Traditional marketing is dying.
It started becoming extinct the moment the internet first launched and has been declining ever since. With digital marketing, reaching the customers became incredibly easy and affordable.
The Internet has space for everyone.
But with all the companies and businesses marketing on the internet, how can you make your product or service more visible to the customer? And even when it’s visible, is the marketing good enough for the customer to jump on it?
Need tips on acquiring new customers?
Here are the top digital marketing trends we think you should be aware of.
1- Let the Influencers Do the Marketing
You don’t have to be a marketing genius to know where to find customers, whether we are on the bus, in bed, at work, or in the toilet there is one thing we all do: use social media.
Have you ever seen the words “paid partnership with X” under the username section of a post on Instagram or Facebook? You probably did, quite often too if you follow many influencers. According to The State Of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2020, influencer marketing is expected to grow to be worth $9.7 billion this year.
Furthermore, 87% of the survey respondents use Instagram for influencer marketing. Instagram is followed by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn on the report.
Although this percentage depends vastly on the kind of product or service provided by the respondents that were surveyed, the report uses the data of 4000 people from different backgrounds.
Still, this flux to Instagram seems reasonable looking at this report that makes it obvious that Gen Z-ers are the dominant users on Instagram. Why is this important? This study on Gen Z-ers shows that by 2020 they will account for 40% of all consumers.
So how do you do influencer marketing on social media?
All you need to do is to dedicate a budget for influencer marketing and get in touch with an influencer. You don’t even have to worry about getting in touch with one, according to the influencer marketing report, many companies prefer to work with micro-influencers now. And if you think you have to work with a mega influencer, you can have a marketing agency set it up for you.
2- Shop Through Your Social Media Feed
There are numerous websites out there trying to sell products.
Unfortunately, they don’t work great on mobile, where companies put most of their ads. These websites not only lack user awareness, but they also get set back in terms of SEO because of all the clicking and then closing on social media.
Instagram came up with the best solution: shoppable posts.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not favoring Instagram, but they just have all the good stuff. This includes shoppable posts. Although Facebook also came up with a shopping feature called “Facebook Marketplace”, Instagram’s shoppable posts are probably more practical and well – more enjoyable.
It is especially functional for fashion business accounts on Instagram, but don’t be intimidated, everyone with a business account and a business page on Facebook can put prices on Instagram posts.
3- Buying Made Fun – Interactive Content
As all UX designers know, interactivity makes money.
Marketers became aware of this in the last couple of years and now it is a whole new marketing strategy. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 81% of marketers agree that interactive content is a more effective way of attracting the customer than the static content.
Moreover, Demand Metric Content & Buyer’s Journey Benchmark Report shows that it virtually doubles conversions compared to generic content.
What can we include in this interactivity though?
Quizzes and polls
Imagine that there’s a startup you are planning to launch that delivers people ice cream (why not that’s the dream app) and you want to get popular.
How do you get popular?
By marketing.
Now, would it be more attractive if you put an ad on social media or websites that says “hey, we deliver ice cream”, or is it more attractive if you share a quiz called “which ice cream flavor are you?”. People love being told what they are by quizzes, so this interactive kind of marketing could be just right for your business.
360-degree videos
Letting the user try your product is probably one of the oldest marketing tricks, and today we have the opportunity of letting them try for free.
If you’ve ever seen a 360-degree video, you know how thrilling it is and at least 360 times better than a normal video. Google was probably the one that made it common with its launch of Google Street View in – you won’t believe it – 2007. It covered only some places in the USA back then, but you can walk around the whole wide world today.
It works for a lot of different products, even services. Take a look at this video by Hey Nadine YouTube channel. It’s a perfect combo of influencer marketing and interactive marketing.
Augmented reality
This one is similar to 360-degree videos, only better. There are so many possibilities of marketing with this kind of interactivity, and it is as close to you as your smartphone.
According to the 2019 mid-market technology trends report, 88% of mid-market companies already use AR. This is another take on “let the customer try” policy and you can see examples everywhere you look.
