As a business leader, you need to know about current marketing trends, future marketing trends and top marketing trends. It's a lot to keep track of, and it is often exhausting. How about something exciting? Here are five evergreen trends for you...
Top Digital Marketing Trends That Will Serve You Long-Term
Each year, new marketing trends emerge and take over different industries. However, only some of these trends have longevity, while the others quickly fade into irrelevancy.
If you want to learn about the more evergreen trends of right now this article will bring you up-to-date. Curious about the five exciting marketing trends that are here to stay? Let’s begin...
1. SMS Marketing
First up, SMS marketing.
Each year, global smartphone usage increases. In turn, so does the importance of SMS marketing.
You’ve probably noticed an increase in the number of texts you receive from companies that have your phone number. This is because you’ve opted into their email marketing campaigns (for example, you might have opted-in to receive a newsletter or to find out about specific discounts and specials using your email address).
Now lots of companies – big and small – are texting their customers to:
- Promote products
- Increase their sales
- Provide company news and updates
In addition, businesses and non-profit organizations are also using Tatango, an SMS marketing software. Essentially, this software enables you to send mass text messages to large amounts of people – all with the click of a button. This saves time and effort, making everything easy for you.
2. Conversational Marketing
The world of marketing has changed a lot over recent years. Marketing has become more conversational. The reason for this is simple: It allows brands to be human.
If you take a look at any big brand’s social media pages, you will likely see that they’ve adopted a conversational style. Surprisingly, a lot of companies are now even posting memes.
Conversational marketing is about being personal and creating a genuine connection with customers. It happens in several ways:
- Direct messaging (which is mainly done through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter)
- Chatbots (AI-powered software that you can use on your website to communicate with customers)
- Virtual selling assistants
- Personalized photos and videos
The days of ‘corporate’ speak are over. Now it’s all about communicating with customers in a human way. It would be wise to adopt this style moving forward.
3. Social Media Marketing
Much like smartphone usage, social media usage is also increasing.
In response to this, companies of all sizes have launched pages to promote their brand on all the major social media platforms, from Facebook to Instagram.
Social media has slowly become the main contact point between brands and consumers. At any moment, a consumer can direct message a company on social media and expect a reply within a reasonable amount of time.
4. Influencer Marketing
Perhaps the most interesting of brand marketing trends...
Influencer marketing has also become incredibly popular. Influencer marketing brings together a brand and a social media influencer (a popular person on social media in the brand's niche). The influencer then endorses a product on their social pages.
Brands are using influencers to reach new audiences and gain strong brand recognition. It is proving to be effective. There are many types of influencers, from micro-influencers (1K – 10K followers) to mega influencers (1M+ followers).
The age of influencers shows no signs of slowing down, so you can expect this form of marketing to be popular going forward. Consider how you can use this in your brand's social media strategy.
5. Marketing Trends That Last ... Email Marketing
Email marketing is also an exciting marketing trend that you should utilize. People still answer their email ... the oldest and largest social network.
It is not as powerful as SMS marketing, but there is greater freedom to customize your messages. You can also include attachments and larger multimedia.
The key is to build an email database and grow your number of contacts. One technique to get more customer emails: Encourage them to make accounts on your company website.
