Shopping for Tools to Add to The New Box

In the spirit of reaching outside the new box, I took some time to poke around EzineArticles and explore a few marketing trends for this year. Let’s have a look at two of the articles I found, and decide which delivers more tools that I can add to my 2015 marketing toolbox.

The first article I came across was How Social Media Marketing Looks in 2015, by Dawn Pigoni. She has been an EzineArticles member since 2008 and has submitted 219 articles, all of which are related to internet marketing.

Dawn’s article discusses 4 different trends, and promises to focus on where our precious time is best spent. Short, engaging Facebook videos (Yes, I said Facebook, not YouTube...Interesting!) and paid social media advertising top her list. Social media platforms are increasingly designed to have your business pay in order to be seen. Although let's not forget that people need to WANT to see you – Give them a reason and Be Useful! Finally, Dawn suggests that Google+ will not see its demise this year (I think the name itself lends to that fact, don’t you?), and that focusing on a niche audience (You can’t be everything to everyone!) continues to be one of the best strategies for social media success.

The second article, Creative Advertising Trends to Watch in 2015, comes from Rocky C. Rhodes, a member since 2012 who has submitted 224 articles. Rocky’s articles span 86 categories on the site (Everything from home improvement to legal advice to health and fitness? ...I’m not convinced that’s a niche).

Rocky highlights cinematic web design as a top trend for 2015, with a focus on ambient video (I had to look that one up, as I certainly don’t tout myself as a video expert. As far as I can tell, some call it “Video Painting”?). Another trend listed for this year is Super Fan Utilization. This is in line with the idea that your most active customers are key to driving growth online (I’m not surprised at this one at all.) To cap off Rocky’s list, telling your brand’s story across a variety of media, and focusing on understanding the up-and-coming segments of the millennial generation are also important trends to consider. Overall, I have to agree that these are important and relevant trends.

So.....Let’s pit these two against each other, just for fun. Since they both look to provide marketing advice, a savvy fellow marketer would conclude that they must be marketing themselves in some way (Personal branding, anyone?). Neither article appeared to source specific information from other experts, which I found a little disappointing. I personally love finding a trail of interesting people or links to follow down a path of exploration, even if it sometimes involves getting lost in funny kitty cat videos on YouTube. Both did, however, link to a business that could help one take advantage of the trends discussed in the article (There it is, folks! Self-promotion!). Dawn’s article linked to her own business and summarized her credentials and expertise. Rocky’s article linked to a creative agency with an impressive list of services, but Rocky himself did not appear on the site (not that I could find anyway…and I’m pretty decent at navigating websites).

Although both articles did ultimately seek to promote a business, Dawn’s article provided tangible tips that someone could begin to implement on their own, whereas Rocky’s article felt slightly broader and provided little in the way of nitty-gritty tips and tricks. I felt as if I would have to reach out to an expert to take advantage of his trends (hence the link to an advertising agency I guess!).

I appreciate the fact that my expectations were fulfilled after reading each article's title. Although they lacked a little pizazz in my opinion (I’m a fan of question titles, as previous blog posts will indicate), both delivered a list of trends for 2015. I did find that Dawn made it a little more interesting by promising to tell me what social media marketing looks like. This made me think of a landscape of the social media playing field.

You could say that Dawn wins my pretend article race for today by: