Smart Content
The way content is being both created and presented to customers has dramatically changed over the years. Traditional forms of advertising are being put on the back burner in order to make way for personalised content, otherwise known as smart content. A recent survey by HubSpot found that 61% of customers tend to depend on a company that creates customised and individual content. This may be why they also found that 88% of content marketing professionals are thinking about personalising their marketing plans. People seem to feel more valued when they see that an organisation took the time out to learn about them and address their personal needs. It seems to be one of the best ways to build an authentic relationship and encourage the engagement that you’re looking for. Ensuring you’re marketing plans are data-driven to create a more personal marketing and advertising approach should, therefore, be something that your company considers implementing this year.
Visualisation
It is very likely that in 2018, digital marketing will take a more visual approach. Infographics, images, and video continue to fill social media platforms and websites, and there’s a reason it isn’t slowing down. The fact that people globally are watching a total of 3.5 billion hours of videos on YouTube every month proves that the use of video has the potential to significantly impact the success of your marketing efforts and drive engagement and eventually sales. Apparently, marketers who have gotten into the habit of using video are able to grow revenue 49% faster than those who don’t. All of these factors indicate that 2018 may be quite be a visual year for digital marketing.
Influencers
With the internet becoming increasingly overcrowded, brands are finding it difficult to capture the attention of their target audiences. In 2017 we began to see a rise in influencer marketing, and it’s likely this will continue throughout 2018. However, brands no longer seem to be impressed with a single post and a couple of likes as this doesn’t necessarily translate into a return on investment (ROI)The ROI is the ratio of the return from an investment to the cost of the investment. and sales. This might result in businesses integrating more long-term strategies, digging deeper into the influencer’s interests to see how they can make more authentic connections with the brand, getting brand ambassadors and further exploring organic branded videos. Overall, it’s likely that more brands will continue to focus on gaining visibility through using reputable individuals who already have a large audience.
Keeping up with digital marketing trends is essential if you want your business to be relevant in 2018. People’s attention spans are becoming increasingly short due to the masses of information that they’re being bombarded with on a daily basis. This means that in order to get their attention, it is likely that you will need to be able to give them what they need when they need it and in the most personal way possible. Hopefully, the mentioned digital marketing areas will enable you to do just that.
Image courtesy of: omnisearch.uk
