One of the coolest parts of working in digital marketing is the fact that the sector is always evolving and there’s always something new to get excited about.
Let’s take a look at some of the emerging digital marketing trends and how you can work them into your own marketing strategies.
Audio marketing
Audio marketing has been around forever in the form of radio adverts. But with the growth of podcasts, music streaming sites like Spotify and audiobook websites like Audible, the scope for audio marketing is growing. It can be a good way of targeting audiences you don’t reach via your other marketing channels and it often feels more personal than print or online marketing.
Whether you are running your own podcast or running ads on someone else’s, just like any other marketing strategy you need to have a plan. Think about:
- Who your target audience is – this will help you target the right platform and the right niche for more engaged listeners
- What your budget is for advertising
- What your call to action is or what you want the outcome to be
Marketing automation
Although using AI and automation without thinking is bad for your brand, used wisely, it can be helpful. AI and automation will likely only get cleverer, so you may as well leverage them.
Automation can streamline your marketing and help with personalisation and regular communication, even when you aren’t there to press a button manually. For example, automation can be used to answer questions people might have via a website chatbot or create a follow-up email series after an initial enquiry.
Automation also allows you to target groups with content through database segmentation which gives more personalised content.
Hyper-personalised content
If you thought you were already targeting audiences through segmented email marketing or targeted group Facebook ads, then be prepared because over the next few personalisation is going to explode. Marketing won’t be targeted to a group of people, it will be targeted to one person. Using data and automation tools, businesses will be able to follow a customer journey and target content, product suggestions, special offers and deals just for them.
Humanised content
With the rise of AI and machine generated content, humanising your brand is becoming an increasingly important marketing method. It makes it more obvious that a real person is behind your content, not a soulless robot and gives your customers something to relate to.
So how do you do that? Well one way is to write conversationally, as long as it suits your brand. You can also:
- Make sure you have your real audience in mind, when you are creating blogs, social media posts or other content not a robot or a search engine.
- Create content about current trends and add your original thoughts and perspectives.
- Create content featuring the team behind your company – showcase their interests or record company events.
- Be engaged with and responsive to your audiences especially on social media and focus on building relationships not just selling
Brand values
One of the key things when it comes to creating content that is authentic is knowing the brand and what it stands for. So an important part of your marketing strategy is brand values. They describe your business and what you believe in.
Having clear brand values also helps your team to be consistent and helps you communicate with external marketers if you employ them. If you are a digital marketer and a client you work for doesn’t have brand values, encourage them to develop some.
Micro-influencers
You’ve probably heard of collaborating with huge influencers – celebrities or other people with a big social media following – to promote your brand. But have you heard of micro-influencers?
A micro-influencer is someone who has a relatively small – usually between a few thousand and 100,000 – but highly engaged audience on social media like Instagram and TikTok or other online platforms. They usually post content in one niche like fashion or food and are seen as authentic and trusted.
As a brand marketer, working with a micro-influencer might not get your content seen by as many people, but their audience is likely to be more receptive. Micro-influencers are also seen as more genuine than large celebrity influencers so their opinions carry more weight. And because their audience is not as big, it will be more cost-effective to work with them than trying to chase a mega-influencer’s interest.
We hope this has given you a little insight into what might be in store for digital marketing over the next couple of years. If you are keen to learn more about the latest trends and how to develop the right digital marketing strategy for your business, enrol on our Digital Marketing Strategy course.
