As a business professional, you likely work hard to keep ahead of your competitors in all aspects, even digital marketing. In 2008, this likely meant simply getting into the basics of search engine optimization and using social media as a marketing tool. Today’s digital marketing trends have evolved from there, though, to one of the most, if not the most significant element of your overall marketing strategy. Sadly, you ignore these trends to your own detriment. To continue to move forward in today’s technology-rich, digital obsessed society, you must embrace the changes and utilize these digital trends to benefit, promote and even expand your business.
Why It’s So Important to Pay Attention to Marketing Trends
If you are in marketing, there is likely no need for me to convince you of the need to stay abreast of the latest trends within the industry. You know that marketing is the lifeblood of a business’s longevity and without a consistent focus on this aspect of your business, it is doomed to drift into the annals of history and not maintain its present vigor. If you don’t know a lot about marketing, you might be tempted to skim this article and assume this is just a scare tactic, overblown for the sake of clicks or reads. You can be sure, this is not the case.
As business leader, educator, consultant and author Peter Drucker once said, “Because it is its purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two—and only these two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.”
Though there are many forms of marketing, the digital variety is of particular interest today. It is these digital trends we will explore in this article, educating you on the trends you must pay attention to in the digital marketing arena:
Top Digital Marketing Trends You Must Embrace
Artificial Intelligence (AI) And/Or Chatbots Are Growing in Importance
When you hear the term “artificial intelligence,” your mind might go to ET or some other alien being. However, this isn’t exactly what we mean here. This AI is the ability of various tools to analyze consumer behavior, recognize patterns, and gather and utilize data from blog posts and social media platforms. In other words, this artificial intelligence works to connect customers with products and companies with customers. Facebook has messenger bots, for example, that can work to improve your customer service through customer service optimization.
Gartner estimates some 25% of all customer service platforms will use some sort of chatbot AI by 2020. The benefits for a business in adopting AI into customer service is estimated to save overhead costs, encourage business growth and help them gain an edge over competitors. It is estimated that using chatbots will save businesses over $8 billion per annum. This is especially true within the healthcare and banking industries. Uber is an example of a company that already successfully uses chatbot technology to communicate with their customers, making it easy for clients to contact an Uber driver from Slack or Facebook Messenger via Google Maps. Most people prefer interacting with a Chabot as opposed to talking to a real person.
Personalization is Key
Wait, you might be thinking, didn’t you just say that chatbots are key and not talking to a real person is preferred? Well, yes, but the “personalization” spoke of in this point isn’t actually speaking person-to-person. Instead, it means using data to look at a consumer’s behavior, links, purchase history and the like to tweak your marketing methods to them. In other words, you no longer sell just any product to them, but you personalize which product you offer them based on their purchase history and online activity.
Head of Marketing at EmailMonks, Kevin George said the following about personalization through digital data gathering, “The future of e-mail is real-time, behavior-based personalization. A study by Marketo shows that personalized, triggered e-mails based on behavior are three times better than batch-and-blast emails.”
Businesses like Amazon and Netflix have already perfected the art of using personalization. Simply by logging into your Netflix account, you see proof of this by finding artwork, orders, text, shows, titles and banners all personalized to your preferences.
Remember the adage: Personalization = Maximize enjoyment + Minimize search time
Video Marketing is Here to Stay
Back in the day of MTV dominance, it was said the “video killed the radio star.” Well, we aren’t exactly talking about music videos per say but videos are still valid when it comes to digital marketing. In fact, just look at the following stats showing the importance of using videos within a marketing strategy:
- 39% of executives will call a vendor after watching their video, some 65% will visit a marketer’s site.
- 52% of consumers claim watching a product video makes them feel better about making an online purchasing decision.
- 72% of business who use videos say it has improved their conversion rate.
Video doesn’t just mean a YouTube clip or piece either. You can now post a video on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook, and live video broadcasting is becoming more and more common as well. You might see a live video featuring a product demo, showing “behind the scenes” or showing how a product is made or anything and everything in between.
The above digital marketing trends are a sampling of the tools you need to be using in order to improve your business’s brand, scope and longevity. You ignore them to your detrient, because they aren’t going anywhere! So, don’t get left behind.
Brandie P’s career as a freelance writer spans several years and encompasses an abundance of niche specialties. Before beginning her writing career, she was an office manager and worked in the medical field. Her experience in these two fields have come in handy when writing topics pertaining to these fields.
