If you ever wanted to know what digital marketing will look like in 2018, you’re not alone. Top companies start making next year’s digital marketing plan in the current year.
A forward-thinking marketing agency will definitely take a proactive shift to mobile advertising knowing that desktop advertising is expected to decrease at the rate of 6% in 2018 — as over 87% of internet users use mobile devices to access the web on a regular basis. No doubt.
Truth is, if you want to continue to thrive and gain competitive advantage in this ever-changing digital marketing space in the coming year, you definitely want to look into the future.
And yet another example, Google and Microsoft that used to be mobile-first companies are turning the wheel to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
As a result, Google is implementing a lot of its machine learning infrastructure to enable marketers better understand their customers and to make better marketing decisions.
As our mobile devices become more powerful and social apps better integrate with AR, brands will use AR to better engage with consumers. For example, using your location, brands could trigger sponsored AR content, which can only be accessed at that spot, at that time.
Pokémon Go was the pioneer with this idea, and I feel Instagram and Facebook will soon be integrating this tech into its platforms.
Brands pour millions of dollars into influencers now, but by and large they’re either not measuring or not seeing the results they could get from alternative marketing spends.
The market will collapse as brands zero in on a few select individuals who drive results or move to organic grassroots promotion, and away from high-cost, middle-tier influencers who drive awareness but little ROI.
Data-driven marketing is a powerful tool, but how that data translates to the customer journey will be paramount in digital marketing success in 2018.
Strive first to use data to know where your consumers will be on every step of their purchasing path, learn what appeals to them, and design your marketing to touch them all along their journey. The coming year looks promising.
However, there is also a lot of work to do — no one said, it’s going to be easy.
Do the work. Start by creating strategies that will help you succeed in 2018.
