No, this isn’t a sports story. Rather it’s a story looking at the e-business and marketing trends for 2010.
It’s the time of the year when prognosticators of all stripes come forward with their projections for the New Year. Given that 2010 is the start of the next decade, let’s first see what other experts are identifying as the salient trends. Each trend below has been extracted from a different list of e-business and marketing projections for 2010.
- Consumer Trends
Trend: Mass Mingling
“Basically, the more people can get their hands on the right info, at home and on the go; the more they date and network and Twitter and socialize online, the more likely they are to eventually meet up with friends and followers in the real world.”
(“Ten Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010,” TrendWatching.com, December 2009, http://trendwatching.com/briefing/)
 - eMarketing
Trend: Media Consumption
“While media dollars have imploded, media consumption will continue to explode. Due to increasingly empowered consumers and further advances in technology, look for media to become more: distributed …, personalized …, contextualized …”
(“Seven Predictions for 2010” from eMarketer’s CEO, Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer, December 14, 2009, http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007416)
 - E-Mail Marketing
Trend: Video E-Mail
“We also think that marketers will be able to increase relevancy by using video in e-mail,” Hersant said. “Video is going to make it a lot easier to promote the things that their customers are interested in, such as webinars, training and product education.”
(“Looking Ahead: 2010 e-Mail Marketing Trends,” Karen Bannen, BtoB, December 10, 2009, http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091210/FREE/912109993/1085/FREE)
 - SEO — Search Engine Optimization
Trend: Site Development
“Credibility is one of the most important things to establish in an online presence, … Credibility, Buckles said, depends on how well a site is architected, how many other sites and networks link back to your site, how much social media and buzz surrounds a domain, how often a site goes down, how unique a site’s content is and how fast a site loads.”
(“Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies for 2010,” MarketingVox, http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/top-10-internet-marketing-strategies-of-2009-11305/)
 - Mobile Marketing
Trend: Mobile Payments
“Until now, mobile payment services have been successful predominantly in countries where mobile penetration outstrips traditional banking services. In developed markets, the challenge had been about building consumer trust. Now, issues such as security, regulation and quality of service are dominating peoples’ minds.”
(“The Year Ahead in Mobile,” Jay Seaton, Mobile Marketing Magazine, December 14, 2009,
http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2009/12/the-year-ahead-in-mobile.html)
 - Social Media
Trend: Customer Service
“Turning your Employees Loose on Twitter and Incenting Employees to Use Social Media.”
(“Social Media 2010: It’s Time to Get Boring,” Jackie Huba, Church of the Customer blog, December 9, 2009,
http://www.churchofcustomer.com/2009/12/social-media-2010-its-time-to-get-boring.html)
 - Retailing
Trend: From Clicks to Bricks
“Dion says 2010 will be all about making digital analog. ‘I think we have gotten pretty good at Web selling and now we need to take what we have learned on our Web sites back to our stores. Our customers have told us that they love to shop on line, they love the speed convenience, presentation, information, product and company reviews and everything that is part of the Web experience and they now expect the same ease of use and information to be available in the physical store.'”
(“2010 Outlook Guide — Projections from 10 of the Retail Industries Top Analysts,”
Retail TouchPoints, http://retailtouchpoints.com/rtpupload/Outlook_Guide_2010.pdf)
 - Online Security
Trend: Enhanced Threats
“Drive-by infections are the norm; one Web visit is enough to get infected.”
(“The Future of Threats and Threat Technologies,” TrendMicro, December 2009, http://us.trendmicro.com/imperia/md/content/us/trendwatch/researchandanalysis/trend_micro_2010_future_threat_report_final.pdf)
 - Information Technology
Trend: eBooks & eReaders
“Apple’s tablet/e-reader will be unveiled to great spectacle and fanfare in the first quarter of the year. Throngs will stand in line for long hours to be among the first to possess what we predict will be the device to which rivals aspire.”
(“10 IT Projections for 2010,” Nancy Weil, Computerworld, December 10, 2009, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142099/10_IT_predictions_for_2010)
 - Work & Technology
Trend: Location-Based Marketing
“Not only is the mobile web experience reaching maximum penetration in the US, but hyperlocal services and advertising are now opening up a new way for businesses to become relevant. By offering services, products, and advertisements that are location-based, companies are able to tap into the natural appeal of proximity and convenience.”
(“Ten Emerging Technologies That Are Changing The Way We Work,” Brian Easter, HostReview, December 9, 2009, http://www.hostreview.com/guides/General_Information/articles/091209-Ten-Emerging-Technologies-That-Are-Changing-Way-We-Work)
Secondly, I wanted to add my own list of trends picked up through my analysis, review and evaluation of what I think will be impacting e-business and marketing in 2010.
- Improved Mobile Internet — as more smartphones come into play, consumers and businesses will demand a better, quicker and more reliable mobile network.
 - Enhanced Web Analysis — Google Analytics is rushing to bring out enhancements to their free Web analytics tool. This will force other free and paid players like Omniture, Yahoo, Web Trends to keep up with greater integration of social media analytics.
 - More “Paywalls” to Online Content — Rupert Murdoch has threatened it, and others are implementing paid content as advertising revenues decline. The need to beef up revenue streams to create and deliver online content will lead to more content being placed behind a paywall with models evolving that include micropayments, premium or archived content for a fee, summary content for free, etc.
 - Social Media Integration — Companies will continue implementing social media strategies that include social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, etc. This implementation will require people and tools for monitoring, interaction/engagement and analysis. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools will need to more fully integrate social media to allow for these capabilities to serve the needs of their customers.
 - Security Threats — Online security threats will continue to grow creating further entrepreneurial opportunities for services and companies that can help consumers and small businesses navigate these treacherous times.
 - Greater Product & Retail Differentiation — With the continued growth of online comparison shopping engines driving the price sensitive market, retailers and manufacturers alike will need to beef up their efforts to differentiate both the retail experience and their product mix.
 - Expanded International Opportunities — The number of Chinese online — 360 million — now exceeds the population of the United States, yet that only represents 26.9% of the current Chinese population according to the China Internet Information Center. We’ve also seen ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) incorporate native language URLs (Internationalized country-code top level domain names -IDN ccTLDs) in the mix creating for the first time an opportunity for users “to obtain a domain name with the entire string in characters based on their native language.” Source: ICANN
 - Targeted Advertising Growth — The digital environment will allow greater and greater advertising targeting as more refined consumer profiles are created through more sophisticated digital analysis.
 - Privacy Concerns will Increase — As consumers hear more about data breaches and corporate and government intrusions on their digital lives, a backlash could arise leading to new regulations and requirements.
 - Device Proliferation — 2010 will continue to see the device market proliferating with netbooks, smartphones, e-readers, thin & light laptops, and even desktop installations growing as Windows 7 migration accelerates and consumers and businesses open up their pocketbooks to a wider range of devices. A counter trend is that consumers will become resistant to paying multiple access fees for content delivered by a range of devices.
For more trends and insights throughout the year, please follow me @thewebchef.
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So what do you think the top trends for 2010 will be?
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