Every Year, we see significant developments in the world and in the marketing world itself, which urge us to evaluate how these events will affect our digital marketing strategies and their subsequent efficacy. Not being thoroughly informed of new marketing strategies can more than set you back in sales, it can make you and your company obsolete. Reputable New York SEO experts are ideal partners to guide your online presence and improve your marketing.
Here are some of the most profound predictions leading into 2018.
Blockchain Will Change The Game
Blockchain is set to cause a revolutionary shift in power within finance, business, and other endeavors. It cuts out the intermediary of powerful institutions and can create more opportunity for transparency in manufacturing, finance and subsequently – in digital marketing.
Since digital marketing has come to rely on programmatic advertising, which will no doubt be affected by the increasing prevalence of blockchain. Blockchain can level the playing field when it comes to online paid advertising, by lowering costs, eliminating fraudulent marketing practices and reveal accurate sources of paid advertisements.
In short, Blockchain could be your greatest friend or foe in 2018 and beyond, depending on how you have been conducting your digital advertising.
Influencer Marketing Will Move From A Tactic To A Strategy
It is no secret that social media is one of the most effective digital marketing tools of the twenty-first century, with influencer marketing on social media platforms growing exponentially.
Influencer marketing has evolved from being just another marketing tactic to becoming an industry in its own right. Surveys show that 74% of consumers rely on recommendations and information found on social media when making a big purchase.
Statistics have revealed that influencer marketing content delivers 11X the ROI than conventional forms of digital marketing. This means we are going to see an even more significant migration away from traditional forms of digital marketing towards a more personal interaction between brands and their consumers via influencers.
Artificial Intelligence Making Many Tools Obsolete
Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm. Estimates put 85% of all customer interactions in the AI realm by 2020. It is being used across industries and is not just optimizing our work processes, but also forcing us to adapt our approaches and strategies altogether.
With many AI web analytics tools recently introduced, the ones we have relied on and built our entire marketing strategies around, are now made obsolete. This means we have to start over in developing procedures and learning to use these tools. As daunting as that may seem, we consider this a valuable time investment which will pay for itself as these new AI tools promise to revolutionize digital marketing and data analytics-giving marketers more power in their decision making.
Net Neutrality Laws Will Impact Everyone – Especially Online Marketers
The fight to preserve net neutrality has been a contentious issue as of late. Net neutrality can ensure our rights as consumers to find the websites we want and for all marketers to have a fair chance at reaching their targets. Laws, which may come into effect soon, may destroy net neutrality and can undermine the work, systems, and tools used for marketing and rankings thus far.
Web page rankings and even availability will come down to which company has the most money to offer ISP’s not the most efficient content or even what audiences want to see. The end of net neutrality could mean the end of digital marketing, as we know it, forcing us to discard almost every digital marketing strategy we have come to rely on and compete in the bid to be featured online at all.
Brands Will Turn To Media Companies Over Agencies
Up until very recently, marketing agencies dominated the marketing world, while subcontracting media companies to generate content. However, media companies are starting to have a bigger say in the digital marketing space as the shifting trends in consumer-brand engagement means the media companies have as much to offer brands (if not more) than marketing agencies.
Many media companies can create and directly offer consumers various types of content and audience engagement experiences which are useful for marketing such as virtual reality, real-time videos with audiences, etc. They also have the available platforms (such as social media) available to them that were not available before. What’s more, many media companies have acquired their own audiences for brands to tap into.
Native Advertising Will Become More Specialised
Like influencer marketing, native advertising it is not just another tactic anymore, but an industry on its own. As we have established, audiences are becoming less responsive to traditional and direct forms of advertising. Consumers respond better to brands that interact and engage with their customers. This is where native advertising practices have infiltrated these engagement platforms with less direct marketing tactics.
Since native advertising is far more personal, complicated and time-consuming than some traditional forms of marketing, companies are being forced to outsource this type of advertising more. This increasing demand is leading to the introduction of many agencies, businesses, and marketing professionals to specialize in this field.
With these predictions, it seems that 2018 is set to be the end of a marketing era. However, using this information will maximize your marketing ROI and ensure your target audience is engaged successfully.
I’m an entrepreneur, blogger, mother, and copywriter. I currently run two online businesses and a freelance writing service at www.mymarketersmindset.com. When I’m not working, I love to spend time with my daughter and help to further my education.
