The first quarter of 2018 is over and marketers are getting anxious about their marketing strategies.
It’s time to take the lead over competitors.
Digital 2018 is all about giving customers global exposure, informative read-worthy content, social reach and even augmented reality.
In this post we will review 5 marketing trends that we believe are relevant to companies across industries and sizes. These top marketing tips will give you the much needed boost to your brand and kick-start your corporate marketing efforts for 2018.
Content Marketing
Content marketing will no longer be limited to blogs and whitepapers. Interactive content marketing will give way to video marketing, voice marketing (Alexa, Google assistant, Siri), augmented reality content and so on. Content marketing will still be the number one priority for marketers. Companies will continue to increase their marketing spend on content marketing which will revolve around original and non-promotional content. Example – Apple is forecasted to spend $1B on original video content for it’s streaming platform.
Marketing Automation
Triggered marketing automation with targeted marketing will continue to open new avenues for marketers. Though most of the companies are doing email marketing, only one-fourth have automated the complete lead lifecycle process. Companies are still struggling to implement the entire process of segmentation, scoring and nurturing. Marketing automation software, email validation/verification services, email marketing tools, etc. will still be in demand.
Social Media Marketing
Focus will slowly shift from Macro influencers with huge followings to Micro influencers (under 100,000 followers) with higher engagement rate. Companies will be spending even more on social advertising. It has been reported that social ad spending on Facebook alone increased 74% year over year in 2017. All because companies have realized that social media is the most easy and cost-effective way to reach a huge targeted group of prospects.
Retargeting and Advertising
Digital advertising in 2017 had several major deviations that will stay to influence and affect the marketers in 2018. Initiatives such as General Data Protection Regulation and Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention have made it difficult to blindly rely on re-targeting. Without prospect consent, re-targeting will be difficult, but the use of Artificial intelligence can bring a new twist. Advertising will be more about personalization and content in 2018. Targeted mobile ads on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram etc. will be a hit.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Remember Pokemon Go? Companies have revolutionized the marketing world with Augmented Reality. In 2018, there will be millions of Android and iOS devices providing augmented reality experiences. Augmented reality brings components of the digital world into a person’s perception of the real world – you can look at the world through your phone and locate/add digital objects wherever you look. B2B Examples – Sponsored AR advertisements, product demos/brochure designs, product catalog with virtual experiences. The combined virtual marketing and augmented reality market is forecast to be worth $692 B by 2025.
