9 Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore This Decade

There was a time when technology was just another element of marketing. Today, technology defines marketing. Digital marketing is reaching heights like never before. And, marketers are now employing automation in every aspect possible. Since automation gives marketers the time to be more creative, everyone is trying to learn more. And, we are here to help so that you don’t miss out on the rising digital marketing trends.

Customers are becoming more specific with their demands, and the trial & error method does not work anymore. You can only expect engagement if you deliver value. And, digital marketing strategies are all about providing value.

Hence, this blog will talk about the ongoing and emerging digital marketing trends that will continue to drive engagement and boost your business in the coming decade.

Start to the Decade – 2020

When we speak of 2020, we can’t help but talk about the COVID pandemic.

While it has become an inherent part of our personal lives, it has also gained a highly relevant professional spot. Hence, 2020 has played a huge part in bringing the much needed digital transformation into place. Statistics say that there has been a 13% increase in digital marketing budget in 2020 from that in 2019. And, we believe that it’s going to get even higher in 2021.

A couple of years back, companies needed only a little more than a website and a Facebook page, but, the digital marketing trends 2020 show that technology is on a high now, and while digital transformation by sector varies, overall it is growing rapidly. Working remotely has made companies make a quick switch to digital, moving towards the age of augmentation.

Source: Smart Insights

Rise of Artificial Intelligence – No Code Digital Marketing Trends

Artificial intelligence is all over the place. And, we like it.

We can’t get enough of Alexa and Google Home in our living rooms. Likewise, we are trying to automate anything and everything in our professional lives too.

And no, that doesn’t mean that you need to have the technical know-how of coding. No-code is the secret code to automation. You no longer have to hire professionals to create and manage content for you ‒ no-code tools will easily become your best friends.

Source: Getting Smart

Here’s how no-code digital marketing trends have become a part of our everyday work environment:

1. Interactive Content

Well, we had to start with this!

Interactive content is all about providing value to customers. Hence, it creates twice the engagement as static content. It employs the customers’ questions and provides the right answers and recommendations based on them. Interactive content converses with the customers instead of just talking. And gives them a highly personalized experience.

Wouldn’t you too love to give personalized answers to your customers’ questions? When you are online, providing personalization might seem like a tough task. And we’d agree, in the absence of no-code tools. But with Outgrow’s no-code platform, creating interactive content is easy, and generating leads, even easier.

Look at this interactive recommendation quiz that gives you work from home equipment suggestions based on your requirements. It’s all no-code and can be created within minutes. Oh also, it scores leads (Does it get any better than this?).

2. Workflow Tools

The pandemic has forced us all into our homes and on the web. And managing a remote marketing team can get a little hectic without a proper work structure. Connecting and communicating with your team can be made easier with tools specially designed for these purposes. Workflow tools help you and your team be on the same page. The best part is that they are all automated and free of code. Makes the work EVEN easier.

But how does that help your business? Consider this – one of your customer support employees approaches a client, quotes a price, and things are going well. Now another CS employee, working remotely, isn’t aware of this conversation and reaches out to the same client with a different quote. Messed up much? It might just cost you a client.

This is where workflow tools come in. Tools like Intercom, Slack, Workplace, etc. solve the problem of lack of communication. You can also opt for an employee management software like Monday.com. That way, everyone can be on the same page and keep track of each customer’s journey.

3. Database

Managing data once used to be a serious problem. You could collect the data, but storing it was a huge crisis – not anymore. With cloud computing around the corner, managing data has gotten way easier. Cloud computing is an application-based software infrastructure that allows you to store data remotely. This data can then be accessed through the internet by your entire team.

Did you know – 90% of companies are on the cloud? Furthermore, cloud statistics say that 98% of organizations will move to multiple hybrid clouds by 2021. They even predict that cloud data centers will process 85% of the workload in 2021.

Cloud usage is attracting marketers because you don’t need to do any technical work. Everything is automated. Your data is safe. What else do you need? Cloud collaboration services like Airtable and Knack are in huge demand because of their easy-to-use platforms. Thus, databases are one of the fastest-growing trends in digital marketing.

4. Integrations

Nowadays, software doesn’t occur in silos. They need to function with and be compatible with other software tools as well. Getting to do everything on one platform makes the whole process simpler, and automation has made it possible. With integration tools, one can easily move data between sites.

Zapier is one such online automation platform that allows users to integrate the web applications they use, making it easier for them to transfer, filter, and segment data. Retargeting gets a lot simpler as you can use the automatically transferred and segmented data to target potential customers.

Outgrow offers 40+ native integrations along with integration with Zapier for you to send your lead data to practice retargeting. Integration, therefore, acts as a strong B2B marketing trend.

Why Go No-Code?

Creators want their tools to be used by everyone and not just experts. No code tools enable marketing teams to avoid the need for experts at every step and create a decentralized self-service environment. This increases efficiency.

Today’s “no-code” tools give non-technical professionals the power to create websites, databases, workflows, integrations, mobile apps, web apps, chatbots, voice assistant skills, and more. This gives them the chance to explore every part of the process.

But, we should understand that the entry of no-code doesn’t mean goodbye to experts. We still need experts to learn and grow. It is, after all the tech experts who create these amazing platforms for us!

How Does Marketing Technology Work in the Business Model?

