The Next Big Thing in the Ideology of Digital Marketing

The next level of the digital marketing is going to drive your mind beyond your imagination.  It’s time to start thinking about the next big thing that’s going to change digital marketing. Can you imagine? Think about it? What could it be? Think! The move into 2018 also comes with a shift in digital marketing. New trends are entering the marketplace and your company needs to pay attention or you may be forced by the wayside. With the need to become more visible and reach more customers, the digital marketing of tomorrow offers advancements in emerging technologies as consumers demand a more integrated experience.

Is it Cortana? Alexa?  or Google assistant? Now, you’re right! Voice search devices are officially here and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Conversational interactions, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, Chabot, and others will continue to find their place in consumers’ daily routines and lives. Conversation is the original user interface. It’s extremely natural and will allow for brands to naturally interact with consumers that want information or to transact, or just to be entertained.

“In the age of the connected customer, engagement must be real-time and relevant. Marketers need technology to tell them who to target when to target and the best channels to get that message across.”

By 2020, experts predict that half of all web searches will be voice searches. No more tedious typing questions into that old-school browser bar.

This is going to be the massive change in the trend.  Now people will stop typing and voice recognition will be the key in the age of AI.

It fuels a smarter view of the customer and allows AI to predict what will deliver relevant personalized customer experiences.

This growth encompasses both mobile as a marketing platform (such as mobile apps) and mobile as a marketing channel (such as SMS). With 98% growth in mobile app usage and 111% growth in SMS usage, a majority of marketers are now using these mainstream mobile tactics to engage customers.

This evolution will significantly change search engine marketing, as it would want to listen to a numbered list of search results or listen to an ad before getting their answer. It will also change search engine optimization strategies, as the way people search will change, as the search will become more conversational.

 

AI takes over website messaging.

Thanks to tools like Intercom and Drift, marketers can already use artificial-intelligence-powered live-chat tools to communicate with customers. As this technology gets ironed out, it is likely that more brands will embrace AI live chat to better service website visitors.

Now the question is how to integrate SEO with AI. It is going to be a huge task to understand the algorithm of an AI with the Search Engine.

Search Engine will be integrated with AI and the Digital Marketing and SEO should be done for AI. This will be a challenge for every digital marketing expert.

Know more about the Impact of digital marketing.

Marketers begin developing augmented-reality content

With the release of the iPhone eight and iPhone X, Apple has made it clear that they are betting on augmented reality (AR). As these new devices go mainstream, brands will begin experimenting with AR-sponsored and -branded content.

Our research shows that marketing leaders are experiencing a broadening shift in focus from a tactical view to a strategic one. When asked about their biggest marketing objectives over the next 12 months, marketers across the board report raising brand awareness is number one, above deepening customer relationships and strengthening thought leadership. Directly related to raising brand awareness, they report developing a brand position as the third most important objective. This has risen in importance since 2011 when only 9% of marketers ranked it as most important.

Instagram becomes a more valuable channel than Facebook.

Instagram is growing at an incredible clip. In 2017, Instagram announced that approximately 800 million people use the platform each month. Their latest tool, Instagram Stories, became more popular than Snapchat just one year after going live.

Since brands tend to see better engagement on Instagram than any other social media platform, and because of great advertising controls, Instagram is poised to become the go-to channel for brands interested in social media marketing.

This correlates with what we have seen from our own clients over the past three years. The brand is increasingly seen as a central connection to an expression of the business strategy. Business strategy is a blueprint for the challenges and opportunities that the brand must address. The brand will lead the charge for the corporate strategy, ultimately embodying the company. Thus, business strategy informs marketing and the role of the brand, and marketing now informs how we communicate strategy.

But expect things to change quickly over the next 18-24 months as more people adapt to voice technology and marketers find ways to take advantage of the new trend.

Why is Digital Marketing – The Future? Is it at its peak?

We are living in the digital era. Era’s digital desires are marked by a thirst for content. Technology is changing every second. So do marketing.  Digital marketing is growing and will keep on growing. In this tech-savvy generation, the scope of digital marketing has massively expanded. Digital marketing is both an art and a science. Successful marketing comes from collecting, analyzing and using data about when and where customers spend their time. In short, data is behavior. Learning from this behavior drives creative messaging and strategic campaigns. Tracking behavior and tapping into the emotional connection through messaging, ads, social, and design makes all the difference in the digital space.

