The Online Samurai

By MARSHALL MANSON AND JAMES WHATLE For the last five years, we have written an annual report which aims to spot the key trends in digital and social media marketing that are likely to be important in the coming year. The report is unusual for three reasons: First, we open each report by grading our predictions from the previous year, so you can see how we’ve done in the past. Second, every trend includes actual, actionable recommendations for brands. And third, because it’s pretty snarky. Also, we’ve never predicted the year of mobile, and we’ve never used the term ‘big data’. We do try to make sure our predictions are rooted in real data points, and carefully sourced. This year, for our fifth report, we are also including a section that reflects on five years of trends, and looks at the big stories we’ve seen play out since we started writing the report. Our 2018 predictions are: 1.  Augmented Reality Gets Real:  Proliferation of good mobile tech: check. Vastly improved AR

1. Ultra-Specific Do I sound like a broken record yet?  I’ll repeat specificity more times than you can count because it’s just  that important . Lead magnets should NEVER be vague. They must offer an ultra-specific solution to an ultra-specific market. 2. One Big Thing Everyone wants a “magic pill” or “silver bullet,” so  it’s always better to make and deliver one big promise as opposed to a lot of little ones . We showed you this example earlier a Lead Magnet that delivers on one ultra-specific promise… Now, take a look at this Lead Magnet that  is  specific (you know you’re about to learn the in’s and out’s of WordPress), but  doesn’t  deliver on “One Big Thing”… 3. Speaks to a Known Desired End Result What does your market REALLY want? If you can figure that out and offer a Lead Magnet that promises it,  prospects will gladly give you their contact information . 4. Immediate Gratification Avoid using newsletters and multi-day courses as a Lead Magnet.

What is Digital Marketing? Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses leverage digital channels such as Google search, social media, email, and their websites to connect with their current and prospective customers. Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses leverage digital channels such as Google search, social media, email, and their websites to connect with their current and prospective customers. The reality is, people spend twice as much time online as they  used to 12 years ago . And while we say it a lot, the way people shop and buy  really   has  changed, meaning offline marketing isn’t as effective as it used to be. Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. Today, that means that you need to meet them where they are already spending time: on the internet. digital marketing  -- in other words, any form of