TOP 6 MUST KNOW MARKETING TRENDS OF 2018
As the year is nearing its end we are putting together the top 6 marketing trends you should pay attention to in 2018. So if you are a media planner, advertiser or creative director, etc. keep these in mind as you are dealing with your clients in the near future.
1. Interactive Content
I think it’s pretty clear that if I were to give you an option to read an article or watch a movie, nine times out of ten you will choose the video. This is the reason why interactive content is one of our fist marketing trends. Interactive content that has moving elements is what drives engagement. Think of all the quizzes, polls that exist on virtually every social media platform. The one thing we will be seeing more of is the interactive expandable ads. These ads contain tests, forms, mini games. Some Interactive expandable ads serve as mini sites for brands.
2. Mobile Video
Have you looked at your Facebook feed recently? Chances are that 95% of it is video. And here’s a fun stat: mobile video views grew six times faster than desktop views in 2015. In fact, in Q4 of 2015, mobile video views exceeded desktop views for the first time ever. So if you are enjoying mobile video on your phone you should recommend it to you clients as well.
3. Chatbots
Companies implement bots offline for years. Just think of every single customer service call you’ve had in the last 5 years. When you call you get redirected towards an automated message box with voice recognition. Now this same system is coming online. If you go to any site that offers online services like storage or CRM you will be greeted with a sound of a click and a chat box at the lower right corner of the webpage. You’ve probably been hearing the term ‘’artificial intelligence” more and more. As computers get increasingly intelligent menial you will see repetitive digital tasks be outsourced to machines. Chats are one of those repetitive tasks. One of the leading chatting platforms on the block has been Slack.
4. Virtual and augmented reality
Just look at every product presentation in the last 2 years. Oculus Rift, Holo Lens and Apple’s AR Kit are all examples of augmented reality technology on the consumer market.
5. Marketing Automation
There has been a great shift in sales in marketing in the last 5 years. Due to globalization chances are you choose a vendor because they’ve sold you and not because someone recommended them to you. Every sales person is aware of the unspoken ration, for example, they sell product x every tenth pitch. Therefore, the sales persons’ job is to increase the number of leads. The only way to do that is to build mailing lists and use customer relationship platforms like Hubspot and Infusionsoft.
6. ROI
The last marketing trend is ROI. Clients no longer care just about click, impressions and viewability. The new kid on the block is eCPM. Instead of solely focusing on views or clicks, companies should measure their ROI on things such as sign-ups, downloads and purchases. This requires going beyond CPMs and looking at the performance-based metrics instead.