10 Digital Marketing Trends You Should Know About
Digital marketing trends emerge, evolve, and disappear faster than a New York minute.
Some trends that are relevant and on point one day can become outdated just a few months later. Others, however, may linger for years and be every bit as effective as their initial introduction.
Even the savviest marketers may find themselves struggling to keep up with the hottest digital marketing trends. That’s why we’ve done some of the hard work for you.
The 10 Digital Marketing Trends You Need to Know
We’ve searched the depths of the digital sea and discovered 10 of the most important digital marketing trends that will make people care about your brand:
Video Advertising on Multiple Channels
YouTube may be the star of video marketing, but it’s now sharing the spotlight with other high-ranking social sites.
Social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are seeing a dramatic increase in video content, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing.
With the storytelling features of Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram and dozens of free video creators and editing apps, video marketing has become cheaper and easier than ever. That means no fancy video equipment, no special editing software, and no expensive lighting. The only thing that’s stopping you now is your own creativity.
Live Video Streaming
Speaking of video advertising, studio-quality videos aren’t the only video digital marketing trends making a splash. With a smart phone and a simple swipe, you can star in your own live video stream on Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram.
Aside from being 100% free, the best part of live video is that there are seemingly infinite options on how to use it. It doesn’t matter what type of business or who your audience is – live video gets attention.
Host a Q&A, give a behind-the-scenes tour, live stream an event or concert, perform a demonstration – live video can help you put your creativity to good use, and often.
Content Marketing with an Emphasis on Context and Quality
Content has been an avid leader of digital marketing trends for the past few years, but it’s no longer enough simply to have content. Rather, marketers are working harder to create content that’s relevant in context and focuses on quality rather than quantity.
This means doing thorough keyword research for SEO, making content interactive to boost retention and stand out from competitors, and writing better-targeted content to attract the right audience.
Mobile-optimized Marketing
In 2014, mobile internet usage surpassed desktop internet usage for the first time in history. And once those two paths crossed, they were likely destined never to meet again.
Mobile internet usage continues to increase, which means delivering an epic mobile website experience is becoming less of an option in digital marketing trends. Having a mobile-optimized site is just the beginning. In addition, you should explore mobile-friendly customer support channels, dedicated apps, push messages, and location-based marketing to make a bigger mobile impact.
Rising Digital Advertising Costs
Digital advertising has afforded small businesses a cost-effective way to compete with larger companies. And while digital marketing trends predict that those advertising costs will remain affordable, it’s likely you’ll be spending a little more for ad space.
It’s supply and demand at its most basic: the number of companies who are using digital advertising is increasing. This means more competition for ad space, which leads to a higher cost for top spots.
Ephemeral Social Media Content
Disappearing social media content sounded crazy to some, but it was just crazy enough to work. Snapchat led the charge with a platform centered around expiring content.
This immediacy helps push more people to engage with content before they lose their chance forever. The fact that other platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook with the copycat Stories feature, have since followed suit, it’s likely the draw of disappearing content won’t make its own vanishing act anytime soon.
Data-driven Marketing
No longer satisfied with personal perceptions and gut feelings, marketers are turning to cold, hard data to direct their efforts. There’s a good reason for this: big data is everywhere, and it’s becoming easier to leverage.
Predictive analytics can give a boost to your email marketing and website personalization to help strengthen conversions. As machine learning continues to grow, so will the effectiveness of predictive analytics in helping you connect with customers like never before.
Personalized Automation
Personalized automation sounds like an oxymoron, but with the aforementioned predictive analytics, the gap between the two is closing. Automation itself sounds like a marketers dream – flip a switch and never worry about another email or marketing message again.
However, automated functions can often remove the human element, making each interaction come across as cold and impersonal. Personalizing an experience means more than injecting the person’s name into an email. Rather, companies are recognizing the power of behavioral-based emails that can make better recommendations to customers based on their preferences and actions.
In essence, each touch point will look and feel as though it were created specifically with the user in mind, but without the effort and cost associated with custom marketing messages.
CX as a Competitive Differentiator
Instead of battling in price wars and product competition, companies are recognizing the power of good service and how it looks in digital interactions.
Gartner predicted in 2015 that 2016 would herald the era for customer experience as a competitive advantage. They were right, and the battle is still raging in 2017.
Customer experience goes beyond how a prospect interacts with you on your website. Social media channels, online reviews, advertisements, email marketing, and other points of contact all contribute to shaping your customer’s opinion about your brand. The more connected and cohesive the experience, the more impactful and valuable each part of that experience becomes.
Wearable Technology
Apple Watch, Fit Bit, Moto 360 – these aren’t exactly new, but their successes have created new opportunities for other wearable technology to join the marketplace. These devices largely impact local promotions. As a result, a new segment is developing so that marketers can differentiate between online digital marketing and “real” marketing.
This is one of the newest digital marketing trends that you should expect to see plenty more of in coming years.
Wrap Up
How does your marketing strategy stack up to these 10 digital marketing trends? Drop us a comment below and let us know what you’re investing in.