Digital Marketing Trends for 2018

New digital marketing trends are growing in 2018, and you need to stay abreast or risk being left behind. The latest trends include everything from emerging technologies to prospects demanding a more integrated experience. Here are the top digital marketing trends for 2018.

• Augmented Reality (AR). Consider how the Pokemon Go app made such a splash. Find ways to use AR to reach out to your prospects and customers on their mobile devices. Offer them special deals or services at a given place at a given time, available only through their mobile devices with AR content. Also, watch for social media to jump on the AR bandwagon and integrate it into their platforms.

• Influencers. Expect the number of influencers to drop in 2018. Brands are becoming more results-oriented and will choose influencers who offer the best return on investment. This trend will weed out influencers not delivering enough to justify their marketing spend. At the end of 2018, you will see fewer influencers, but those left will be high performers.
• Big data. Using big data will help you understand your customers’ needs and behaviors. There is a vast array of data to choose from across all digital channels. Use specific data that helps you make better business decisions and target your prospects and customers better. Learn how to cultivate and use big data to get closer to customers and prospects at each step in their buying journey in 2018.
• Better ads. Using big data, consider how you can target your digital ads. Today’s customers and prospects receive excessive ads and content every time they turn on a device. Your ads must stand out and speak personally to your audience. Consider how desktop and mobile experiences will differ from one another and customize ads for each. And consider that with the impressive growth of mobile use, mobile ads will see a tremendous surge.
• Professional video. Video is on the rise in 2018, and with better technologies becoming available to the average buyer, smartphone recordings will no longer sit well with customers and prospects. Consumers of your marketing content expect professional-quality video. Every social media platform offers live video and continues to add new video features to their platforms. Consider how you can use professional live video to generate interest and capture your prospects’ and customers’ attention.
• Voice assistants. Conversations with voice assistants will gain more ground in 2018. Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, chatbots, and others will take over customer interactions and conversations. You will need to optimize your content for conversational interfaces and voice search to capture the questions and answers your prospects and customers expect from their voice assistants.

• Video marketing. Besides professional live video, video marketing is one of the most popular and influential forms of digital content for businesses. Shift some of your content marketing efforts into video marketing to present information to customers and prospects in new and innovative ways. As text saturates the Internet, video can capture attention being split into too many directions. Video content will also boost search engine rankings in 2018.
• Personalization. While not a new trend, personalization will rise to the next level in 2018. Your prospects and customers expect their messages to be hyper-personalized and relevant to each phase of the buying journey. Personalized landing pages will grab attention and draw prospects and customers to your advertising campaigns. With the high competition for digital attention, a personalized connection to your target audience is imperative.

• Metrics. Look for Cost Per Experiment (CPE) as the metric to watch in 2018. Digital marketers need to support a , and CPE gets you closer to true ROI. Clicks, leads, impressions, and other old metrics now roll up into one traceable CPE. With the proliferation of digital marketing channels, CPE makes it easier to run campaigns and measure their outcomes.
• Native ads. Native advertising as a digital marketing strategy will help companies enhance their market reach, improving engagement and brand relevance. Using native language to engage your target audience increases your chances of going viral. Native advertising can help you develop a deeper relationship with your customers and prospects.
• Offline experiences. Digital marketing services integrated seamlessly into offline experiences will skyrocket in 2018. Some sports venues are already using this strategy today. Consider how big games will start with an online experience days before the event, run concurrently with the event on game day, and continue after the event. Digital marketers should experiment with integrating offline and digital experiences in the new year.

Digital marketing trends are changing in 2018. To make the most of your digital marketing strategies, take advantage of the above trends in your marketing campaigns.

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