Last Updated on 21-June-2021
The digital marketing trends of the future are largely built on the features we have seen in recent years. From influencer marketing to more niche topics such as micro-moments, each trend has been used effectively by marketers to grow their business.
The CMO Survey predicts that spending on digital marketing will increase from 44 percent of a company’s marketing budget to 54 percent by 2024. This prediction means the future brings with it more methods for capitalizing on known trends.
This post goes through the trends to watch out for in the coming years, and how to incorporate them into your digital marketing strategy.
1) Capitalizing on Micro-Moments and Micro-Blogging
These moments are important because they are backed by a powerful need to do something right away, and are often right at the point where purchase decisions are made. It is in these moments where consumer expectations are at their highest.
How can a business provide for these consumers?
By micro-blogging, a business can take the information they have available on their website, and optimize it for a micro-moment. This may mean formatting their information to offer a quick answer to a frequently asked question.
Answering questions enables businesses to rank 0 in the Google search results, which is where consumers look to answer their pressing queries.
Consumers are often in a hurry to get information for their needs fast. The use of smartphones has created heightened expectations for speed and timeliness. Consumers also find it difficult to read through lengthy posts on mobile, which is where microblogging can help.
Having bite-sized portions of information available on the web makes your business valuable to consumers. They know they can rely on your business for important updates in a timely fashion.
Using micro-moments, businesses get a shot at their competitor’s customers. A survey found 1 out of 3 smartphone users have purchased from another company or brand instead of the one they had in mind, simply because the competing brand provided information when they needed it.
If you want to fulfill the immediate needs of your consumers, it may be worthwhile to include micro-blogging in your digital marketing strategy.
2) Enticing Users with Video Content
When you hear video marketing, you might only think about YouTube, but the video has made its way onto other platforms and is the content that receives the highest number of views.
Customers spend more time watching videos than on other content across all social media platforms. These videos could be in the form of explainer videos, product testimonials, behind-the-scenes videos, or interviews from top experts in companies. Videos help users connect with businesses, as they can see a face behind the brand.
Watching videos also keeps users on a platform longer, which encourages platforms to promote video content over others. Facebook videos have been known to have a much higher impression share than YouTube when the content is uploaded natively (straight to Facebook).
There are also Live video options on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, adding to a brand’s authenticity.
Because of user behaviour, Google rewards sites that produce videos. If your site includes video, it’s 53X more likely to get a first-page spot in search results. Having video content improves SEO and can boost your business’s ranking.
One of the benefits of introducing video into your digital marketing strategy is that video can be easily reformatted into other content.
With a video you can:
- Transcribe the script and have a blog post version of the video
- Publish the transcription and an embedded YouTube video on your website for higher rankings
- Upload the video natively to Facebook for greater distribution
- Take the audio and have a podcast version of the video
Consider creating video content in your marketing strategy to connect with customers and boost your rankings in search results.
3) Generating More ROI with Influencer Marketing
According to HubSpot, influencer marketing spending is forecasted to reach $8 billion by 2020. People connect with influencers because they want honest and transparent insight into products.
It has been common until now for brands to think short-term with their influencer campaigns. The theme that has emerged in 2019 and will continue is ambassador programs.
Brands that have a one-time deal with an influencer are now seen as inauthentic. When the same influencer regularly promotes a product or service, however, it’s a clear sign to users that they genuinely like and trust the brand.
The repeated exposure through certain influences also results in a higher chance of action or purchase.
By now you have probably come across the term micro-influencer, but brands are looking to include nano-influencers in their digital marketing strategy as well. Nano-influencers have followings between 1000-10,000 people but have a strong connection and respect in their community.
Most people consider a relationship between a brand and a nano-influencer as one that is authentic and genuine. In the future, businesses will do well to have a mix of a micro influencer’s reach with a nano influencer’s engagement.
Measuring the ROI from an influencer marketing campaign has been difficult in the past, but brands have come up with the following:
- Tracking the conversion rate from ambassador images compared to brand images
- Cost per conversion from influencer images
- Average order value as a result of the influencer’s images
- Customer lifetime value from an influencer’s conversions
Measuring these metrics will give you a better understanding of the value of your brand’s relationship with an influencer. Remember that repeated exposure will likely result in more brand trust.
4) Personalized Marketing for Every Customer
According to a 2018 study by Evergage, 98% of marketers say that personalization helps advance customer relationships. Personalization is when a business can make changes to the user’s experience without them actively knowing.
