreneurs in developing countries with strong English speaking cultures (Singapore, The Philippines, and India spring immediately to mind, and there are others) plug into Western markets and begin generating wealth, they in turn become consumers to other information marketers in North America and the rest of the world.
The entire market becomes larger as a result of the borderless commerce made possible by the free flow of information on the Internet. We will see this happening more and more in 2010 and beyond.
Entrepreneurial talent in developing countries will gradually begin the transition from providing services to providing information to becoming information consumers themselves as income disparity gradually shrinks between the developed and developing world.
Of course, only time will tell if I’m right as rain or just plain all wet about any of these five predictions.
If I’ve inspired some thought and maybe even a few bones of contention with this article I’ll be happy. Feel free to disagree, agree, or expand and expound upon any of my forecasts for 2010 in the comment box below.
Until next time, Good Selling!
This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com
Topics: Uncategorized | 13 Comments »
December 30th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Hi Daniel,
I think your school report would say 4/5!
Spot on except for video. Precisely because it is so easy, that people will switch off because content quality is generally low + chains you to the PC. Audio will rise as a result because you download and listen on the go. The private networks is the biggie – virtual tribes will lead people away from being so reliant on SEO – giving rise to people referred / endorsed traffic so that prospects arrive on your salespage “pre-sold”.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Hey Daniel,
I think your predictions are dead right on! We’re already seeing some of these shaping up…. Especially the Private Social Networks that cater to narrow niches and specialty topics and content… Video will definitely be mainstream as they are the backbone of some of the new private social networks and membership sites…And, if you ask me, the economy does still suck…
December 30th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hey Daniel,
Interesting predictions. I beg to differ in a few areas, especially as we operate Internationally. From an economic point of view, the International markets have been awaiting the turnaround lead by media activity in America, but my sources already say that Ireland is climbing out of their recession as has Japan. Having lived in Singapore, they have a huge wealth, and are smart enough to take advantage of westernisation, rather than embracing it. The point here is as nike would say, “Just do it”
When it comes to social networking, its moving more to community based platforms, and will continue to do so as information increases. A lesson in reverse psycology.
And talking about video, the demise of reality TV shows us that intuitive broadcasting is on the way up. People will want it when and how they choose. And if its crap, no one will watch it.
It certainly beats reading.
December 30th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
HI Daniel,
Thanks for your bold predictions. I share your enthusiasm for videos and I agree that large groups of people get nothing from social media, i.e. they have not added one name to their email list! A form of social hype keeps things going. There will be a point when there will be a movement away from what we have now. I also believe that this is not a typical economic recession. The snake is shedding its skin. Many of the jobs lost will never come back. There are no easy answers. We will have to forge some solutions together. The current political climate feels like we are rushing off a high cliff! Thanks.
December 30th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Daniel,
I was glad to see that you agree with what I’ve been thinking about social media. I have simply refused to spend a great deal of time with it for the reasons you outlined so well. I’d like to see more about the private networks. Thanks, and have a great New Year!
December 30th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Hi Daniel,
As much I admire your marketing and teaching abilities, I have serious problems with your interpretation of American politics — and it is an interpretation.
The neo-cons have sold us lie after lie after lie since my childhood — including the BIG LIE of the Cold War. Russia had no more weapons of mass destruction than Iraq did. It was all done to support a myth of ‘good” white hat America against “evil” outside enemy — the same trick the Nazis used to create the mass hysteria of the Third Reich. What they never figured out, pompous intellectuals that that they were, is what happened when there are no more outside enemies?
President Clinton had not only left office with a balanced budget, he had a surplus. It took no time of all for the robber barons in Busch admin to loot it for their illegal war for Haliburton and plunge the world into the biggest nightmare known to man.
Sorry, but I can’t let it go by. People need to look deeper into history to get the story straight. President Obama has his hands tied on so many levels and he is being blamed for policies that were put in place and their consequences before he even ran for office. They were twisting it like this during the election!!!
Its like duh! That happened during the last 8 years BEFORE the election!….?????@@@@@>>>>
Happy New Year — I do agree about Social Media though.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Careful Daniel, the Social Media “Experts” will be demanding your head if you predict their bread and butter might possibly be abandoned
Joking aside you’ve clued into a growing unease about social media. I’ve been tired of the social media hype for quite some time now… and I blog about it. I am also not alone. There are many who are tired of the “echo chamber” and the constant “noise” and the constant demand that they must be everywhere, all the time. Most of all though they are tired of the broadcasting.
You make a good point about private social networks – in fact, I’ll go as far as to say that’s already happening.
What I will say about social media is that while there is a lot of noise online there are quite a few businesses who are using it and who will continue to use it to gain exposure and using that exposure to build relationships – which is really the best way to use it. And while I agree that over the 40’s are getting tired of the hype fragmentation and noise of social media, there is a group of people between the teenagers and the over-40’s… a group who has grown up in a socially networked world. Whether they are Gen X or Gen Y (or whatever you want to call them)they know know how to use social media to their advantage, may not see it as “noise” and simply know how to be selective in what they use.
What’s certain is that it will be an interesting time. Social Media has changed the online business landscape and it will never be quite the same again.
@ Rex “And if it’s crap, no one will watch it.” I don’t know about that… What about the millions of people who watch Reality shows??
@arlene – well put.
Happy New Year all.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hi Arlene, I agree with you. Bush spent like a drunken sailor. Unfortunately Obama is spending even more.
No one party is the problem. Government in general is the problem. And it’s a very simple problem to solve.
Government needs to shrink drastically, and people need to become more self-reliant.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Daniel, you make a lot of sense, as do many of the commentors here. Private social networks are definitely the next ‘wave’in social media. I’ve created one exclusively for new copywriters, linking it to my blog and other initiatives to provide a full spectrum ‘free’ education in early-stage copywriting. I’m also part of niche networks in China, India, and Africa…working with new copywriters in other countries to support a global education/training effort I could not have conceived of even one year ago. Social media has its place when used properly, not simply for endless, non-sensical stream of consciousness ego-babble. While most of us agree networking is the glue, people are simply finding better ways to harness that power. In a year full of bad news, that’s good for all of us.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Whew, you weren’t kidding when you said in your email this post contained “politically incorrect options”. Truth is never politically correct no matter which party is in power, is it?
I can only hope you are right about the social media trend. It is just so much useless noise. It’s like being in the mall in the days before Christmas. A chaotic, stress inducing, mostly fruitless, but occasionally necessary evil. Just because it’s popular doesn’t make it a good thing. Ozzy Osborne’s reality show is popular, too. @Rex – about the demise of reality TV, one can only hope.
Re: video – does this mean we’ll be seeing your smiling face live and in person on this blog soon?
Here’s a prognostication for you: I think the reputation of internet marketing is going to grow from a quasi- pyramid scam into a more respectable business as more and more offline business move online. There will be tremendous opportunities for experienced IMer’s to work with traditional businesses helping them craft their online presence.
Happy New Year!
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Hi Sue, yes, I am ramping up for some major video fun in the months ahead. Later this week I will also be holding a special training session for video marketers. Stay tuned.
January 4th, 2010 at 7:31 am
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January 7th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
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