To know more about the impact of Digital Marketing, click here.

With more than 40% growth in digital media marketing including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the digital industry is on the rise. It is the key.  You cannot imagine Digital Marketing without SEO.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  SEO is responsible for the organic ranking.

SEO is not a static process but rather a framework with rules and processes. It is dynamic in nature. For simplicity though SEO can be broken down into 2 main stages:

• On-site SEO: What rules to apply on your site to make it search engine friendly and,

• Off-site SEO: How to promote your website or blog so that it can rank better in search results.

Know more about Search Engine Optimization

Everything depends on the traffic.  In my opinion, and this is what I will try to explain in this article, you should forget about building links and concentrate on creating good quality content for your website.

Now the question is how content can be helpful?

An effective content marketing strategy helps enforce a strong baseline for lead analysis since every piece of content can be measured. That best practices how-to guide generated 10% of your digital leads for the year? Great—write another one! Your long-form blog on do’s and don’ts was you’re most viewed of the year? Awesome—share it on social media and write a follow-up!

To know more about content marketing 

Digital Marketing is incomplete without Social Media Marketing. Today life is incomplete without Social Media. Everyone is connected via social media. Social sites like Facebook have some of the most specific variables for advertising. Narrow down to age, interests, location, behaviors, political leanings, and more. Test search, display and mobile ads along with your email and social campaigns. Find what really works for your customers and work more efficiently. You can easily find your target audience.

Think holistic strategy, rather than specific tactics. Each social channel, blog post, email, web-link must have a purpose and drive towards something. Never post simply to post. Without engagement or traffic, those posts are a waste of time and money. Get an understanding of your target market and their previous journeys. If they simply aren’t on Twitter or don’t interact on Facebook, cut it from your strategy. Focus your efforts without diluting resources; only do what is working and do it with all you’ve got.

There’s a lot to be learned from your audience online. You’ll get honest feedback on campaigns and message, for one. Incorporating your fans’ interpretation and opinion of your brand can get you both fresh content and loyal fans. Create an incentive for fans to write, tweet, take photos, share videos, etc. Reward them for their participation and loyalty by giving them the spotlight in your campaign.

Know more about Social Media Marketing (SMM) follow this 

Yes, I feel that digital marketing is the future.  The peak is yet to be achieved but we are in the right direction. Knowing your niche is the key.

Online Marketing mistakes one should know

Creating a welcoming website is one of the first things that a business needs to look at when it comes to improving its online presence. One should see it as their own home or real-estate on the web. Just like any home, an effective website is clean, neat, organized and a place everyone wants to come and hang out for a while. Today I want to talk through some of the most common missteps we see brands making in their online marketing so you can evaluate your own brand, improve your strategy and get a better response. Here I am going to talk about what to do and what not to do for making a better presentation of your brand in the digital world. There are several common areas where we see brands struggle (regardless of their industry) and, worse yet, these are areas where they get taken advantage of — all while paying a significant marketing retainer each month.

Here are some common mistakes that we can see these days:

The website without proper SEO [Search Engine Optimization]

No matter how beautiful you design your website, but if it isn’t optimized for the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Safari) your website is useless. No matter how eye-catching your website is but if it is not displayed on the first page of your search engine result. It is a total waste of time and money if your website is not visible to your target audience. In a survey, it has been found over a ratio of 85% of the surfers in web don’t visit the second result page of a search engine. So I guess I have made my point loud and clear that how important SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be for your business.

No proper optimization of the website for smartphones

According to the latest Pew research, more than 90% of adults have cell phones and nearly 60% have smartphones. So if your website is not optimized for mobiles then there is a problem. Work with a consultant or agency that can quickly move your company website to mobile without charging an exorbitant fee. A cell phone is something that a person access most of the time. A person may not have access to a computer or laptop all the time but on the other hand, no one can live for an hour without smartphones. So it is quite important for a website to be optimized for mobiles.

Lack of Google Analytics analysis

It is important to keep a track of your website’s traffic and traffic referrals. Without Google Analytics, a measurement tool, you can’t track who is visiting your site, what they do while there, when and where they click, how long they stay on your site or how your other marketing tactics like PR and social media are impacting those metrics. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Set up your analytics today. This will help you to know more about the activities of the traffic of your websites. It will eventually help you to improve the ranking of your website. You will know more about the audience of your website. What is the section of your highest traffic and lowest traffic? These results will help you to improve your website’s content.

