We’ve got about two weeks here at the One Degree offices (virtual as they may be) before we break for the holidays. To wrap up the year in fine style I’ve asked some of the One Degree Contributors to provide us with a rewind of 2006 and a fast forward to 2007 to give you something substantial to chew on as the days get shorter. Richard McCann shares his thoughts on the highs and lows of this year and what we can expect next year…
1. Rewind – What trends in Internet marketing surprised you in 2006?
- Blog Marketing. Although important and should not be ignored , it is still on the early adopter side of the chasm. It is impressive to see the proactive approach many marketers are taking.
- Advertising and Retail on Second Life
2. Rewind – Did you add any new tools to your online marketing toolkit in 2006? I think I subscribed to every web 2.0 site under the sun, the following survived – Linkedin, Google Analytics and Trends, Bloglines and Upcoming.
3. Fast Forward – What do you see as the biggest trends in Internet Marketing in 2007?
- NicheCasting
- Social Networking
- Blog Monitoring – a required daily task
- The Unconference Trend will grow stronger
- Marketers will get into building Widgets/Tiles/Chicklets/Portlets for sites like Google.
- SMS/Text Messaging Marketing Campaigns.
- Less Banner Ads, more targeted campaigns
- Search Engine Analytics gets even stronger
4. Fast Forward – At the end of 2007, what do you expect we’ll be looking back at as overhyped?
- The Importance of Blogs for Marketing
- Unchecked Consumer Generated Content – I foresee a couple of more accidents that will spur people away
- Video/Photo Storage sites, the market is too saturated and with undefined revenue models.
5. Fast Forward – Any SPECIFIC predictions for 2007? Buy-outs, bubbles bursting, records broken, reputations toppled, break-out companies?
- The large agencies like Carlson Marketing will come back strong after being dormant
- The collapse and acquisition of a majority of web 2.0 sites. Very few will remain independent and viable.
- In Game Advertising jumps to the next level – event sponsorship and online boutiques.