What are the significant high-tech marketing trends for 2008?

The coming year will have a couple of themes: what's old is new again, and recalibrating our online marketing.

SOCIAL NETWORKING BACKLASH
Where do social networks end and business networks begin? How can you tell one from the other? Should we create MySpace or Facebook pages, list on LinkedIn or focus on our website instead? These are the choices available today, and employees, small businesses and individuals need to decide whether social networking sites stray too far from their business goals. I believe there will be a backlash against the more hip, broader-based social networks and we'll see the business people returning to their good old websites: updating them and figuring out ways to drive more traffic to their own websites rather than someone else's. That brings me to the next trend:

RETOOLING WEBSITES
Companies will be investing time and money in revamping their websites this year. Sites that date back to the "pre-YouTube" days may need more interactive content that includes video, audio, blogs and more Flash animation. Companies will freshen their website's appearance with new design, layout and graphics. Traffic will be optimized through more sophisticated search engine optimization. E-commerce tools and security measures have improved substantially, so companies will also streamline their online sales processes. (Stay tuned; this website might even be one of them!)

CONTENT IS THE DIFFERENTIATOR
And speaking of adding blogs to your website, a word to the wise. The proliferation of blogs in the online world has brought out the unpolished amateurs when it comes to writing (and people who comment are even more dreadful). If you do have someone create a blog at your site, make sure that it's properly edited and provides value. That goes for all the other content at your website as well. Professionally prepared and meaningful web/blog content becomes the key differentiator now: the well thought out content that carries the message but also informs. It's back to the basics of marketing communications: well-written copy that delivers the key messages.

PR MOVES FURTHER ONLINE
When press releases are now distributed over the 'wire', the Internet IS the wire. It's now possible to build live links within press releases, along with photos and interactive material, all of which can be viewed instantaneously. Immediate syndication also happens when a release goes out; the release is viewable at multiple online publications and journals, often carrying the masthead of the publication. Kind of takes the fun out of trying to get an editor to notice your release, but all in all, a nice improvement in the process. Those who write press releases should maximize the use of embedded links to expand the traffic to your website.

THE REBRANDING MOVEMENT
About five years ago, everyone was lectured about the importance of branding. There must have been a dozen books about branding on the business bestseller list. So, companies did their branding. And now their brands are becoming stale, lost in the noise, forgotten, or boring. What's a company to do? Rebrand, of course! Go through the branding process all over again because it was so much fun the first time: hire consultants, brainstorm, conceptualize, create new logos, change the stationery, announce it all in a new P.R. campaign, and of course, spend lots of money. The good news is that the whole process really can help revitalize your company, so it's probably worth the effort.

TAGLINES AND SLOGANS ARE BACK
While we're on the topic of branding, companies are becoming more interested in slogans and taglines (I use the terms interchangeably) to introduce and reinforce key messages. I haven't seen this trend since the 1990s, but it seems to be coming back. Companies are no longer content to have a nicely designed and colorful logo; they want more. Slogans are now becoming part of the company logo and are also being added to stationery and overall identity packages (and, of course, the corporate website). I think this is probably a good thing from a marketing standpoint. Slogans add a bit of differentiation, they can state the company mission, help with search engine optimization and reinforce key messages. So start getting creative and think up some slogans!

Happy marketing and launching this year, and if you get stuck, contact me for help!

Catherine Kitcho
The Launch Doctor