5 Weekly Must Reads in Marketing

This week’s top 5 articles cover some thought-provoking aspects of marketing in general and product marketing in particular, alongside refreshing takes on some basics.  In this weekly roundup, you can find 5 excellent articles discussing various topics, focusing on trends and must-knows for 2016, alongside great tips on how to press that “buy” button in your customer’s brain. Oh, and Star Wars is here as well…  

The Science Behind Cognitive Marketing

Conventional marketing strategies used today involve ‘in your face’ tactics, which you’d probably call advertising. Those creating campaigns will design eye-catching banners, write catchy slogan or perhaps present unyielding questions which their products are designed to answer. Whereas professional marketers will identify with people, marketing is designed specifically to identify with one’s mind. This great article by Dave Smitherson reveals the science behind cognitive marketing, from its history to the way it works.  

15 (Non-Forced) Star Wars Tweets You Can Use to Promote Your Product

The ending note for 2015 was, without a doubt, the new Star Wars movie, which still continues to trend, online and offline. So why not leverage the movie’s huge success to promote our products?  This post shares 15 tweets you can use, with some funny Star Wars pawns.  

Why Content Marketing Success Will Be Harder to Achieve in 2016

This post by David Dodd is one of many “2016 predictions” articles, but unlike many others, this one contains some fascinating statistics, focusing on the rather gloomy future of content marketing. Last fall, for example, the 2016 content marketing survey by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs revealed that only 30% of respondents rated their content marketing efforts as effective, down from 38% in the 2015 edition of the survey. The drop of eight percentage points is significant because the perception of effectiveness had been fairly steady for several years – 42% in 2014, 36% in 2013, and 40% in 2012.  

2016 Predictions: The Marketing Channels You Can’t Miss

Marketers everywhere are currently looking for the new hottest must-watch marketing channels, that’ll help our promotions efforts grow in the upcoming year. This article by Juli Durante tries to predict the 5 next “big things,” from “sponsored articles” to going all-mobile.  

Top five content marketing trends for 2016

And while a previous article in this roundup predicted a dark future for content marketing, this one, by Reeta Gupta, is a bit more optimistic, presenting 5 must-know trends for 2016. Reeta reminds us that the journey from trigger to purchase is not fully online, and that a marketing strategy can not only be based on the number of clicks we’re getting.