The business model is now using martech more than ever. The digital marketing trends have made the use of automation important in every set of the process. The digital world has generated new challenges for us, and we have developed new organizational structures to overcome them. These dynamic structures and processes are organized around platforms, networks, and marketplaces.

Furthermore, this has shaped marketing strategy and operations, both inside and outside the firm. You can learn more about the role of platforms, networks, and marketplaces in forming digital marketing strategies in the image below:

Source: Martech 2030

Some More Digital Marketing Trends on the Rise

5. Advertising

Since everything is going on an automation trip, we can’t really leave advertising behind, can we? Advertising has taken a huge digital rise and everyone’s moving towards programmatic advertising. It means employing AI to automate ad buying in order to target specific audiences.

The Economist used programmatic advertising to create an ad campaign that generated 650,000 new prospects, and a return on investment (ROI) of 10:1. Thus, you can not only generate awareness but leads as well.

Programmatic advertising statistics show that one of the top trends in 2020 was automation –– AI and machine learning. Digitizing advertising means more efficiency, and that indicates higher conversion rates. Traditional advertising is mostly done on the basis of 3-4 sets of criteria, whereas digital advertising takes into account hundreds of signals for targeting.

Moreover, digital ad spend is expected to increase by 88% in the US by 2021. This means that current and future marketing trends have a lot in store for digital advertising. You can use tools like CallRail to analyze the performance of your ad campaigns.

Source: MarTech Advisor

6. Video Marketing

Video is one of the most emerging digital marketing trends. 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in making purchase decisions online. Marketers love videos because they know that their audience loves them too. In fact, 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate.

With a shift to the online world, live videos are gaining popularity. People like to have a sense of real-time connection, and live videos do the job for you! Moreover, marketers are following the trend for creating 1:1 videos. These videos eliminate the need for calls as they act as a personalized response to prospects. They’d much rather watch a video than spend time on a call.

Ahrefs created this video to help their audience understand SEO mastery. It’s educating, fun, and engaging. Mission accomplished.

Even Google ranks sites with videos higher. This is because they are 50 times more likely to be viewed, hence a lower bounce rate. People like content that talks to them, and videos do that. What’s even better is creating videos that are interactive. The major focus should be on making content personalized and engaging. Therefore, we can safely say that videos are the future of marketing.

7. Augmented Reality

There was a time when shopping for glasses online seemed like a risky business. Will they fit my face? Are they right for my face shape? And, more such questions would be all over our minds. But, with augmented reality, the problem’s sorted. Wouldn’t you want to see a real-time view of how the glasses look on YOU and not a model? Augmented reality offers personal results, and well, it’s the age of personalization.

Warby Parker is one such brand that introduced their “virtual try-on” feature that lets you try glasses virtually before you buy them. They used eight variables that fit the frames to the face, and that helped customers make choices easily.

Augmented reality is another one of those no-code digital marketing trends that are only rising with time. In 2020, as many as 32% of users have used AR for shopping. The AR that was once a unique element of Snapchat has now acquired a very relevant spot in the shopping industry.

7 out of 10 media planners and buyers want more Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) ads incorporated into their digital marketing campaigns, primarily to improve consumer engagement. In short, if you are looking at the top digital marketing trends, don’t even dream of skipping augmented reality.

8. Web-Apps

Web Apps are basically websites that work as mobile apps. They provide application functions like fast load time, push notifications, working offline, utilizing device hardware, etc. on a website. Why is that great? Well, because you don’t have to worry about using it on a specific device with a specific platform.

There are companies like ArcGIS that allow you to build apps based on your requirements. This makes the entire app building process codeless. Automation has made the use of apps as relevant for B2B marketing trends as it was once for B2C marketing trends.

9. Geo-Targeting

We know we’ve been talking a lot about how personalized marketing is winning the race in emerging marketing trends. But, don’t blame us. It is the best. Geo-targeting means targeting a specific set of audience based on their geographic location. Why do it? Because well, (you know where we’re going with this) – PERSONALIZATION. You want your content to be regionally relatable to your audience.

Look at this for example. Slack shows its website differently to different audiences. Slack has made localized geo-targeted landing pages to show their audience that they are valued. To be honest, we loved the idea!

Humans With AI

Some people might worry that it can get tough for humans to coexist with AI because their growth prospects get compromised. But we think otherwise. With artificial intelligence in place, humans get more time to be creative. That’s an even better prospect for growth. Greater automation will give humans more time to interact and engage with customers. And, even if AI covers everything, it can’t really make up for human sentiment.

As for marketers, AI offers them even more time to explore innovation. AI has shifted the allocation of marketers’ time to higher-level work on strategy. Marketers definitely need to learn how to align with all the automation. One of their most important goals should be to create harmony between them and AI.

Conclusion 

The upcoming decade is going to be a huge hit for marketers. With consistent upgrades in technology, marketers across the globe are getting the chance to automate tasks and save more time for innovation. By 2030, the marketing scene is set to take a long trip to automation-ville and we can’t wait!

Till then, the best digital marketing strategy we can implement is to make the best of artificial intelligence. And, our experience tells us that incorporating interactive content in the marketing strategy helps automate easily. It’s no-code and quick. Don’t believe us? Learn yourself by taking your free trial at Outgrow now!