Digital Marketing Latest Trends

Digital Marketing has been experiencing many changes during the last few years, due to the changes and improvements in technology.

 Your firm’s online marketing strategy may have centered on email marketing, search marketing, pay‐per‐click, Web 2.0, or any of the many other online marketing approaches. These techniques still work today, and they will continue to work for some time yet. However, the question is

what is the next “big thing” in online marketing and how can businesses get on top of it today?

            By the “next big thing” I mean, "app marketing" to mobile users. It is crucial that you understand what is happening in terms of app marketing as a marketing strategy. Numbers of smartphone users are increasing rapidly as more and more people switch to using BlackBerrys, IPhones and Android devices. These users have adopted the idea of downloading “apps” or applications for their phone which can do anything from tell you what time the next bus arrives to forecast the weather and even let you buy stocks and shares!

            "Mobile app marketing," does not mean making money-selling apps on iTunes or similar web services. It refers instead to smartphone functionality via apps that lead strongly back to a business.

Some other trends

1.      Localization will change the way consumers search

Localization and its integration into digital channels will be significant for search and social marketing in 2011. Foursquare has been steadily growing but it is the launch of Facebook Places to its half a billion users that is likely to make the biggest impact. We are likely to see spikes in location-based news, promotions and advertising from brands. Mobile search, with geo-location data, will also continue to grow.

2.      Convergence of media across digital channels will become more common

2011 will see more convergence of media and communications content across information-sharing devices and channels. The launch of web TV products and services by Google, Apple, Sony, YouView and others will bring new online marketing opportunities to the forefront. Microsoft is primed to launch Xbox Live TV and look out for a Facebook TV announcement sometime soon. This channel will start to be adopted by the mainstream audience in 2011.

3.      New browsers will be great for web design – but we’ll still be worrying about IE6

With the introduction of IE9 this year, as well as Firefox 4 and an updated version of Google Chrome, the use of HTML5 and CSS3 techniques will become much more widely used as a serious design tool. The increased use of HTML5 will necessitate a move to more widespread adoption of progressive enhancement by companies who wish to continue to support older browsers whilst taking full advantage of the features of the latest versions.

The digital industry is getting excited about advances and new functionality of JavaScript engines, the increased use of Ajax techniques and what this means for web content.

4.      Social commerce will continue to grow

Social media covers many elements, including social networking and profile management, social publishing, social collaboration technologies and social feedback. These will continue to impact consumer behaviour next year. The introduction of functions such as Facebook Credits and social commerce sites such as Groupon, mean that 2011 will see a growth in both brands using social channels and consumers buying from, or starting their purchase decision cycle, via these sites.

As companies harness the commercial value of functions such as the Facebook ‘like’ button it will incentivise more quality content to be published.

5.      Mobile strategy is a MUST

It is estimated that by the end of 2010, 1.2 billion people worldwide will own a mobile device1. In the UK, 7.7 million consumers would rather shop on their mobile devices to save time and money2 this Christmas. Despite these figures, only a handful of the large retail brands are ready with mobile.

         Shopping sites. Many brands are just beginning to think about their mobile communication strategy and asking “Do we need a site or an app?”, “Is our site supported on mobile browsers?” or “Is our site optimized for mobile search?”

Mobile commerce will increase significantly in 2011 as more brands adopt successful mobile strategies, more smartphones will be in use and consumers will become more confident with secure mobile payments. The introduction of emerging payment technologies, such as microSD cards built into phones, will remove purchase barriers and give consumers the confidence to spend more on their mobiles.

Strange view: In the next couple years, the use of mobile devices for internet browsing will overtake that of PCs3. Mobile sites must become more usable. There certainly isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ answer and organisations need to work out what suits their business and customers. It’s not just a case of mobile application versus mobile site - you may very well need both to work together. Think about the whole user journey and customer experience when developing your mobile strategy.