No proper lead capturing or funneling from your traffic

Even if you have great website content, if there is not a clear CTA (call-to-action) with a way to capture prospective customers’ basic information, a major mistake is taking place. At the very least, your website should have a “Contact Us” form and a way to capture leads that’s less committal. Meaning, have an email opt-in, white paper download or incentive for visitors to provide you with their name and email address so you can move them into your sales funnel. Or you may have a “subscribe” option for an e-newsletter, this will help you to keep in touch with your target audience. Emails once or twice a week can have a great impact on your visitors. Your customer retention ratio will improve definitely.

Irrelevant Content

Sometimes the content you share may not be relevant to the context or your profile. It doesn’t create a very good impression. People should create relevant content as per your context.  You must not forget the core value and the purpose. Irrelevant content can create a misconception about your business. Focus on writing relevant content. This can be a monthly e-newsletter, weekly or even daily — frequency and content will depend on your product or service and target audience preference. Work with your marketing partner to outline this tactic.

Impact of digital marketing

By the time smartphones and tabs are introduced digital marketing has touched new heights in this digital era. This era has almost everybody with a social media account and the ones without such an account are literally looked down upon for business purposes. Digital marketing is defined by the use of numerous digital tactics and channels to connect with customers where they spend much of their time: online. So, the query that arises is of studying the consumer behavior in digital marketing.  Digital marketing has created a revolution in the virtual world of marketing. Here the traditional method of marketing doesn’t apply. The client doesn’t feel neglected. Digital marketing focuses on connecting with the target audience. The client feels as he/she is a part of it. We all know that digital marketing is impacting the way we communicate with our consumers. From Facebook ads to Google/Bing Pay per Click to mobile marketing, digital media is taking a bigger and bigger chunk of the marketing budget each year. Let’s look at a few reasons why digital marketing is becoming such an integral part of the marketing pie.

Companies have for decades built up their business around the traditional brick-and-mortar channel. The rise of the Internet and the surging popularity of online shopping have offered rapid growth in e-commerce and embodied the emerging click-and-mortar (e.g. Target.com) or solely online business model (e.g. Amazon.com).

Modern media is no longer confined to a television or radio show, newspaper or advertisement. Instead, today’s media — from text to video and sound — can be saved and shared electronically, using everything from desktop computers to small mobile devices. This electronic dissemination of media has had a powerful impact on the way people communicate for personal reasons, school, and even business.

In fact, “constant” internet usage among adults increased by 5% in just the last three years, according to Pew Research. And although we say it a lot, the way people shop and buy really has changed along with it — meaning offline marketing isn’t as effective as it used to be.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing refers to the “full-funnel” approach to attracting, engaging, and delighting customers using online content. You can use every digital marketing tactic listed until today throughout an inbound marketing strategy.

Digital marketers are in charge of driving brand awareness and lead generation through all the digital channels — both free and paid — that are at a company’s disposal. These channels include social media, the company’s own website, search engine rankings, email, display advertising, and the company’s blog. The job is to drive the target audience to the particular website and promote the landing page. Digital marketers are responsible for the promotion of a product or service of the company. Their Job involves SEO for a better ranking in the search engine. All these factor matters for a tactical promotion of a business.

Reaching more potential customers

Digital media means businesses can reach more customers than ever before. A simple promotion featuring a giveaway or a freebie can earn business hundreds or thousands of Facebook fans and email and text message subscribers, meaning that the business can send a message to these consumers with just a touch of a button. However, digital media also means that those consumers can reach back. Through negative comments to your Facebook page and other social networking sites, like Twitter and your blog, customers can use digital media to take a complaint that would have otherwise been between the two of you worldwide. Creating the reach for the potential customer is quite important. After all, we all want to influence our target audience. We can influence them with our post and content. We can keep them updated with content and posts. This is one of the most important factors for digital marketing in today’s world.

Leading technological edge

Technology is being updated in every single second. Using digital media means using new technology both to create and support the media. New technology can be an asset to your business. When you adopt smartphones and laptops in order to use digital media, you also can positively influence other areas of your business. For example, such mobile technology makes communication among employees much easier. Technology can create the leading edge over your competition. With the advancement in technology, you can go ahead of your competitive market.  So keep yourself updated with technology.