Strategy+Design

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re back from vacation and are already hard at work on a bunch of really cool projects. Before we get too far into 2012, we thought it would be good to reflect on some of the things we learned and discussed in 2011. Here is a breakdown of our top 5 most popular blog posts of 2011.

1) How Cold Stone Creamery Made Money on Facebook
The fact that this post was our most popular post of the year makes sense. 2011 was the Year of Social Media, and people spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to use these channels effectively. So, of course people were interested in reading about how Cold Stone Creamery managed to not only use Facebook to get attention, but also figured out how to actually turn it into a revenue source.

2) Audi – A Lesson in Brand Investment
Our second most popular post of the year was about a company who managed to take a brand that had seen better days and turn it into a success. It’s not easy to change people’s perceptions of your brand, but Audi has proved that if you stick to your guns and target the right people, it can certainly be done.

3) The Importance of Having A Mobile Strategy
If the predictions are correct, in 2012 we will see a greater focus on mobile marketing. The use of smartphones is skyrocketing and mobile is quickly becoming something that can’t be ignored. If you don’t have some sort of mobile strategy, this is a must-read.

4) B2B Marketing – Does your brand creative have to be bland creative?
In 2011, we saw some big changes in the B2B marketing world. There’s a shift in thinking that is starting to happen and I think we’ll probably start to see many more examples of B2B companies starting to become more inventive with their websites, print marketing, and especially with video and social media.

5) A Visual Aid For Understanding Content Marketing
2011 was also a big year for content marketing. We talked about it a bit more in depth here, but this cool visual aid we came across (thanks to Social Media Explorer) explains the concept of content marketing in a way that’s really clear and easy to understand. Check it out.

So that’s a little taste of what we were talking about in 2011. Many of these trends will probably continue to grown in 2012, but we would like to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think will be the big marketing trends in 2012? Leave us a comment and share your predictions with us.