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Businesses are facing an exciting start to the 2009 calendar year. Many major organizations have recently chosen to rescind or completely waive the 2008 Q4 and 2009 Q1 and Q2 forecasts due to highly uncertain conditions. Below are ten trends, observations, and predictions for the coming year that all marketers should factor into their planning process to help them navigate through uncertain economic conditions.

1. Marketers apply the lessons of the 2008 presidential campaign. The millions of online activated volunteers who supported the 2008 presidential campaigns expect a level of transparency, accessibility and community that most companies have yet to achieve. More marketers than ever will be looking to digital and social media as a means to connect with customers.
2. Marketers will measure absolutely everything. A recent report on CNBC from a major marketer on their new need to “accurately measure the value of their sponsorship and advertising activities” highlights the “show me the money” approach we should have had all along in our marketing spend. ROI will be the only thing marketers care about in 2009, and they’ll find more creative ways than ever to measure it.
3. Insurgent vendors will gain a large market share. Innovative underdog organizations thrive in economic downturns. In fact, some of the best companies of the last half decade, such as Google Netflix, Ryanair, and the University of Phoenix, emerged in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Marketers who take an insurgent or underdog position and innovate in 2009 will see strong growth during the recovery.
4. Customer data will be your most precious marketing resource.Comprehensive customer data will enable marketers to learn, adapt, and benefit from their customer base in challenging times. Successful marketers will develop analytical proficiency and target customers with accurate offers to maintain profitability.
5. Everyone becomes a seller.Companies may have a hard time keeping track of who says what to whom, but they will increasingly realize that the marketing power they need starts with their loyal employees and customers. Successful marketers will train everyone in the marketing tools they need to turn their front line into customer magnets.
6. Marketers focus on targeting. Marketing 101 teaches us that STP: segmentation, targeting and positioning are keys to marketing success. In good times, marketers often expand their segments and goals without rigorous discipline. Successful marketers in 2009 will dig into their existing data to focus more vertically, and then target that type of customer horizontally across segments. Watch for the word “vertizontal” to appear.
7. Consumers expect feedback loops; companies respond. It has been called “Feedback 3.0” by some of the trend-watching think tanks. In 2009, consumers will become accustomed to contributing their ideas for corporate improvement to sites like My Starbucks Idea (www.mystarbucksidea.com) and businesses will seek to engage in those same conversations or risk alienating customers.
8. Mobile and location really start to matter. The buzz in mobile phone marketing has been alive for some time, but with the iPhone and other smartphones that are GPS-enabled and support 3^rd-party apps, keep an eye out for small business opportunities to add value with mobile apps and take advantage of existing mobile apps. Update your data in places like Google Maps. Geolocation mobile apps often use free data sources like these to find your business.
9. Tactics will continue to precede strategy.It sounds like blasphemy, but in a world where we’re inundated with so many ‘tactical’ options for getting our message to market, we’ll continue to see sellers infected with ‘shiny shiny object syndrome’ (BSOS) that has them chasing another new untested tactical approach in the absence of strategy. Hope 2010 is the year the ‘strategy’ returns!
10. B2B marketers will increasingly seek a “thought leadership” approach. With the threat of constant price promotion, successful sellers will try to change the game and shift to a position of thought leadership in the industry based on competencies and being useful to customers, rather than just competing on the price game. . Get your leadership on board, because this will take work to execute.

It seems that marketing always finds itself in difficult times. If it’s not the economy, it’s competition, growth, product launches, or something else. The most successful marketers keep a constant eye on trends and keep an ear out for learning what’s new and hot on the market.