Five Digital Marketing Trends That Stood the Test of Time

Updated 2023.

The field of digital marketing is an ever-changing one, with new trends introduced each year. Some of those trends, however, end up standing the test of time. In this article we'll be looking at 5 which have done just that - ones that should absolutely be included in your strategy. 

1. Real Time Marketing

Real time marketing is a way of gaining a lot of attention quickly with quick thinking and even quicker posting. However this strategy alone will not breed loyal fans if the content all of a sudden becomes boring again. Not only does real time marketing include responsiveness, but there are also tools that make these posts easy to create. This includes posting Stories and Live videos. This way, your brand is part of the relevant conversation and giving your audience sneak peaks into the behind-the-scenes workings of your brand.

In 2013 Oreo's lightning fast response to the power outage in the Superbowl arena caused a huge stir. They posted a message during the 34 minute outage that told fans "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark." Although it seemed impromptu, Oreo had a team of 15 social media experts ready to pounce on any occasion during the match. However the post received a huge amount of attention with over 15,000 retweets and 20,000 likes. 

In 2014 the Superbowl had brands ready to post that 'magical' post and, despite the presence of lights throughout the game, many did a great job. The most popular topic was the strength of one team and the appearance that the game was over after the first quarter. Most notably DiGiorno Pizza, despite having only 55,000 followers, managed to gain over 16,000 retweets with nothing more than a quirky comment. 

With the iPhone #bendgate saga, brands jumped on the real time marketing bandwagon and even KitKat joined the fun making with its, "We don't bend, we break" comments. 

2. Mobile Content

The mobile only/mobile first policy has become crucial towards successful digital marketing. Billions of people will use their mobile as the only device on which they will view the internet. With the world moving to solely mobile, the simplicity and sophistication of the customer journey will be imperative towards the success of the brand. 

Many companies have spent fortunes on their brand integrity and the lack of a mobile experience could see that investment dissipate within a few seconds. When working on a smaller screen the journey has to be different. The customer still wants to have a rich experience but this needs to be done with good use of space and easy navigation. 

The simple fact of the matter is that if your mobile experience is not good, then your potential customer will hit the back key and select the next option, probably your competitor. It should include not only your website, but your ability to provide a great customer experience when shopping via mobile devices too.

3. HD Viral Video Content

With the evolution of HD video devices comes the improvement of video content. No longer do you need a TV studio style camera and have a full mixing desk at home. With the likes of GoPro and Hyperlapse becoming fully HD quality, and at an affordable price, the home director can now create engaging content within minutes. With the average response to video at double the engagement of other posts. To illustrate the abilities of high quality video content, one can also ascertain smart phones can produce 1080p videos. 

Red Bull are the masters of video content. Their use of great videos combined with brand ambassadors and amazing events keeps them always amongst the top players when it comes to viral digital content. Felix Baumgartner's epic space jump amassed 38 million views on youtube alone. 

4. Retargeting

Retargeting is the form of marketing whereby marketers learn your shopping trends and advertise towards them. The use of adword spend in this form can prove very rewarding. The beauty of retargeting is that the information captured allows the advertising that follows to be very targeted and focused towards that exact customer. The large travel booking sites, Agoda and the like, use this form of marketing extremely effectively. As soon as you have narrowed down your holiday search, you have let them know your entire holiday plans. From thereon you will see display advertising on websites and social media that, spookily, knows where you plan to go on a holiday. 

As the statistics suggest, only 2% of booking site users will make a booking immediately. As this is a decision that involves a lot of thought, and often more than one mind, it is essential that your marketing effort keeps you 'top of mind' to your customer even after they have left your site. With this, you can start working on the 98% that left the first time. 

The secret with retargeting is the use of the tools to engage this activity and the quality of the advertising that follows. Only with engaging advertising on the display networks will you yield results. There are various social media and CRM platforms that make this easy for a business to implement.

5. Pre-targeting

Pre-targeting is a form of retargeting but it works slightly differently. Whereas retargeting advertises to the customer in the stages after an engagement, pretargeting markets at the time of purchase. So how do companies know what you are going to buy before you even look at it? The answer is big data. 

The giants of the marketing world, namely Facebook and Google, already have an unimaginable amount of data regarding shopping trends and experiences. They can use this to spot the next big trends with a 90% degree of accuracy. With these types of insights they can predict the shopper's future and send out messages to encourage the customer towards a purchase.

Amazon does a fantastic job of pre-targeting with the customers that connect with Facebook. Shoppers can see their friends and Amazon starts building a shopping list, which is frightfully accurate. This form of marketing is mainly being used by those who have substantial budgets to work with. However, as more people like Facebook posts, connect with location services, use digital calendars and share their experiences, a multitude of information will become more readily available to the everyday marketer, so keep this in mind when developing your targeting strategies.

There you have it - 5 trends that have become a firm part of digital marketing successes. Have you implemented them yet? If you need more information on how these apply to your business, reach out to us today!