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In the last few years, marketing has been increasingly moving toward a full-fledged dialogue with users, professing the value-oriented approach. According to the forecasts of leading experts, in 2018, we can expect further development and improvement of these trends. We’ll also observe an ever-increasing integration of mobile devices into people’s lives, which compete on equal footing with computers for users’ attention.
This new reality means that businesses must adapt their marketing strategies towards the future. Let’s take a closer look at these and other marketing trends that show no sign of slowing in 2018.
1. The Increasing Role of Video Content
This trend has two elements of development. First, video content is becoming more important in the buying and selling process. It’s role will especially increase in the post-purchase stages of the Customer Journey Mapping process. For example, video is becoming an integral element when teaching customers how to use companies’ products and services. A huge number of search queries begin with the words, “How to make …”, which often lead customers to YouTube. Thus, this video platform, has become a new source of knowledge.
Second, experts expect a significant increase in the amount of live video content. In 2017, the share of streaming video in the total volume of internet traffic was 75%, and now, there are no signs to suggest that this trend will slow down with time. With the video time frame extending and new interactive features being added to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, there is a fair chance that live video formats will dominate in 2018.
2. Strengthening Positions of Instant Messengers
Advertising distribution is the simplest way to use instant messengers in your marketing campaigns. First, your company collects a database of subscribers, and then, you send them information about products, services, and promotional materials, which motivates users to make a purchase. However, according to a leading b2b marketing consultant, you can significantly expand your utilization of instant messengers to benefit your business.
For example, you can unobtrusively notify subscribers about new interesting articles, ebooks, video materials, live broadcasts, and more. This way, you can increase the audience’s activity and gently sell your product or service. Also, the functionality of instant messengers can be used as a substitute for transactional SMS and email messages.
3. Geofencing
It’s hard to imagine a person today without a mobile phone or gadget at hand. Studies have shown that on average a person uses a mobile phone 75 times a day to go online. This probably means the location of a user is different throughout a day.
Marketers can collect information about people’s activities for targeting and provide relevant information depending on a user’s current location. For example, if a person has searched the internet for information about vegan stores, the technology will provide information about vegan stores in the area where the person is currently located.
4. Marketing Hubs
Marketing automation software, such as HubSpot, Marketo, and their counterparts, is becoming increasingly popular. The number of solutions for marketing automation is growing exponentially. Nowadays, even small businesses are looking for unified solutions that allow them to connect various channels to a single system for Customer Journey Mapping. Marketing hubs allow businesses to create email newsletters, segment databases, design forms, create landing pages, manage social networks and SEO promotions, and much more.
As a result, companies receive hot leads, “heated” with the help of content and based on actions such as users received useful mailings (depending on their actions and queries), read articles, downloaded materials, and so on. This content creates trust toward your business so the users become ready to make a purchase. The software calculates this readiness and sends a relevant offer.
5. Promoting with Instagram
Business promotion with the help of Instagram is expected to remain popular in 2018 as well. The experts forecast that posts with video content will be especially relevant. For today, the site allows uploading videos up to one minute long, which gives you a chance to provide your followers with tons of useful and valuable information. In addition, Instagram Stories is predicted to have greater growth in popularity for business accounts.
As you can see, the main marketing trends in 2018 will continue to develop based on what emerged in previous years. The strategies and techniques of marketing that allow you to provide your target audience with authentic, interesting, and useful content are still relevant and will continue to gain more and more popularity.
