The whole point of marketing is to get a company’s message out to the people, raising brand awareness and attracting customers to the goods and services offered. Consequently, marketers need to focus on the message where the greatest concentration of people is. And where is everyone today?
Take a look around you. Everyone’s on their mobile phone. People today are in the digital world, and that’s where marketers must aim their efforts. But things change fast, and innovations come at us in rapid succession, so it’s essential to figure out the future of digital marketing.
This article discusses digital marketing, its future, the hottest trends, and how you can benefit from it. And also, which is the right digital marketing bootcamp for you. But first, let’s kick things off with a brief review.
Digital Marketing: A Refresher
Before we talk about the future of online marketing, let’s turn to the past and define the concept for the sake of the newbies and as a review for the rest of us. Digital marketing involves using digital channels to market goods and services to consumers, involving the use of websites, social media, search engines, video, mobile devices, e-mail, and more.
Where is Digital Marketing Today?
Alright, we looked at the past; let’s glimpse at the present. Future digital marketing trends have their genesis in the here and now, so where is digital marketing today?
In today’s digital marketing world, marketers use several strategies and approaches to get their message out. Here are the most popular digital marketing channels:
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Mobile marketing
- Brand management
- Web analytics
- Competitor tracking
- Campaign management
The current worldwide digital advertising and marketing value hit almost $321 billion in 2022, and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 13 percent in the next five years, exceeding $671 billion by 2028. In addition, about 72 percent of marketing budgets are allocated toward digital marketing efforts, and at least 55 percent of today’s marketing is digital.
That’s where we are today. So, what’s the future of digital marketing?
The Hot Future Trends of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing continues to grow as more people turn to digital technology for their everyday needs. As the numbers grow, we see interesting new future digital marketing trends on the horizon. Here’s a sampling of ten trends we can expect to rise in the future.
Gen Z Expansion
We can’t talk about the future of internet marketing without mentioning Gen Z. As Gen Z matures and becomes heavier consumers, businesses need to adjust their marketing efforts accordingly. What worked with boomers and Gen X won’t be as effective with a generation that has grown up with computers. Gen Z audiences want a memorable online experience, meaning digital campaigns that are more precisely targeted and engaging.
Increased Use of Influencers
Love them or hate them, today’s web influencers are here to stay. You only need to check out YouTube to see some of the enormous audience numbers that many influencers attract. Each one of those likes or follows is another potential customer, and a good word from a famous influencer can make a world of difference. But, conversely, a negative comment can do potential damage.
According to this article, 89 percent of digital marketers surveyed who currently work with influencers will continue or expand their partnership this year.
This trend will also see an increase in micro-influencers, defined as social media promoters with smaller audiences but, as a result, have stronger ties (trust) with their audiences.
More Personalization
Everyone wants to feel special, so marketers who want an audience that responds well to them must personalize their messages and campaigns. Marketers will increasingly turn to digital marketing tools such as key performance indicators (KPIs) to use more precise language and target their ads more personalized manner. Heightened personalization builds stronger bonds of trust and confidence, which results in more lead conversions and sustained customer loyalty. People want to be more than just another name on an e-mail distribution database.
Video Killed the Content Star
We humans are visually-oriented animals, and video will continue to dominate digital marketing efforts, often at the expense of the written word. Live streaming video continues to grow. This trend doesn’t mean that the written word will vanish (in fact, see below). There will always be a need for well-written content. However, video’s full potential has yet to be realized, and content creators will keep pushing the creative envelope to reach that potential.
Superfast Broadband
Elaborate digital marketing campaigns need more bandwidth to make them viable. Fortunately, our evolving technology is more than accommodating. Superfast broadband is any broadband service that offers speeds of 30Mbps or greater and offers faster download speeds, and allows more users to be connected simultaneously without any performance degradation.
As marketing content gets more immersive and elaborate, expect superfast broadband (and its Ultrafast, Hyperfast, and Gigabit subcategories) to play a more significant role.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented reality will also influence the future of online marketing. Augmented reality is real-time information used in text, audio, graphics, and other virtual enhancements integrated with real-world objects, which distinguishes it from virtual reality. Although adoption rates are lower than anticipated, this can change if the technology becomes more commonplace and affordable. But for now, let’s consider this trend temporarily stalled.
Integrated and Omnichannel Approaches
This trend refers to businesses expanding their messaging and marketing efforts to multiple platforms and channels rather than limiting their efforts to a Facebook page, for example. Unified omnichannel marketing strategies allow marketers to create an attractive, irresistible online presence for their brands. This approach means increased voice, video, text, and visual content applied to multiple channels, all pointing to a common message. This message creates an effective, personalized experience that today’s audiences expect.
TL/dr Ads
“TL/dr” means “too long, didn’t read,” and refers to vast amounts of text that the reader decided wasn’t worth the time and effort, so the reader brushed it off and implied that they’d like the shortened version or summary. We’ll see advertisements accommodating the TL/dr mentality with shorter, punchier marketing copy, doing their best to get people to commit to purchasing within seconds of engaging with the content.
On a related note, expect this approach also to be applied to video content. Don’t be surprised to see increasing numbers of short-form videos dominating the marketing landscape. These videos will be brief and to the point yet memorable and engaging.
We can argue that the future of digital marketing is “brevity.”
A Greater Reliance on Artificial Intelligence
No discussion about future digital trends is complete without mentioning artificial intelligence (AI). The better AI gets, the more businesses rely on it to automate digital processes. We will see increased cooperation between AI, SEO, and data analytics as growing numbers of digital ads are launched based on insights gained from automated analytics tools. We could be looking at a digital marketing landscape where AI gathers data and launches personalized ad campaigns based on what it collects.
Mobile Marketing Will Continue to Grow
We’ve saved the biggest marketing game-changer for last. People are spending more time on their mobile devices. In fact, over half of our current yearly online traffic comes via mobile devices! Thus, digital marketers will direct more of their advertising efforts to mobile optimization. After all, advertisers must broadcast their message where the biggest audiences are, and that audience is staring at their phones. This ties in with our first listed trend, the Gen Z factor. According to these statistics, 79 percent of Gen Z says they can’t live without their smartphone, as opposed to 70 percent of millennials, although the latter statistic is pretty impressive as well! In both cases, we’re looking at well over two-thirds of the people in these age groups considering their mobile devices essential in their daily lives.
Additionally, mobile experiences aren’t limited to websites. Marketers are turning to the mobile experience to create and launch e-mail and SMS-driven campaigns. This approach dovetails nicely with the “short but sweet” strategy.
What Will YOUR Role be in the Future of Digital Marketing?
Thanks to the abovementioned trends (and many more), the future of digital marketing has never looked brighter. But have you considered making digital marketing your future, too? Why limit yourself to just being a marketing target when you can have an exciting, secure, and ultimately rewarding career in digital marketing?
This digital marketing online bootcamp, delivered by Simplilearn in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts and in partnership with Meta, will turn you into a digital marketing specialist in just six months. Whether you’re a beginner who wants a new career in digital marketing or a marketing professional who wants to upskill with the latest digital marketing techniques, this online course will teach you how to create innovative digital marketing campaigns that boost engagement and attract customers.
You will gain valuable skills in areas such as:
- Conversion Optimization
- Digital Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Analytics
You will earn your certificate, alumni membership to the UMass Amherst Alumni Association, and a Meta Certified Digital Marketing Associate Exam Voucher worth $99.
According to Indeed.com, the average digital marketing salary in the United States is $61,286 per year, with compensation going as high as $104,432. So, get ready to become a part of digital marketing’s bright future, and start your journey by signing up for this valuable bootcamp. Join today!
