If you were to ask any digital marketing agency what their biggest frustrations were, somewhere near the top there might be something relating to the digital marketing landscape constantly changing. In other words, trying to keep up with the latest trends, updates, software, tools, and tactics, not to mention Google making continual changes to its ranking factors, means you can never rest easy when you are a digital marketer.
Many will argue that they see this as a positive rather than a negative, and we tend to agree. The reason is that it keeps digital marketing vibrant, fresh, and interesting plus it means lazy marketers who are looking for short term fixes, will thankfully fall by the wayside. This leaves professional and dedicated digital marketers to help their clients who appreciate that marketing online is often a long term project and that there are very few shortcuts.
As for digital marketing constantly evolving this means that to have success you must keep up to date with what is happening and what trends are taking hold. That is why we thought it would be worthwhile to highlight 5 of the current trends within digital marketing so that you are not only aware of them, but if you take advantage of them you will have a head start on your competition.
Get Back To Basics
It might seem strange in an article about the latest trends that we start with a heading that says back to basics. However, just as trends in fashion and furniture can go retro occasionally, within digital marketing it seems like many of the simple principles that have stood the test of time are front and centre once again.
Some of the most recent successes have come from going back to basics such as regular communication with prospects and customers via email, making websites simple and clear, and focussing on the needs of the user.
Retaining Customers Vs Gaining Customers
Whilst there is a huge investment in digital marketing to gain new customers, and rightly so, many businesses are realising that retaining existing customers also brings a massive ROI. It is always easier to sell to someone who has already bought from you, so retention marketing deserves some focus. Segmenting email lists, onboarding and educating new customers, providing exceptional customer care, loyalty discounts and early-bird access are some examples.
Greater Levels Of Interactivity
The internet is seen increasingly by many of its users as something which provides an array of interaction, fun and entertainment. As a business owner, you should be adopting that trend into your marketing. Publishing content with which they can interact (quizzes, surveys, puzzles), holding virtual events via platforms like Zoom, and high-tech options such as AI and virtual reality all provide huge levels of interactivity for your prospects and customers.
User Experience Is Paramount
Anyone close to the world of digital marketing cannot have avoided hearing about the importance of user experience (UX) recently. The main reason is that Google has set UX at the pinnacle of what it wants those who use its search engine to have. This means your digital marketing has to have UX at its core. There are multiple ways to improve UX such as effective and simple web design, using video, voice search, simplifying sales funnels, chatbots and the aforementioned interactivity.
Outsourcing Digital Marketing
Whilst for many years businesses have employed an in-house marketing team, that is not usually feasible for smaller businesses. This is why the outsourcing of digital marketing continues to grow. In addition, those larger businesses are now also outsourcing much of their digital marketing to agencies that can provide either expertise on specific marketing services, or can offer a whole package of digital marketing services and the ROI is usually greater than doing it in-house.