Digital marketing is a dynamic field with many moving parts. But every year the gears seem to change, and the machine moves a little faster, sometimes in ways we expect, sometimes not. To stay informed of the changes, it’s necessary to track the trends and optimize our businesses when necessary. It’s fair to say the future looks bright for marketing technologies; we take a look at five trends that are empowering the change.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation has improved significantly in recent years and led to many businesses reviewing their software and methods to keep up with the latest improvements. Software options from the likes of Hubspot and ActiveCampAIgn utilize the latest AI technology to deliver marketing campaigns with more targeted and personalized results than ever before.
Marketing automation is one trend you need to keep an eye on, it’s always changing as the expectations of customers evolve, and technology develops to facilitate new forms of customer engagement. At present, marketing automation excels at keeping customers satisfied inside the sales funnel where retention strategies are markedly improved. However, lead generation technologies still fall short with Marketing Automation, but If you need more information I found Firetext that offers an awesome SMS Marketing platform.
Video Marketing
While Video Marketing is not a new idea, it has developed quickly in recent years thanks to the success of social media advertising. YouTube, which was once a website for finding your favourite songs, has become one like an online television network, it is also the internet’s biggest search engine. With all that traffic and audience engagement, it’s not hard to see why video has become such an important feature in the marketer’s toolbox.
The benefits of video marketing don’t stop there. Video is by far the best medium to begin your digital campaign with. Setup cost may be higher to organize a shoot the video you want, but when this is complete, you will be able to transcribe the video and turn it into a long-form blog post, cut it up for use In ads and make social media posts from it. Not only that video is incredibly engaging and can be consumed anytime and on any device.
Interactive Content
With so much technology around, it wasn’t long before people started to integrate it and make it more useful. Although interactive content if not the cutting edge of marketing tools, it is still extremely useful and popular. It is also a trend likely to feature more in future content as consumer expectations change. In short, Interactive content is traditional content with added features to make them more engaging such as blog posts with quizzes on them, or video games that are also informal Ads.
Interactive Infographics and Interactive blog posts are two very common ways this marketing tool is being rolled out at. Interactive Infographics are infographics that are animated in some way to entice more interaction. It might even be a simple game that gives you information as you play. Interactive blog posts include video, activities, quizzes and polls to engage the audience further and encourage participation. These are powerful practices and trends that are likely to continue.
AR/VR
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have been around for some time. Their history goes back to at least the 1960s and further if you want to consider the idea itself. But it’s only in recent decades and years that this technology has become a viable marketing option. Until now, people were slightly unwilling to engage with a large helmet or set of gloves. Now, AR/VR is mobile and accessible; it can be enjoyed on a smartphone conveniently wherever you are.
In terms of its marketing potential, AR/VR has many applications. It can be used as a novelty for brands to engage customers or as a veiled advertisement within a VR game. Consider Pokemon Go. Although it was primarily a game, it became extremely popular and charmed audiences the world over. Could this AR be harnessed for an Ad, let’s wait and see.
Chatbots & AI
Last but not least, there are the Chatbots that have emerged from the world of AI advancements over the last few years but have become particularly popular in 2020. They are loved by both brands and customers but for different reasons. Brands live them because they deliver a high-quality customer service experience for a low cost, and customers love them because they are non-interfering agents with all the answers.
Chatbots pop up whenever you visit a website and offer their assistance if required. They can be easily shut off and then accessed again if you have a question. Chatbots are full or brand FAQs and site directions so if you do get stuck on something, there’s a simple and straightforward solution. Although they are only in their infancy chatbots are destined to be a big success in the future.
