Digital Marketing Trends
Think digital marketing is just about advertising? Think again. These days, marketing extends far beyond what you might normally think of as traditional advertising. Every single aspect of a brand, from its identity to the services provided, can be enhanced and refined by marketing strategies. Here’s just some of the more common trends to watch out for over the coming months.
Artificial Intelligence
As AI programs grow more accessible, a whole new generation of marketers are learning to harness its power to both push automated notifications as well as provide detailed analysis of customer habits and trends—resulting in an array of effective and precise tools which can customize campaigns to target specific demographics and trends.
Chatbots
While already widely in use by many digital marketing agencies, expect them to grow more sophisticated and personalized, providing everything from shopping assistance and site navigation to talent recruitment and lead generation.
Content Marketing
Content marketing isn’t a quick 3 second streaming video most people skip over. Instead, it’s a powerful way to add valuable information to the user experience without trying to sell a brand. Customers have grown more shrewd and discerning about content in the past few years, and any form of marketing will have to grow even more refined in return.
Omnichannel Marketing
Today’s consumers aren’t just relying on one device or even one site for their shopping decisions. They’re reviewing social media, blog posts and podcasts through a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets in addition to traditional PC/laptop usage. Omnichannel marketing is simply a way to help provide a clear and unified voice through all channels, including automated SMS messaging, websites, live chats, content and mobile apps, making certain a brand’s message is consistent.
Search Engine Optimization Trends
Virtually any company in the slightest bit engaged in digital marketing will already be leveraging SEO, but you can expect even more powerful and personalized results, including localized SEO, multi-channel results (including social media and downloadable content in addition to site results) more specific keyword queries and a much more organic and simpler user experience overall during the next year.
Social Media Messaging
While social media messaging will likely never replace email marketing, with an estimated 3.5 billion social media users across various platforms in 2019 alone, social media messaging can be tailored to target those specific users who can’t or won’t bother to click on paid advertisements.
Video Marketing
Video currently represents 16 percent of all digital marketing formats, but some sources estimate that number to more than triple by the end of 2020 alone. There’s no doubt that video marketing offers a more relatable experience for users; and with over 100 million hours of streaming video being watched daily on Facebook alone, any company not taking advantage of its popularity is missing out on a substantial portion of their potential customer base.
Voice Recognition
It’s been predicted that over 50 percent of all search engine queries will be the result of voice recognition software by the end of 2020—and since voice search results vary dramatically from typed results, ymarketing agencies will have to adjust their strategies in order to adapt.