Apps such as IKEA Place that lets the user decorate is probably one of the most efficient uses of AR in the app store, of course, in terms of marketing. With the app, you can place Ikea furniture in your house simply using your camera. There are a lot more apps like that, that let you see a color on your walls or read books with special animations.
Interactive emails
Emails are here to stay.
Being a very simple form of communication, email – somehow – proved itself to be resilient to time, so the best strategy for marketers is to make it work even better. That’s where they decided to sprinkle some interactivity over it.
You probably received dozens of emails with a promotion code or product images. Marketers found a way to make it more fun and it is really a small change as a concept but a great change in terms of impact.
Interactive buttons and images.
According to a study conducted by Zembula, interactive emails get more clicks than static ones. All customers want is to have some fun, after all.
4- Visual Search – Shop Through the Lens
You can see it; you can buy it.
Visual search is a fairly new concept, but a groundbreaking one. According to research done in 2018, 62% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers want visual search capabilities more than any other new technology. Remember, they are the consumers now.
One of the prominent visual search engines is probably Google Lens. With the app, you can translate, explore landmarks and even see what’s popular on a menu, all by using your smartphone camera. But what is efficient for marketing is, of course, the shopping feature of visual search engines.
Another popular visual search engine is Pinterest Lens and it is not surprising that the most searched images belong to the categories fashion, art, and home design.
Visual search is great marketing not only for the browser company but also for the companies that sell the product in the results. Make sure people can find your business through their lens, it’s the new trend you have to catch up with.
5- Hey Siri, What is Voice Search?
Voice search is probably the most tech-forward thing that happened in the last decade.
The first voice search engine was launched by Google back in 2002, but it is undeniable that it became more and more prominent in the 2010s. And today, it’s at its peak.
Although the prediction that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be conducted via voice turned out to be a little off, voice search translates into a purchase. 62% of those who regularly use voice-activated speakers say that they are likely to make purchases through voice-activated speakers in the next month.
Knowing that voice search is a whole another market itself, what can marketers do?
Start by using more colloquial language on your business website. People tend to use simple words while talking to AI. And remember that SEO is more based on context than keywords now.
6- Be present on various platforms
Enough is never enough.
Omnichannel marketing means being present and reaching your audience on different channels such as social media, emails, apps, and websites. And it works.
According to Omnisend marketing automation statistics 2019, purchase frequency is 250% higher on omnichannel compared to single-channel marketing.
So, the key to sales is omnichannel marketing.
But how to do it sufficiently?
Start by categorizing your customers. Find out who buys which product and where do these customers frequent. After locating them on platforms, make sure you personalize your ads. It is a proven fact that people tend to dislike it when irrelevant ads pop up on their feed or emails.
Once you make sure you correctly categorize your customers and personalize the ads for each customer, you are set to create an effective omnichannel marketing strategy.
PS: Be sure to check out Larry Kim’s Omnichat platform MobileMonkey as well.
Conclusion
Trends always change, but one thing doesn’t: customer happiness comes first.
As long as you care for your customers and don’t invest in fake close buttons for your ads, all marketing works. At the end of the day, all publicity is good publicity!
But let me recap what we’ve been through in this article to get a hold of the newest marketing trends:
- Don’t be afraid to partner with influencers for promotion.
- Use social media as your marketplace.
- Add interactive content to your portfolio.
- Put more importance on visuals.
- Take advantage of SEO with informal words.
- Sign up for several platforms for good branding.
Frequently Asked Questions
🚀 What is the best marketing trend of 2023?
Increasing the interactivity in your UX and investing in influencer marketing are the most popular trends in digital marketing in 2023.
👽 Is growth possible without following any marketing trends?
Of course, it is. Even though the trends in marketing are set by expert marketers, the strategies you create might work even better.
❓Why are marketing trends important to follow?
Marketing trends are strategies that are proved to be working, so as you follow these trends you are guaranteed to experience growth.
