2014 was a transitional year where advertising redefined itself.  Amid the viral moments like Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie during the Oscars and the Twitter hype for the World Cup, there were a few trends that stood out in the world of marketing and media.

1. Print advertising made a comeback. Companies like Airbnb found a resurgence in print media.  Mobile may be cheaper but many advertisers still love print and seeing themselves in it.  Advertising in magazines also can have a much longer shelf life than other online channels.

2. Real-time marketing may not always work.  Oreo scored in 2013 with a strong real-time marketing campaign and then decided to step back in 2014.  During the 2014 Super Bowl, JCPenney embraced real-time marketing in a poor way by tweeting “with mittens on”.  Many people thought the account was hacked or someone was drunk tweeting on their behalf.

3. The death of Facebook marketing.  Facebook tried to crack down on “overly promotional” posts in the news feed but instead made the organic reach extremely low for business pages posts.  Analysts concluded that top brands’ posts on Facebook only reached about 2% of their fans and fewer than 0.1% of fans interacted with each post.

4. Online video won the year.  Ad revenues for online video was expected to jump 56% and marketers looked to moving their budgets to online video.  All businesses should consider video marketing for the coming year.

If your business is looking to increase your online marketing presence this year, the web design and marketing experts at Off The Wall Media are here to help. Visit OffTheWallMedia.com or call 503-452-1082 to learn more.