As I write about each year, success in business often requires predicting what potential challenges and opportunities the business will face on the road ahead.
Currently, we don’t have an app that will tell us everything that we need to know.
Therefore, business leaders need to navigate the old fashioned way even if their business is driving full-speed ahead into the future.
This thought process is what inspires one of my first blog posts each year.
It all started in 2012 when I highlighted some of the recommendations that JWT Intelligence thought would be important. Then in 2013, I started to track a list of my own.
Most of the things that I thought were important in the past remain important today. The list just gets a little bigger each year.
This list also helps keep me focused and serves as a public record to show whether or not I am watching the right things.
The Things to Watch List 2019
This is the list so far [with the year that the items were added]:
1) Rapid advancements in technology [2013]
2) Mobile (user experience and marketing) [2013]
3) Mobile payments [2013]
4) Mobile-influenced merchandising [2013]
5) Privacy issues [2013]
6) Emerging markets [2013]
7) The Internet of Things [2014]
8) The evolution of retail (including omni-channel retail) [2014]
9) A global marketplace [2014]
10) 3D printing [2014]
11) Cyberattacks [2014]
14) RFID, NFC, and beacons [2016]
15) Augmented reality (AR) [2016]
16) Virtual reality (VR) [2016]
17) SEO for the Internet of Things [2016]
18) Experiential marketing [2016]
19) Wearables [2016]
20) Dynamic pricing in brick-and-mortar stores [2017]
21) Machine learning & artificial intelligence (AI) [2017]
22) Voice-activated technology [2017]
23) Business collaboration with the competition [2017]
24) The evolution of work (changing skillsets required and the influence on the economy) [2017]
25) Robotics [2018]
26) Subscription business model [2018]
27) How online communications influence public opinion [2018]
28) Market research techniques for the 21st Century [2018]
29) Influencer marketing [2019]
30) Accessible marketing for people with disabilities [2019]
31) Sustainability brands [2019]
32) Health-conscious brands [2019]
Why These Things Were Added
As I mentioned, my list was actually inspired by a list that is published each year by JWT Intelligence.
A lot of the items on the JWT Intelligence list this year focus on ways to help people create a healthier lifestyle. This not only means creating a healthier life for the people who might buy the products, but also helping create a healthier planet, as well.
Creating marketing that is accessible for people with disabilities just makes sense and should be a best practice. Furthermore, not making your website or mobile app accessible to people with disabilities can actually result in a lawsuit.
And, as for influencer marketing… it really should have been added to the list years ago. However, there are also some new areas of influencer marketing that make it worthy of adding now.
There are also things like self-driving cars and changes in product packaging that could have been added to the list. While these things are subsets of items currently on the list, they might get added to the list in the future.
Additionally, there are some things that digital marketing experts were talking about 10 years ago that should be revisited. These basics don’t get talked about enough now even though there are new business leaders entering the market each year. (It’s not always safe to assume that they learned about these things in college.)
So there you have it. If I missed anything that you think I should have included, please let me know in the comments below.
Photo credit: freeimage4life on Flickr. (Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication — CCO 1.0)
