The biggest trends of 2017 will help marketers engage consumers more directly and more often as they begin to find new and exciting ways to entice customers. The most prominent trends will help marketers navigate their customers into well thought out, comprehensive campaigns. Let’s take a look at just a few upcoming trends in digital marketing:
1. SEO
Search engine optimization is evolving at lightning speed, and it’s not looking to change in the years ahead. The algorithm Google uses will continue to update to keep marketing departments on their toes. This will affect brand optimization trends and shape them into knowing more of what people want to look for.
As more users begin to type full queries into search engines, data and heuristics are collected, which are then able to offer up more targeted results effectively. Figure out what questions your ideal buyer personas are asking, and target the search queries that bring them to your page.
The biggest difference will be developments in voice search. Finally being able to go from voice recognition to voice understanding. This evolution will change previous search data, location-based context, personalized information, and keyword research based on spoken phrases.
2. Behavior-based email marketing
Email marketing continues to be one of the top performing tactics in marketers technology. Marketers will use data to improve the quality of their email lists while email marketing and automation will continue evolving into a dominant powerhouse that drive consistent, engaging, revenue producing campaigns that don’t require hours of labor or code to deliver.
As consumers subscribe to more brands online, the volume of emails hitting their inboxes has only gone up in the past year. “This has resulted in higher unsubscribe rates and lower open rates. Consumers will not pay attention to your email if it is not useful for them.” says Deepak Kanakaraju of Digital Deepak. The best way to combat this would be to compile the data for who responds or opens those emails and strictly target them.
3. Video
Video rules over social media as consumers find them more enjoyable and easier to consume information. Video is an inexpensive way to level the playing field. In this area, expensive advertising spots and big businesses don’t always have the advantage. A few examples of how video can help business are: featuring video testimonials, demonstrating product use, showcasing products in action and answering customer FAQs. Marketers are getting into this trend as well, as over 50% of marketers say they will be increasing their budget for video content.
4.Influencer marketing
Yes, influencer marketing isn’t new, but it will look to grow in 2017 as we see brands not only partnering with digital savvy Snapchatters and YouTubers but also co-creating original content. The challenge, though, is dealing with bot fraud, ad blocking, social algorithms and general skepticism. Marketers will play a central role in dealing with these potential problems in 2017. According to eMarketer, 2017 is predicted to mark a major milestone for digital advertising—for the first time, digital spending will surpass that of TV.
5. Big Data
Market research firm Ovum estimates big data market will increase from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion by 2020. Businesses have taken a strong interest in big data, and is widely used by companies throughout the world. For example, Cambridge Analytica harnessed big data for a variety of uses. Their analysis helped the Trump presidential campaign team know where to focus fundraising efforts, target ‘persuadables’, and increase spend. The data was even used to deliver 4,000 individual digital ads. This messaging was continually tested and refined using polling and the firm’s data. Ultimately, in 2017 big data will be making a major shift in business, as they will use it to drive business operations rather than simply reflecting performance.
