It is beyond any reasonable doubts that 2017 was an amazing year for digital marketers. The rapid shift in technology has affected almost everything else. This includes marketing. Retail industries are shifting and trying to be relevant to the new digital world. Digital marketers like JP 360 Solutions are coming up with new strategies and mechanisms of helping their clients boost their sales. They are trying to come up with the best way possible to get their products to the consumers via the digital arena.
Research has proven that there are quite a number of new trends coming up concerning digital marketing. These trends will shape the decisions to be made in future concerning digital marketing. So, based on the trends in 2017, here are some of the new ones that brands are adopting in 2018.
Dissipating content
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A number of marketers and brands with good vision have already embraced this trend. There is something about information that has a deadline. It’s just a human trait to be more interested in such stuff.
Dissipating content is provided information that can be accessed only for a limited period of time. Major Social media platforms have adopted this mechanism through their stories. Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have come up with a stories section that disappears after twenty-four hours. One uploads their graphic content which can be viewed by their friends and contacts for the next twenty-four hours.
This will become a huge thing for digital marketers and entrepreneurs as a whole. Digital marketers can use these stories to advertise their products to the public. This trend can help in generating leads and traffic for one’s business. Instagram stories blew up recently and was noticed with its over 180 million users all over the world. This trend may seem as a small thing right now that only a few brands are adopting it but will blow up in the near future.
Privacy concerns as a marketing strategy
With technology at its prime, security and privacy issues have become a matter of concern. A lot of social media platforms have come up in the last year or two. These have led to increased compromises to consumer information.
A couple of brands have realized that quite a good percentage of consumers are totally concerned about their privacy. With this in mind, they have turned that into an approach to acquiring leads and making sales.
Optimizing for voice searches
Google was among the leading platforms to adopt voice searches. Naturally, it is more prone to be embraced. This is majorly because the consumers are human beings. As expected, humans are usually excited about digital systems and processes that require their input to be as minimal as possible.
Statistics taken on Google’s voice optimized searches show that 20% of all the searches done were through voice searches. The statistics also show that this rate is expected to rise to 50% by the year 2020. More searches are expected to be done through voice searches. Brands can take this to their advantage and adopt it as a strategy before its flooded.
Growth of Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy where the focus is laid on influential persons or stars and not the target market. This strategy works by identifying potential people with influence over the target market. Marketing activities are then oriented around these individuals. This is done with prior knowledge that this individual has the power to make your business explode through the target market.
In its own special way, influential marketing is a hybrid of both traditional and new marketing strategies. It takes the traditional aspect of celebrity influence and combines it with content marketing.
In 2018, many brands are switching to influencer marketing. Companies or brands can have a celebrity or any other individual with influential power over the target market as an ambassador of their products. This will help in building a relationship between the company/brand and their target market.
Influencers can also be very important within the company. Internal influencers have power to influence employees. Companies have come to see the power in this and have thus adopted this trend.
Staying live
Live streaming has become a very popular trend in social media. Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms have adopted this mechanism. These platforms have availed live stream to almost all its consumers. This enables them to share whatever is going on at the moment through video streaming.
Statistics have it that a normal consumer is more likely to watch a live stream video three times compared to a pre-recorded clip.
This gives the company an opportunity to really interact with their target market in a more human manner. The friendliness provided by live stream is amazing considering consumers can interact directly with the brand ambassadors. Live streaming can be considered as an upgrade to the typical Question-and-answer sessions provided by various companies.
Thirst for promotions and deals by consumers
Many brands had their sales and overall revenue increase tremendously in the past courtesy of promotions and deals. Surveys show that 76% of retailers and companies are planning on increasing their promotions and deals to their clients come the next business year. They are planning on being more strategic on how they handle this.
Promotions and deals to consumers helps in reinforcing consumers’ loyalty and appreciation of the brand. Companies and retailers who are more open even to the idea of engrossing lapsed customers are on the right track. This is because maintaining a relationship between the consumer- both prospected and lapsed- will eventually redirect their shopping route back to the brand.
Growth of brand awareness
Another trend that has really had impact for the past few years is the creation and growth of brand awareness. Many companies, retailers and also companies have opted to use social media and advertisement forums to create awareness of their brands. This coming year, more of this will be seen. This is because it has been noticed that brand awareness increases sales tremendously.
In summary, folks are leaving the old ways. Analog-digital transformation is taking place in almost all aspects of life. In order to win, one must change with times. The mentioned digital marketing trends should be adopted as they can build real assets and increase sales.