Latest trends in digital marketing & should you jump on the bandwagon?

Digital Marketing is a revolution in the technological era we are witnessing. As technology is taking over a lot of aspects of our lives, marketers took the opportunity of reaching out to people through their favorite technological devices, engage with them and be on the same level of the world’s technological development. Digital marketing is a relatively new field, but it’s growing really fast and it’s taking over all the traditional media and marketing channels. It is a revolution and a trend that everyone including marketers want to be a part of. Moreover, in order for Digital Marketing to keep this hype and success it has to cope and adjust its systems with the technological improvements and inventions. If we look at digital marketing 10 years ago, it is so much different than what it is in the present days, and who knows how it’s going to change and develop in the future?

Many marketing experts anticipate the future of digital marketing and have kind of similar views – maybe slightly different – about how the future of digital marketing will look. I gathered all the information about the future trends of digital marketing, and this week I will dedicate my post to introduce you to those trends and see if they are worth jumping on the bandwagon for!

So, Are you READY to take a look into the future through the eyes of Digital Marketing?

According to Bill Gates : “the future advertising is the internet.” As he saw the debate between online and offline advertising as obsolete, because soon all media channels will be powered by the Internet. What Bill Gates is stating is very serious and true, as the online world is taking over the offline and traditional world, it became essential for all countries, organizations, companies, brands and even people to exist online. This became the way of communicating and exchanging information, not only locally but internationally - whether if its digital marketing, public relations or simply socializing. However, until the Internet dominates the whole world, offline and traditional trends must exist to support the online world.

Dave Pryde, answers a very important question in his article “So What is the Future of Digital Marketing?” . He says that through his experiences and the conferences that he attended, there’s no single or clear answer to this question, the vision of the future of Digital Marketing is kind of a blur as its developing too fast leaving people with a question mark on their heads. However, he said: “The innovation that represents the future of digital marketing is primarily in how each channel is represented, managed and utilized – focusing more on value to the end user and striving to maximize their experience beyond anything else.”

Now, since there are no expectations of how much digital marketing will grow, since its growth depends on the advancement of technology, Dave Chaffey came up with a list of his predictions on 2011 digital marketing trends. Chaffey focuses on digital marketing developments of 2010 and he gives some ideas on how to best respond to these in 2011.

Here is Chaffey’s 2011 trends list:

Trend 1 Content / engagement strategy

We all know that “Content is King”, so develop and refine your content strategy to compete effectively in your category. Remember, It’s not just text content, it’s video content, pod casts, and apps.

Trend 2 Digital Marketing Optimization

In the beginning there was search engine optimization, then conversion rate optimization and social media optimization. The analytical tools available to digital marketers enable analysis and optimization of performance as provided by many agencies in these fields. Harness the free and paid tools to support analysis and automation.

Trend 3 Right Touching

Our prospects and customers increasingly use multiple channels when selecting products and services switching between digital media and traditional media. So it’s important to understand their preferences. Therefore, Refine and automate your contact strategies to support right touching requires investment in integrated contact strategies project upfront which is why many haven’t implemented yet.

Trend 4 Social media marketing

You may have heard of this… People don’t go online to “surf the web” today, they “Facebook”. Every company needs a Facebook strategy and the right resources to manage it unless their brand is so badly perceived it will do more harm than good. That’s why it’s important to decide on the priorities for your different social presences, for example using the digital marketing radar and again resource and review to make effective

Trend 5 The resurgence of display advertising

Resurgence may be overstating it but many companies have found the newer remarketing and retargeting options available through established ad networks and Google’s new Adwords Remarketing feature effective. Using weighted attribution studies can also help establish the value of the display advertising halo effect.

Trend 6 Mobile Strategy

The growth in use of Apple App store has been phenomenal, increasing by several billions of downloads in 2010. Meanwhile other handset manufacturers are achieving success with apps, although Apple still has over two thirds of the market by download. See the about mobile app strategy which summarizes the growth and the options of app strategy.

Trend 7 Googlization

In many countries, including the UK Google still drives the majority of traffic or it should if you get your SEO and PPC right. It’s increasingly important for generating awareness and display through the new Googled Display network too which in 2010 saw remarketing added. Google is so important for most pureplays that you could say you need a specific “Google Strategy”. A Google strategy requires an intimate understanding of your online marketplace or ecosystem. Oftentimes partnering, PR and contextual advertising can help you by thinking beyond your own SERPs position.

Trend 8 Online channel integration

With growth of importance of social media channels it has been suggested that email marketing is dead or less relevant. My belief is the two work best in an integrated way. To get ideas on the best strategies to achieve this I recommend signing up to Social Email Marketing.

Trend 9 Touchpoint attribution

Since online conversion to sale may occur over several site visits, it’s important to analyze and attribute sale to all of the channels that contributed, not just the last click. Online marketers have been grappling with this for a long time, but in 2010 these cases show that more companies got on top of this.

Trend 10 Privacy wars

Many of the keys to success online have a dirty secret – they rely on cookies. From Google Analytics to Remarketing to on-site personalization, persistent cookies are needed to track and target behavior. But the media are intent on scaring consumers about threats to their privacy so unless marketers take action we’re going to lose some of the greatest benefits of online medias which will negatively effect marketers.

Trend 11 Digital marketing = Marketing?

We can no longer call digital media new now. With an increasing amount of media consumption and media spend migrating online, some are suggesting we don’t need a separate discipline of digital marketing, we don’t need separate digital strategies, but integration is the name of the game.

What do you think?

This is a summarized version of Chaffey’s article, Click here to read more and enjoy the slideshow.

Exciting trends! Not new as we are familiar with them but we haven’t made the best and absolute use out of them. There’s still a lot that we can benefit from those trends!

Now, if you’re going to ask me. Does the future trends of digital marketing seem worth jumping on the bandwagon?

I would say YES! It’s absolutely worth it. It is definitely worth investing into building a presence and existence online because this where the world is moving now. Establish your name online and ensure a place on the digital marketing world, because sooner or later this market will be HUGE – bigger than what it is now – which will make it harder to compete. Therefore, it’s important to start now because the future of digital marketing looks Bright!

Hope this helps you and encourages you to take the next step on developing your brands and companies. Wish you all the best in your digital marketing journeys, they will be full of pleasant surprises and results.

Treat!

I found a video about the future trends of digitalization and digital marketing by Dean Donaldson, Director of Digital Experience at Eyeblaster. He’s very knowledgeable and has good views on the future of digitalization and technological developments. Click Here to watch it.

Innas A.