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When bloggers make predictions about marketing trends in the coming year, writes Rohit Bhargava at Influential Marketing, they often project what's currently happening onto the next 12 months. "I have done these sorts of blog posts before and the tough thing is to highlight things which will be relevant not just on the first of the year, but throughout."
Accordingly, Bhargava took the long view in his predictions for 2010. Here are a couple of the trends he expects to see:
The rebirth of usability. "There was a time in web development near the end of the nineties and early 2000s when usability was hot," he says. "Jakob Nielsen was on every marketer's must read list and usability testing was something marketers paid a lot of attention to."
Interest in usability waned as the focus shifted to widgets, online interactivity and social media; but a strong case can be made for its business benefits, and Bhargava believes usability will once again become a priority.
The rise of voluntary ambassadors. It's good to cultivate relationships with influential bloggers who like what you do; but don't forget about happy customers who would shout their appreciation from the rooftops if they could. "A true ambassador program is about unlocking the passion of people who actually have some affinity for your product or service," he notes.
The Po!nt: Predictions are about where we're going—and that might not be where we've been. So keep an open mind as you look forward.
Source: Influential Marketing. Click here for the full post.
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Couldn't agree more with Rohit Bhargava on his prediction about the potential of voluntary ambassadors. One influential blogger can certainly reach thousands of potential customers, but a couple of hundred behaviorally committed, emotionally connected ordinary customers COULD have even more impact by writing and speaking (online and offline) to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and plenty of strangers.
I say COULD because in most categories such advocacy isn't really happening because the customers are missing one or more of the three key ingredients: 1) motivation, 2) having a story to tell, and 3) finding or being given the opportunity to express their feelings and knowledge. We typically need to give average customers a bit of help in one or more of those areas. To date most brands haven't recognized the need, identified their best potential advoactes, or taken the steps necessary to enable those customer to become ambassadors. The potential is there -- we'll see what the future brings.