What is the Future of Digital Marketing?
The digital world has been changing constantly and rapidly, especially in the last few years. Keeping up with what’s hot in digital marketing can be difficult, especially if you’re one of the people on the front lines taking care of your clients’ online presence.
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| What is the Future of Digital Marketing? |
The important thing to remember, though, is that it isn’t only about following trends or keeping up with the latest tools and strategies – it’s about understanding where these trends and tools are coming from, how they affect your business, and whether they’re actually relevant to your needs.
Trends for Direct Communication
More and more digital marketers are using their own websites and other media to connect directly with potential customers, aiming to interact in ways that have previously been confined to business-to-business companies.
This trend in digital marketing mirrors a larger move toward more direct communication—where companies get away from cold calls and email blasts in favor of better buzz.
By developing a personal connection with consumers, it becomes easier for brands to cultivate loyalty by delivering valuable content.
Trends for Public Relations
In the Digital marketing field, public relations has been under fire lately due to its seemingly high costs and lack of value to the business.
However, PR can be an invaluable tool for delivering information, which means it will never die out completely. In fact, trends in digital marketing are pushing public relations into a new era that can be even more effective than its past form.
Read on to find out how you can make your business stand out using some of these top trends!
Trends for Advertising
While social media and mobile use continue to surge, traditional methods for advertising—like television commercials and radio spots—continue to struggle.
If you’re looking for new ways to promote your business, focus on creating eye-catching digital marketing ads. More customers are browsing online and using their phones than ever before, so it makes sense that advertising would shift accordingly. In fact, according to a recent report from eMarketer, worldwide ad spending will reach $558 billion in 2017.
Of that total, $141 billion will be spent on digital advertising. In short: don’t forget about TV or radio—but do invest in some flashy digital ads if you want to stay competitive.
Trends for Consulting
The trend for digital marketing consulting and strategy agencies has been to offer both digital marketing services and consulting at a fixed cost that includes implementation.
This allows companies with smaller budgets to implement a variety of tactics that they would otherwise struggle to implement if they had to pay hourly.
It also gives digital marketers who want more strategic input into their clients’ marketing an opportunity to take on some consulting work while they are ramping up their client base in order to establish themselves as trusted advisors.
Trends for Mobile
More than just a tool for telling time, mobile phones are now an extension of human culture and psychology. With recent reports suggesting that mobile Internet use has already eclipsed desktop in some countries, it’s clear that online marketers need to take note.
The future trends for digital marketing suggest that we should expect a continued migration towards mobile devices and away from traditional computers; advertisers will need to adapt accordingly in order to stay competitive and relevant in a changing marketplace.
Trends for Social Media
The future of social media looks even more social, it's an ever-growing trend in digital marketing and will continue to be. With more consumers spending their time online on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram; brands are using social media to interact with their customers through blogging, chats, and interactive ads.
Businesses can gain customers' trust by offering helpful advice or publishing information that pertains to their target market. To effectively use social media channels as a marketing tool you have to be active and engaging with your followers.
Trends For Email Marketing
As email marketing professionals, it’s our job to be on top of all trends and changes in digital marketing. For example, do you know that one email provider makes up 44% of all emails sent? The future is looking bright for email marketers and those who specialize in digital marketing.
Let’s check out what’s trending in digital marketing. Email marketing software MailChimp announced that it had over 3 million customers in 2016 and sent approximately 300 billion emails per month. With numbers like these, email marketing is still a key player in digital marketing strategies across businesses of all sizes.
When it comes to effective email design, simple wins: Emails with fewer than seven elements convert at 2x the rate of more complex designs (such as hero images or sliders). On mobile devices, too many elements can also lead to higher unsubscribe rates as users struggle to navigate their way through a long scroll-based design.
Trends for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO has been around for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it’s not evolving. The technology powering SEO continues to evolve at a rapid pace.
AI and chatbots are making their way into SEO strategies, and there are also increasing opportunities for content marketers to leverage machine learning and natural language processing as well.