Top Ten marketing trends to watch in 2011

Marketing continues to change at breakneck speed. Here are 10 trends marketers should watch to help keep pace with that change.

Change is the one thing we can count on in this world, and that rule holds particularly true in today's marketing universe. 2011 will be no exception as marketing continues this still-accelerating phase of its evolution, with some big issues that particularly stand out and deserve our attention. Here are ten trends marketers should watch out for this year:

1. Customer engagement is not a passing fad. Customer engagement can be defined as customers engaging online or offline with one another or with a company. There have been similar terms in the past, such as customer intimacy, but engagement isn't a fad. This new step in the sales process is here to stay because customers now engage directly with one another often before they engage with a company.

2. Data integration becomes mission critical. Now that there's so much more data with the advent of social media, marketers must look beyond their traditional sources of data warehousing. And the process of integrating online and offline data is becoming increasingly complex. Marketers need to create customer hubs that integrate data from all sources so it can be analyzed and used to make a multitude of business decisions

3. Marketing analytics are red hot. This avalanche of data is also fueling the growth of analytics. After all, the goal is not to collect data, but to develop insights. Social conversations are giving marketers an unending stream of incoming data, but marketers need advanced analytical capabilities to identify, analyze, and describe patterns amidst all the digital garbage. Unfortunately, people skilled at this are increasingly difficult to find, so many marketers will look to outsource this function from their database marketing service providers, consulting firms, and boutique analytics service providers.

4. Social media marketing will mature. 2010 was the year social media exploded onto the marketing scene. In 2011 it will evolve from experimental campaigns to social tactics that are fully integrated into the overall marketing strategy. The social media marketing process will become a never-ending cycle of 1) research, 2) planning, 3) engagement, and 4) measurement. Even advanced social strategies like listening platforms will move beyond their primary functions of customer service and brand monitoring when social data becomes connected to other forms of customer data.

5. Technology vendors are blurring the distinction between products and services. The technology vendor landscape is transforming quickly. Consolidation means vendors will increasingly offer a smorgasbord of services and products. This is making it difficult for marketers to determine who does what. Marketers typically prefer best-of-breed solutions, but vendors push for integrated suites. Expect more confusion, not less, in 2011.

6. Segmentation becomes schizophrenic. Dave Frankland of Forrester said that "today's firms are schizophrenic about customer segmentation." Brand and research teams use cohorts, customer experience professionals prefer personas, and the analytics staff likes clusters. Expect some change in these approaches as marketers begin to overlay various segments as a first step to creating a more holistic picture of the customer. However, Frankland also points out that in order to do this, "the internal political minefield will be equally important."

7. "Touchpoint Attribution" emerges as the new buzzword for 2011. Multichannel marketing was the hot topic in 2009. But multichannel marketing can only be effective if it's measured. It also means that multichannel marketers have to become a lot more sophisticated by doing more than allocating sales to the most recent customer interaction. Others are calling this fractional attribution, but the goal is the same: to understand the relative value of different channels and gauge the success of marketing programs accordingly.

8. Mobile marketing explodes. A number of things happened in 2010 that set the stage for an explosion of mobile marketing in 2011. Apple's iPhone, Google's introduction of Android, and Apple's launch of the iPad mean that smartphone adoption has escalated. Mobile marketing can now move beyond mobile messaging; mobile email, mobile websites, and mobile applications will become viable channels for marketers. The explosion will happen when the new devices, faster networks, and new location-based technologies converge.

9. Privacy wars heat up. Online marketing relies on a dirty secret: it needs cookies to track and target behavior. But consumers are rising up and demanding change, so much so that legislation is now looming in Congress. Privacy experts don't believe it will pass in 2011, but you can expect to see a much stronger emphasis on self-regulation. Facebook and Google are continually adjusting their business models as a result. As marketing becomes more social and mobile, privacy issues will remain in the spotlight.

10. "Right Touching" makes sense. Multichannel marketing will continue to increase as more channels go into the marketer's toolbox. Measuring these touches is important, but selecting the right ones in the first place will get more attention. Another new buzzword, right touching, describes the process of selecting the right online and offline channels that best meet customers' preferences. To do multichannel marketing with the right touchpoints means that marketers will need to invest in technologies to support this in an automated fashion