When it comes to digital marketing, it’s extremely important for businesses to stay in touch with current trends if they want to get the best results out of it. Whether it’s SEO, PPC, social media, or email marketing – knowing exactly what works at a given moment is what separates the successful campaigns from the ones that fail. Google keeps updating its search engine algorithms regularly and other engines are keeping up as well, such as Facebook and YouTube.
If you want satisfied clients you’ll need to keep their campaigns effective. The single best way to ensure this is for marketers to stay up to date with marketing trends, which is why we’ve prepared a list of digital marketing trends for 2018.
Video Content is a Thing
While this isn’t a new trend per se, since marketing through videos has been on the constant rise in the past few years, it’s important to note here that the trend is only gaining in popularity. Platforms like Instagram and YouTube have changed how customers look on content, which is why it’s extremely important to adapt your campaigns while you still can. Consumers spend almost 3x more time on pages with video than on those without. The reason is simple – it’s much easier to digest something you watch than something you have to read. Visualization is an important aspect of today’s world, which is why you’ll want to incorporate it into your marketing campaigns.
Voice Search
The rise of digital assistants in the last year means a lot is about to change when it comes to marketing, especially SEO and its keyword research. Most experts believe that by 2020 about half of all searches will be done without a screen, which is why you need to be prepared for this shift.
Keyword research is going to be affected since people search in a completely different manner when they’re using their voice. You wouldn’t just say: “SEO Birmingham” to your AI assistant, rather you’d ask it for “local SEO companies near me”. Because of this, you’ll want to include a lot of long-tail keywords in your SEO strategy as well as the phrases.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is the type of advertising where your ads are shown as part of the natural user experience, opposed to appearing as ads in a sidebar. Consumers hate disruptive ads like pop-ups which will definitely decline in performance in the upcoming years. Users have come to expect seamless experience in the recent years and nothing that disrupts it will perform well, which is why native ads are on the rise. They don’t annoy the users which is why you’ll see an increase in traffic and conversions if you start using them on time.
Social Media Ads
While it’s clear that social media is there to stay, it’s also worth noting that platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have earned a lot of money through advertising in 2017 – and the trend is only going to be stronger in 2018. If you haven’t noticed already, ads appear significantly more in Instagram feed and the same can be seen on Facebook. Linkedin is another winner for 2018 as they are looking to present new opportunities for B2B and B2C marketers.
Read more about B2B marketing trends in this awesome article: The Ultimate Guide to B2B Marketing
Customer Focused Marketing
One thing that became vital for marketing purposes in the previous years is improving customer’s overall online experience. The better experience you create for the customers the easier time you’ll have to convince them that your products / services are just as good. This means that your website needs to be perfect, especially when it comes to loading speed and navigation. Personalization is another big thing, as only those campaigns that manage to pinpoint their potential customers and offer them something they need stand a chance for success.
Most of the user experience comes from great web design, which is why professional web designers from Nirmal recommend thinking about it on time.
Content Marketing
Content marketing has been huge in the past couple of years and chances are it’s only going to get bigger. While content types may change (videos and images over text articles), the fact is that consumers are always going to need content. Beyond building a sense of attachment with a brand, relevant content also builds trust between consumers and the brand and thus boosts its reputation as well. Another fact is that the vast majority of consumers prefer learning about a certain business through an article (or other types of content) than through a paid ad. Another bonus is that content marketing is usually way less expensive than some other forms while it has the potential to produce more leads and generate more traffic.
Conclusion
Marketing today is all about generating enough traffic while maintaining high conversion rates. We’re living in a fast-paced world, though, where technological advancements can significantly impact not just the players, but the game itself as well. This is why it’s vital for marketers to stay in touch with current and future trends if they want to offer the best services to their clients. Boosting a brand’s reputation is no longer as easy as it used to be since there are so many small businesses appearing every day. By making an effort to offer something meaningful that stands out to your consumers – you’ll have better results at both attracting new customers and retaining your existing ones.
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