We are already familiar with Netflix and Amazon leveraging the power of personalization with tailored recommendations of movies or products.
These companies customize the user’s experience by learning about their interaction with the product. Each time a user watches a show, for example, they send a signal to Netflix about what type of content they find interesting.
Netflix can then combine the information they gather with other information they collect from the user during signups, such as demographics, location, and third-party sources. The combination of all of that data allows Netflix to deliver a more personalized and relevant experience to each user.
Marketers can save money with personalization, as the efforts of a digital marketing strategy are focused on people who are more likely to use your developed product or service.
Customers expect personalization thanks to Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. Four out of five people say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences.
Use data to get to know your audience and deliver on their expectations and needs.
5) Using Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence
Chatbots are truly on the rise. As more and more people use chatbot-like tech such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa in their homes, the opinion of chatbots is changing.
Business Insider experts predict that by 2020, 80% of businesses will use chatbots.
A chatbot is a program that uses AI to automate tasks such as chatting with a user through a messaging interface.
Chatbots can be used for a variety of tasks: answering frequently asked questions, engaging with customers on a site, and any minor customer issues.
Currently, chatbots are used on websites as customer service representatives. This allows the business to provide the 24/7 instant support that customers expect.
And customers are on board using chatbots as well. 63% of respondents in a survey prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand. When it comes to communicating with businesses, users find chatbots to be the fastest.
And it doesn’t take advanced coding skills to create a chatbot. You can build your own Facebook messaging marketing chatbot using a service such as Mobile Monkey. Their simple interface allows you to drag and drop different elements for your chatbot, making the tech accessible to businesses of all sizes.
But even in 2019, chatbot technology is still far from perfect. According to Spiceworks, 30% of respondents said that chatbots performed commands incorrectly, and 29% found that chatbots had difficulty understanding accents.
As AI technology advances, customers expect more businesses to employ chatbots and provide improved online customer service.
6) Saving Time with Email Marketing Automation
Email marketing technology is used by 82% of B2B and B2C companies. In the coming years, email marketing will focus more on personalizing a user’s experience based on their behavior. Thankfully, this process is helped by automation.
Email marketing automation is not just about choosing a time to send out messages. Marketers can create automated email campaigns based on a user’s behavior.
Personalized messages can be triggered by user behavior, ensuring relevant content at the right time.
An example of an email marketing campaign is an abandoned cart email automation. The customer receives an email when there is an item left in their cart.
The email will feature their exact item and a prompt to finish their transaction. This keeps the interaction personal and ensures the email does not feel like spam.
Transactional emails, such as an order confirmation or delivery date, result in high opening rates. Users want the assurance that your company received their order, and email is an effective channel to communicate that message.
Email automation saves time on having to manually follow up on each action from a customer.
A bonus of automation is to have a system that prunes your email list every so often. Keep your email list up to date with leads that consistently show interest in your business.
This practice will ultimately lead to more conversions, as you spend more of your time and effort on valuable subscribers on your list.
7) Improving Conversion Rates with Landing Page Optimization
A landing page is a standalone page that allows you to capture a user’s contact information via a lead form. Optimizing a landing page not only requires thinking about what the customer sees on the page but what search engines see as well.
Put your keywords in the places Google is searching on your page. This includes the title, description, body, subheadings, and meta description. And if you want to get the most out of your images, try to incorporate keywords into your ALT text descriptions.
Beyond optimizing the page for desktop, businesses will need to have a strategy for optimizing their landing pages for mobile. There has been a significant increase in mobile usage over the past few years, however, only 50% of landing pages are optimized for mobile.
Any font on your mobile landing page should be at least 16 pixels in size. This will ensure the copy is easy to read on mobile devices. And you may want to change the forms you have on your mobile landing page. Only include the necessary information, as users will not want to fill out lengthy forms on their phones. You should have two different forms:
- One for desktop users where they can type out more information comfortably
- One for mobile users that is quick to fill out and to the point
A landing page that is easy to read for both users and search engines will result in a higher ranking, and more conversions.
Conclusion: Which Trends Should I Include in my Digital Marketing Strategy?
Depending on your digital marketing goals, you may want to hop on all of these trends or only a select few. If you want to create a custom strategy for your business, while keeping up with these trends, a digital marketing agency can help. Contact us today so we can discuss your goals and how to keep your business ahead of the competition.