Did you know that digital marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing? When you’re bringing in leads by the dozen (or even by the hundreds) that adds up fast. And yet, a whopping 70% of content marketers lack an integrated content strategy.
Digital marketing and online advertising can quite literally put a whole world at your fingertips. But first, you have to know how to use it.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest digital marketing trends on the horizon this year—and some essential digital marketing tips to help you master them.
1. The Era of AI
We’re not yet in the era of JARVIS or HAL, but in the era of online everything, artificial intelligence is having a renaissance. Don’t believe it? AI is helping Amazon become a trillion-dollar company.
Amazon makes an excellent use case for digital marketers. That’s because Amazon uses AI to do something extremely specific: identify patterns and promote relevant products to customers. Remember the last time you ordered a last-minute rescue item from Amazon and the site gave you a list of relevant product recommendations? That’s to the credit of AI.
Of course, AI can do more than just identify product trends in e-commerce. AI also allows marketers to identify patterns in consumer behavior that might otherwise be oblique and confusing. Let’s be honest—your customers spend a lot of time interfacing with the digital world, and their behavior can often seem erratic. That’s because you’re looking at the tree, not the forest. AI assistance allows you to make sense of the forest (without burning every hour of every day).
2. Chatbots Can Help You With That
AI is changing the future of digital marketing. Chatbots are one part of that, and they’re driving a massive transformation in the customer service experience.
Chances are, your business already uses chatbots. Almost every service-oriented website now has a friendly chatbot in the corner of the screen offering to answer the visitor’s questions. Plus, chatbots go a long way in driving engagement on your social media channels, helping customers feel like there’s a person out there who’s answering all of their questions.
In reality, there’s no human involved. It’s all AI, which can give a chatbot a surprisingly human personality. That makes it way more fun (and engaging) for customers to connect with a chatbot than a stale auto-response. And that little dose of (seemingly) human connection does wonders for your brand reputation.
3. Mobile-First Marketing
We got a lot of takeaways from the twelve-month fever dream of 2020, but one of the better outcomes of 2020 is the drive for mobile-first marketing.
Regardless of how long COVID-19 persists, it drove a seismic shift in the landscape of business and technology. The world may slowly reopen, but customers have grown accustomed to accessing businesses digitally. Especially through their phones. And if you’re not ready to meet your customers where they are, they’re going to leave you behind.
For businesses, that means it’s time to make the transition to a mobile-first website (if you haven’t already). The good news is that the shift to mobile-first marketing can be as easy as responsive web design, which adapts a web page based on the visitor’s screen. That way, you always deliver the best customer experience (and you have a much higher chance of driving sales).
4. Hybrid Events
Back in March 2020, when COVID-19 brought the world to a dizzying standstill, marketers saw every in-person event shuttered for the foreseeable future in the name of social distancing. But they still needed a way to engage with customers and retain interests. So, they adapted, driving a massive digital transformation to provide digital events.
In 2021, we’re tiptoeing back into in-person gatherings, but as COVID-19 ebbs and flows (and customers from a wider base remain interested in your business) hybrid events are here to stay. This gives you the best of both worlds—you get the joy and personal interaction of an in-person event, but you also get the convenience of attending from your own home if you prefer. Or, if safety rules force the event to go virtual-only, the tools are already in place.
5. Marketing Automation Simplifies the Task List
Why work harder when you can work smarter? Fortunately, there’s now a whole library of marketing technology to help you achieve that aim—including marketing automation.
In ye olden days, digital marketing involved a lot of repetitive tasks. You know, the kind you used to outsource to your interns, like scheduling social media posts or sending marketing copy to your email list. These days, marketing automation allows you to automate many of those repetitive tasks so that you can focus on tasks that demand human creativity.
Plus, it frees up your calendar to focus on a content strategy—and as we’ve already noted, most marketers need one.
6. Content Marketing Remains Evergreen
Last but not least is a trend that’s been around for a long time: content marketing.
Content marketing remains king of the digital marketing world because, to borrow a familiar adage, content is king. Content is how you connect with your visitors, engage their interest, and show them that you offer something valuable.
These days, content marketing is heavily focused on content alignment for a cohesive experience. For example, by aligning your SEO, PR, and leadership messaging, you’ll bring your brand identity and voice into focus. This is especially important in the digital era, when customers are likely to engage with your content piecemeal.
Capitalize on the Best Digital Marketing Trends 2022
Digital marketing trends may ebb and flow, but with some dedication and the right strategies, your business is here to stay. Our job is to help you find the tools you need for online success, with high-conversion domain designs that make it easy to drive engagement no matter what your business has to offer.
Ready to invest in your success? Check out our pricing options today to find out how we can help your website prepare to market (and convert) for years to come.