It’s no question that in this digital age, businesses are no longer relying solely on print ads to promote their brands and reach potential clients. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 75% of Canadians are performing internet-related activities more often now than before the start of the pandemic. With so many people actively online, digital marketing has now become one of the primary promotion methods of many companies. Effective marketing has always been about connecting with your audience at the right place and the right time and online marketing is the most efficient way to accomplish just that.
Digital Marketing includes any and all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet, (such as search engines, social media, email and websites) to target prospective customers..
If you’re unsure of where to start, here’s our list of up-to-date Digital Marketing trends to help you leverage your business.
Although Artificial Intelligence is still in its relatively early stages, if you’ve ever communicated with a chatbot, then you’ve already experienced AI.
Many brands are using AI to help predict customer behavior and deliver more personalized marketing messages. Although there are still ongoing scrutiny over potential bias, chatbots are finally reaching a level of conversational capability that will earn them wide acceptance among consumers.
AI allows marketers to dynamically automate customer interactions, so consumer data can be rapidly analyzed. This allows content to be adapted and directed at the right customers.
If you’re looking to stand out in our constantly growing digital world, you need authentic personalized content. Personalization shows the human aspect of your brand and appeal directly to client's behaviours and demographic.
This technique involves the collection of data related to user behavior, to deliver recommendations catered to each person. Examples of personalized marketing include, custom video ads, product recommendations, and targeted emails. With the hardships of the pandemic, many brands integrated more personalized messages of empathy in their marketing, which has proven the impact that personalization can have on consumers.
Voice Search Optimization (VSO) has become one of the biggest developments in marketing, with dictation technology improving significantly in the past few years. This next big thing allows users to perform a variety of tasks, ranging from setting alarms to ordering products via their smart speakers, like Amazon Echo, Alexa and Google Home. It is projected that by 2022, 50% of all online shopping will be conducted through voice results.
As people are spending more time at home, optimizing voice search content is businesses shouldn't ignore!
When it comes to online selling, text-based advertisements can’t compete with the effect of video.
According to Hubspot, a digital marketing app, “video has become the most commonly used format in content marketing, overtaking blogs and infographics”. Video marketing offers a much more appealing way to connect with your target audience. Sites that include video can get up to 50 times more search results compared to text. The great thing about video marketing, is that there is an interest in many different types of video content. As long as you release content that authentically represents your brand, then audiences are likely to engage with it. Video content also makes for good SEO, elevating your content up the search rankings.
Influencer marketing focuses on using a social media personality with a niche following to amplify your brand message to a larger market. This type of word-of-mouth marketing provides a greater sense of authenticity when it comes to product reviews. According to the University of Houston-Victoria, consumers find influencers to be more authentic than corporate advertising. 63% of consumers say they would trust an influencer's opinion over what brands say about themselves. Research shows that brands earn over 6 times the return for every dollar spent on an Influencer Marketing Campaign.
The high ROI is why it is predicted that by 2022, brands will be spending up to $15 billion on influencer marketing.
Author: Stephanie Bennett
Editor: Adelia Vu
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