You already know about the endless benefits of digital marketing, but in this ever-changing world of technology, it’s important not to remain stagnant in your current ways. Even if you know how important digital marketing is, your strategy should never stay the same for long.
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It’s been suggested that technology is growing and changing so rapidly that we, as a society, can’t keep up. To put that in perspective, there are currently over 4,300 million internet users. According to Moore’s Law, the doubling of a computer processing speed happens every 18 months. But, for that many people, it’s not enough for a digital marketing company or a business to sit back and wait for changes — especially not for 18 months.
Instead, you should be focused on the digital marketing trends of the future. Staying on top of those trends will help your business or agency remain relevant. Some of the trends of the future include things like chatbots, video optimization, personal emails, and multi-channel approaches to connecting with people.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at these trends, who you should be focusing on, and how your business can implement them into your strategy.
The Next Generation of Digital Technology Consumers
Before you start fully developing your digital marketing strategy for the future, you need to understand who your audience is. Whether it’s a good thing or not, kids are coming face-to-face with technology at an earlier age than ever. A 2017 study found that 80% of children have access to iPads on a regular basis. Additionally, about 95% of teenagers have access to a smartphone.
Kids aren’t going to consume content the same way past and current generations do. This is a culture of youths who have grown up with platforms like Vine, YouTube, and TikTok. Long-winded videos, huge pages of content, and writing that doesn’t connect with the reader are going to feel outdated and irrelevant to the next generation.
There are some benefits to kids experiencing technology so fully. Some of those positives include:
- They have the ability to multitask well.
- There are more kids interested in tech careers.
- They have improved problem-solving and decision-making skills.
But, a couple of major drawbacks include a lack of an attention span and a lack of social interaction. If you want your digital marketing efforts to remain relevant with the next generation, it’s important to find a way to connect with them, to make them feel socially included with your business, and to create snappy content that will gain attention quickly.
Marketing Essentials for Every Industry
No matter what industry you’re in, understanding the essentials your strategy needs will help you to connect with the right audience now, and in the future. We can use the current coronavirus pandemic as an example. Now, more than ever, it’s important for people to feel connected even when they’re socially distancing. So, your marketing efforts should include things like posting more personal stories on your social media sites and showing flexibility to meet people’s needs. Consumers are looking for comfort and familiarity in these uncertain times, and by not letting your marketing efforts slow down, you can provide that.
Simply put, your strategy needs to be adaptable depending on your industry, your audience, and the overall tone of the political and economical environment. From law firms to restaurants and from marketing agencies to retail, your strategy should include marketing essentials like:
- Making long and short-term plans
- Setting goals
- Writing relevant content
- Developing a social media strategy
Speaking of social media, it should be something you’re constantly looking at in terms of trends. Retailers who invest in social media and use it to market their business experience a boost of about 133% in revenue.
Which Digital Marketing Trends Should You Stay On Top Of?
Taking into account that you need to create a strategy and you have to understand who you’re marketing to, which trends should you be following closely in the coming years? Again, think about the next generation. What are the hot apps everyone is using right now? How can you integrate your brand personality into your marketing plan?
One thing is fairly certain: The digital marketing trends for the next decade will be a reflection of what kids and teens are already interested in today. That includes quick, to-the-point content. You can find examples of that on apps like Snap (formerly Snapchat), where users can upload short bits of video, only for it to automatically get deleted 24 hours later.
People will also want to connect more with businesses on a personal level. It won’t be enough to throw advertisements at your target audiences. Instead, the focus should be on engagement and interaction in order to stand out from your competition. As digital trends change and technology continues to grow at a rapid pace, there is never any substitute for the human connection. If your business can manage to capture that connection through digital marketing, there’s a good chance you’ll continue to see success over the next decade.