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Everyone who has even a passing knowledge of digital marketing knows how competitive it gets on the internet. Companies will leverage nearly anything they can in order to be a step ahead of their competitors. Because of its competitive nature, the online marketing landscape is also in a near-constant cycle of change. New ideas are conceived, tested, and applied every day. However, despite the constant innovation, there are still ideas that have never “gone out of style,” so to speak. That is why every year we bear witness to things that have never been seen before, as well as tactics that have been working for businesses since the digital age began.
Analyzing trends is one of the most effective ways to stay competitive.
Stocksnap.io photo by Rawpixel.com
Whatever the case may be though, aside from thinking up of new ways to market their product online, companies will also need to take note of strategies that others will make use of. If a business were to be complacent and not notice the trends others employ in digital marketing, they would find their campaigns not being effective at all. You need to take note of these trends all the time in order to not only know what your competitors are doing, but also to gain inspiration to create your own process. For this year, the amount of digital marketing trends is almost too many to count, but here we have laid out some of the most prevalent that you will see this year.
- Artificial intelligence will be used by more companies.
Companies are going to integrate technology into their operations even more now with the advent of artificial intelligence. This will no longer be exclusive to those companies who have pockets deep enough to afford such technology, as these days it’s not that advanced anymore. Businesses will utilize touch screen pads so customers can order without waiting for the waiter. When making a payment, cash is going out of style as most adults already bring their own credit card, and with a simple tap or swipe, everything will be paid for.
This also applies to the digital marketing strategies that companies will use on their own websites. One of the most effective ways to have people on your website stay there, is to have someone guide and talk them through their whole experience. This is why chatbots will be found on a company’s landing page more often than not. Chatbots are also being optimized for mobile, which is what people use most often to access the internet. This year, expect an upsurge of chatbot usage, and we can only wait and see how companies will consolidate AI into their websites even more.
- More people are going to use and view live video
Live video has already been around for quite some time now and quite recently it seems that their prevalence has increased by a lot. Let’s face it, in today’s world, a lot of people would rather watch a short video instead of read a blog post that may or may not have what they want. With live video, viewer attention is kept longer, and because of how live video is shot and watched, interaction between the person making the video and the person who is watching it is on a completely different level.
The way this extends to digital media is how companies are able to give consumers a large amount of data in a relatively short amount of time. Live video is most commonly used to see a certain event, and companies may even take this opportunity to show a behind-the-scenes look at an event they are hosting. Or they can even create live-video-viewer only exclusive sales. No matter how you make use of it though, expect companies to use it more often this year.
- Mobile optimization will become a priority
By 2018, more than 50% of people are now using their phones to access the internet. This is understandable, because many adults use their mobile phones to watch videos, or browse through social media whenever they are not at home, or any other time where their computer is not available.
That’s why today, more than ever, the optimization of your websites for mobile browsing is very important. Imagine a customer trying to navigate your landing page, and they are unable to read anything because the script on your website is not compatible with mobile phones. You can only imagine that it would be next to impossible for that particular consumer to go with your company. Not only websites though; these days there are applications for almost anything. Companies are making sure to create their own mobile app as well as their uses are limitless. Online storefront apps and gamification apps are examples that come to mind.
- Large quantities of data will be consumed in order to fuel more accurate analytics
Predictive analytics is one of the most effective ways to foresee trends in the market concerning customer choice and preference. Although many companies have already been using this tactic for quite some time now, it wasn’t all that accurate, considering that gathering the necessary data was costly and time-consuming. Aside from the data collection, the analytics software solutions themselves were relatively clunky. Today though, technology has evolved to the point that gathering huge amounts of data to fuel analytics is quick and easy, and the results are going to be more accurate as well.
This is because modern computers and years of automated information gathering have made this entire process a lot more efficient than it was a few years ago. A lot of internet users are unaware that companies are gathering data about their interests, spending frequency, as well as other factors regarding your purchasing trends. This will fuel a company’s business, as well as increase sales immensely.
- More companies will focus more on enhancing the customer’s experience.
A lot of companies have begun seeing the benefits of customer experience marketing. A customer who had a great experience, and a customer who had a bad experience are two very different people. One will have a great opinion of your company, and the other is unlikely to go with your company ever again. Having a potential customer have a great experience when you market to them can make a world of difference, as many companies have observed.
A happy customer will not only be more likely to choose your company again in the future, but they will almost definitely recommend you to their friends and family as well. That is the reason why almost 70% of marketers have stated that they experienced a large increase in their business when they started focusing on enhancing the customer experience when they market to them. Customer experience is of great importance, as this will affect the trust that these companies have of your company.
- Great content will still dominate digital marketing
In and of itself, content isn’t really a trend. It has been around for many years, and ever since, it has dictated the success and failure of online marketing campaigns in multiple companies. That is why one of the most well-known phrases in the online marketing world is “Content is king.” However, as with everything else, it depends on the value of what you put out. If you do not bring value to the table when you create content, it will end up failing every time.
These days especially, the consumers are going to be harder to please. Standards are rising as to whether content is considered good or bad, and a lot of companies prioritize putting out topnotch content above everything else in their marketing campaign. Once again, concentrating on putting out great content that is both informative and entertaining is going to be a priority for many companies, and we don’t see that slowing down any time soon.
There are many strategies that businesses are able to make use of in order to increase their sales. However, it is not the strategies themselves that produce great numbers, but how the company chooses to apply these strategies. It doesn’t matter if you have a great plan of action for your online marketing campaign, and yet you don’t know how to properly execute it. You cannot simply copy successful tactics that other companies have used. You need to think if it would properly fit your brand, and if it doesn’t, then you need to think of something else.
