Top 4 Growing Digital Marketing Trends You Need to Know

Make the Most of Your Online Presence

Digital marketing is ever changing. It is important that #advertisers and #marketers alike stay up to date to successfully optimize a brand's campaign goals. Digital marketing includes all #online channels of marketing such as #display, #video, #mobile, #social, #search, #website, and #email. Each serves a specific purpose to brands and are measured by a multitude of #metrics. These metrics are used to analyze the success of a campaign to better adapt to consumer behavior. Utilizing an online presence is not solely used for brand awareness and conversions. An online presence is the best way for a company to gather data within their #target market and perfect strategies used to reach this market. This data can include customer #feedback and habits which assist in the development of a well-rounded buyer persona. In this post we'll cover which 4 technologies, strategies, and trends that will have the most significant impact on digital advertising over the next 5 years and why they're so emblematic for digital advertisers today.

Mobile Marketing

The usage of online #mobile technology is skyrocketing. "Average smartphone conversion rates have gone up 64% compared to the average desktop CR" (Chekalov, 2018). Therefore, mobile marketing is an increasing priority for digital advertisers. Mobile #commerce is a current trend that will continue to grow and evolve in the next 5 years. "These technologies might not be widely adopted just yet, but more and more companies are competing within the m-commerce space and offering new ways for consumers to pay by mobile" (Dodson, 2019). Wearable computing is an example of a trend within mobile marketing that has only recently emerged and will become crucial for digital advertising in the near future. "These trackers can tell what people are doing, where they are, and so on—and this data could inform purchasing and marketing decisions as a result" (Dodson, 2019). The rise of online mobile technology is why it is necessary for companies to make sure their #website is compatible with mobile devices. A seamless experience for the user will increase a brand’s credibility. Additionally, separate SEO must be performed, as Google mobile search results drastically differ from desktop search results.

The combination of increased usage of #smartphones and the evolution of its usage brings great opportunity to digital advertising. #Mobilemarketing is a relatively new strategy. However, it's also increasing in growth at a similar rate as its use. This strategy will more conveniently and directly reach #consumers, and smartphone usage will enhance #data collection for digital advertisers.

Native Advertising

Native advertising, aka #interactivemarketing, has been around for a while now. Yet, it recently has become more well defined with an increased variety of uses. "Jesper Laursen, CEO of the Native Advertising Institute, defines native advertising as 'paid advertising where the ad matches the form, feel, function, and quality of the content of the media on which it appears'" (Shiao, 2019). This means native advertising has the capability of enhancing #engagement with a brand's target audience. #Quizzes, #polls, #surveys, interactive #infographics and #videos are all examples of native marketing. This is a great technique to capture the audience’s attention. The application of this two-way marketing #communication has a few benefits. In addition to creating a mere-exposure effect, brands are able to gather a large amount of data from participants. Native marketing satisfies both the business and consumer mutually by combatting banner blindness while developing a personal experience.

A successful example of its use is Taco Bell's multi-media integrations with #media partners Waze and ESPN. “Brand placements on the platform include branded pins on maps for every Taco Bell location, a full-screen takeover when users are stopped and within the vicinity of a Taco Bell encouraging them to pick Taco Bell over grocery stores and other game-day food locations” (Weissman, 2013). Challenging the consumer to perform an action allows the business to #personalize their one-to-one marketing #strategy. Consumers will feel closer to the brand and even have the opportunity to get to know the product before purchasing. With the use of mobile apps continuing to increase, native #content will become a necessity for digital advertisers.

Voice Search Optimization

With the steep increase of online mobile users, voice search has become a growing trend. Because of this, digital marketers are jumping at the chance to optimize their website ranking on voice search results. Just as mobile and tablet search engine results pages (#SERPs) differ from a desktop, voice search rankings are also factored by #Google differently, and therefore display differing results than #mobile and #desktop users. With the already fierce competition of SERPs rankings, voice search #optimization is a must for businesses to stay relevant.

Number of Digital Voice Assistants in Use Worldwide from 2019 and 2023 (in billions)

Speed is the number one reason global mobile users are accessing #voicesearch. It is also extremely user friendly. Voice search is more appropriate, convenient, and apt for mobile. Additionally, results are more straightforward because Google’s goal is to provide the most direct answers to these types of searches. “Searchers want quick and immediate results, and Google understands this” (Rauthan, 2019). To do this, Google factors in longer and more conversational keyword #queries for instant results.

One of the biggest benefits voice search optimization provides is the opportunity for consumers to perform a #local listings search. The optimization of voice search will give companies the upper hand when a consumer needs to access quick "near me" information such as coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, counselors, title companies, etc. It is also beneficial to consumers to be able to access information specific to a #business such as hours, location, and reviews.

Video Communications

Video communication is also exploding throughout the digital world, especially on social media. "Views of branded video content have increased 99% on YouTube and 258% on Facebook between 2016 and 2017. On Twitter, a video Tweet is 6x more likely to be retweeted than a photo Tweet" (2019). Additionally, YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. Therefore, #video communication will enhance awareness for digital advertisers. These statistics have only increased as "80% of all mobile consumption is video today" (Equalman, 2019). The optimization of YouTube has become a top priority for those utilizing this trend. The proper #YouTube optimization tactics will have the highest chance of appearing on the top organic search engine results originating from both YouTube and Google. Since the recent COVID-19 crisis, media #consumption has drastically changed. The Gen Z generation has increased their use of online #video consumption by 51%. #Millennials are not far behind with a 44% increase. Gen X has also increased by 35%. Additionally, social media is currently still free. Therefore, brands are able to utilize more genuine and cost efficient ways to create paid, earned, and owned media with #videocommunication. This trend has been predicted to continue to grow.

Final Thoughts

These new #trends, #strategies, and #technologies benefit brands by enhancing their market #reach, and therefore increasing buyer #influence, purchase #intent, #awareness, and #data collection. Mobile marketing, native advertising, voice search optimization and video communications will extend digital advertising to new lengths by creating new popular points of contact between the business and consumer. The next 5 years will be the wave of increased raw online communication and convenience for users. As #product and #company data are more easily #accessible to buyers, digital advertisers will also have the opportunity to gather more data than ever before to target their ideal #customer. Check out more from my previous blog posts on how to utilize your marketing objectives to optimize your key performance indicators.

---

References:

Chekalov, M. (2018, January 1). How Businesses Use Mobile Marketing to Their Advantage (Infographic). https://appgeeks.org/blog/mobile-marketing-infographic/.

Dodson, I. The Digital Marketing Playbook. [MBS Direct]. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781119265719/

Equalman. (2019, January 8). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6k_G_h41ZaQ

Rauthan, H. (2019, August 6). Voice Search Optimization: 7 Ready-to-Use SEO Strategies to Rank Better. https://www.semrush.com/blog/voice-search-optimization-7-seo-strategies-to-rank-better/

Shiao, D. (2019, February 13). What You Need to Know About Native Advertising. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/02/about-native-advertising/.

Weissman, S., Joseph, S., & Monllos, K. (2013, May 8). Taco Bell's Content-First Ad Approach. https://digiday.com/marketing/taco-bells-content-first-ad-approach/.

Why Video is Exploding on Social Media in 2019. (2019). https://www.wyzowl.com/video-social-media-2019/.