2017 has a lot to offer marketers, and along with new tools and technologies, there are new opportunities for marketers to reach customers like never before.
Digital marketing has grown to offer quantifiable marketing campaigns, and now allows for you to really understand your customers through the vast amount of data you can collect and analyse.
Why are New Digital Marketing Trends So Important?
Shoppers are now generally quite savvy when it comes to ecommerce, and will shop around for the best all-around deal that suits their needs. Which is why it’s so important to stay ahead of the latest digital marketing offerings to keep up and stay ahead of your competitors.
In order to gain a competitive advantage, you will need to adopt new tools and methods to ensure competitors don’t get ahead online. More and more brands will be utilising new marketing techniques, so it’s best to make sure you’re the first to catch the eye of potential customers.
Marketing Automation
More and more businesses are adopting marketing automation, as it’s no longer an expensive platform that only big businesses and enterprises can afford.
Marketing automation helps you to close sales and nurture leads through sophisticated and automated marketing techniques.
Through automation, you can create multiple touchpoints with your customers, and engage them throughout your unique buying cycle.
As marketing automation is cheaper than ever, and boasts a wide range of features including a built-in CRM to manage your leads and sales, now really is the time to get started before you fall behind.
Data-Driven Marketing
Marketing has always been backed by data, but digital marketing took this to another level. Now in 2017, big data is taking ahold, allowing marketers to make decisions and optimise marketing campaigns like never before.
The amount of data is dizzying, but still, companies do not use it its full potential.
Real-time analytics is no longer simply a tool for reporting, but allows you to optimise your marketing campaigns, and view new opportunities for your brand to make the most of online. Being able to see how your customers think is an invaluable asset for any business.
Aside from Google Analytics, there are more analytics tools with a range of different functions that can capture very valuable information. Google Analytics still provides you with enough information to get started with, and it’s essential you make the most of it. Simply using it as a reporting tool is not enough in 2017 any longer.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The IoT is taking over our daily lives, and provides another level of data which details your customers’ minds.
Both businesses and customers can benefit from what the IoT has to offer. With a predicted 200 billion connected devices to be in existence by 2030, you can see why this will play a key role in how digital marketing evolves.
Artificial Intelligence
While humans live side-by-side with robots and machines quite happily, one of the biggest developments is on the horizon, and that is the concept of real artificial intelligence.
Now, artificial intelligence has technically existed for a while, but it’s only in the past few years that customers around the globe have interacted with artificially intelligent machines, and that these robots have been smart enough to become useful.
AI offers an opportunity for businesses to solve complex problems, deal with customer enquiries or engage customers, work alongside existing staff, and a host of other features.
User-Generated Content
More people online are uploading their own content onto the internet, and more brands are using this fact in order to showcase what they offer customers.
Many customers have now come to expect some form of review or rating on ecommerce websites, and ensuring you get great reviews can really help boost the number of people who do business with you.
While generating your own content is still important, user-generated content can be a big help in making strides online. Whether this is through reviews, videos, images, or other forms of content, more shoppers will be influenced to make a decision to shop with you if they can see that other users have a good opinion of the brand.
Businesses should still ensure social media is up-to-date and showcases unique content, but it is becoming equally important to ensure people are talking about your brand in a positive light, and to encourage people to share images or content related to your brand.
Global Marketing
While it’s still fine to target specific countries, the nature of the online world means that it’s not always necessary to marketing to customers in one specific country.
Businesses which are targeting growth have generated content, marketing campaigns and landing pages specific to certain audiences in order to gain customers around the world.
Creating content based on the country of the user, or adjusting currency and phone numbers through VoIP, or targeted email marketing campaigns for specific regions are just some ways for businesses to market on a global scale.
If you’re looking to improve your online marketing, or perhaps get started with marketing automation, get in touch with the team at Xanthos, who will be happy to discuss your options and how we can help your business growth.
