Digital Marketing Trends of 202

The Top Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

/在： /通过：

There are many variables that dictate the flow of digital marketing, such as SEO, social media, PPC, web design, and a lot more. The tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, are at the forefront of this mechanism, and they continue to innovate in their algorithms, thus keeping every business owner on their feet. There is a vital need to stay updated on the coming trends in order to remain relevant in the digital marketing space. Tech is rapidly dynamic, and here are 13 of the top digital marketing trends we are most eager to see in 2020.

  1. Voice search

Voice assistants, such as Alexa or Siri, have become more widespread than you know. Millions of Americans now own their own version of a digital assistant in the form of an Amazon Echo device or a Google home etc. A huge number of smartphone users make use of voice-activated commands and searches at least once a week. So over half of all searches will be on voice. This makes voice searches one of the most anticipated digital trends of 2020.

digital marketing trends

Source

  1. Social media shops

Social media plays a huge role in the aspect of marketing, and many people now find it easy and convenient to shop via social media. Giants, such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, have started to incorporate e-commerce into the regular post you see on your social media apps. This integration will make social media shops a big trend in 2020.

  1. Augmented reality and virtual reality

AR and VR have become massively popular in the past few years, and they are fast taking pole position in the field of marketing. While VR is the more popular variant, it is estimated that AR will soon outrun VR in the popularity and adoption race.

  1. Interactive posts

Almost all buyers now seek some form of interactivity in the content they come across online, and in 2020, there will be a pivot in the way content is being marketed to the people who consume the data. This era will be fostered via the AR and VR technology that is fast gaining ground.

  1. Automated bidding in google ads

This is the age of automation, and this applies to digital marketing. Google announced a recent update to their Google ads, and it is expected that smart bidding will become a regular thing for PPC account managers. Google ads currently make use of machine learning to optimize your bids, so you get the best value for your spend. With smart bidding and automation, you stand to get the best conversions.

  1. Customization

A platform where you can personalize your marketing is around the corner, and in 2020, you will start to see deviations from the traditional and generic advertising and commercials that have become so ineffective. Personalized advertising tailored to specific needs will take over.

  1. Social messaging solutions

Apps like Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and WhatsApp are no longer just socializing tools that you use with friends and family. They have become efficient ways for businesses to communicate with their customers. Billions of messages have been exchanged between individuals and businesses, and this is on an upward path on a daily basis.

  1. Influencers

Influencers have been around for many years now, and they are not going anywhere, especially now, when it seems to be reaping so much reward. In the past, you had to be a famous celebrity to be an influencer, but we now have everyday people find a way to become popular on the internet via their post and ply the influencer route. This is a trend that will continue to explode into 2020.

  1. Artificial intelligence

AI is actually embedding itself in all aspects of life and digital marketing is not left out. AI is on course to take over the repetitive and straightforward jobs. We have seen many applications of AI, with companies like Microsoft, Uber, and Tesla taking center stage. Soon, you will see businesses adopt AI in a bid to maximize output with the least amount of resource input, and this will revolutionize the way we do business and the way we market it.

digital marketing trends

Source

  1. More efficient Targeting

With the boom of artificial intelligence and machine learning, by 2020, we will witness a more efficient targeting process and mechanism in digital marketing. With automation, ads can get to the desired destinations a lot faster, and conversion rates will be higher as the matches are quickly and accurately curated.

  1. Chatbots

At least once or twice in your life online, you would have communicated with a Chabot without even realizing it. This is how efficient and lifelike chatbots have been tuned to be. Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning, chatbots are becoming more and more advanced and capable of handling queries on their own. Some of the best chatbots in the market right now are ManyChat and MobileMonkey.

digital marketing trends

Source

  1. Video marketing

Video is currently nonnegotiable in the marketing sphere, and in the coming year, it will continue to solidify its usefulness. Visitors to your site prefer to watch a video rather than read a long article, and this must be considered when advertising. The psychology of the average buyer must be factored into the process.

  1. Page optimization

It is difficult to hold the attention of a visitor to your site, so it is essential that the speed at which your pages load is as fast as can be. The visitor must not be discouraged, waiting for your page to load, thus page speed optimization will become a popular digital marketing trend in 2020.

 

Digital Marketing

10 Reasons Why You Need Digital Marketing

/在： /通过：

10 Reasons Why You Need Digital Marketing

 

With the change and evolution of modern technologies, small and medium businesses are doing everything they can to keep up, which can be said true for the rest of human society. Brick-and-mortar businesses are either changing their business models to an online one, or beefing up existing marketing efforts with digital marketing strategies – in an attempt to capture a growing and very lucrative online marketplace.

For it is the process of attracting targeted audiences online that will spell the difference between a successfully thriving business – and a failed one. Even if you receive tons of daily traffic to your website, they would not amount to anything unless they convert to leads or sales. In the digital arena where business and commerce are heading to, Digital Marketing tools and techniques provide business owners the best chances for competition, survival and even business growth.

The following 12 reasons will show you why the use of digital marketing is not only investment-wise decision but also an effective marketing channel that can help you grow your business.

1. Because Digital Marketing Levels the Online Playing Field

Gone are the days when business owners still welcome the notion that Digital Marketing is only for the likes of multinationals and large corporations that have the sufficient resources required to mount an online marketing campaign. Digital Marketing actually levels the playing field, providing small and medium enterprises the chance to compete against the big boys and attract their share of targeted traffic.

With digital marketing, small companies now have the resources to perform sales and marketing processes that were previously available only to large corporations. Without a call center, small businesses can engage effectively with multiple customers, even to customers from any parts of the world even if they don’t have physical stores or branches in these locations.

2. Because Digital Marketing Is More Cost-Effective than Traditional Marketing

Small businesses have very little resources and even capitalization. This is why Digital Marketing provides them with a better and much more cost-effective marketing channel that delivers results. Gartner’s Digital Marketing Spend Report highlighted that up to 40% of respondents claimed getting considerable savings by using digital marketing methods of promotion for their products and services.

That is why according to the Gartner survey, 28% of business owners surveyed will shift marketing budget allocations from traditional media channels and invest them into digital online marketing tools and techniques. HubSpot confirms this as shown in the chart below that confirms how digital marketers get better Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) compared to other marketing channels.

3. Because Digital Marketing Delivers Conversion

Businesses marketing products and services online measure success by the percentage rate of incoming traffic gets converted into leads, subscribers or sales, depending on the intended purposes of your website. Without conversion, all your traffic would mean nothing and all your marketing efforts will simply go to waste. That is why business owners are streamlining their digital marketing campaigns towards conversion optimization, making it a top priority above everything else.

4. Because Digital Marketing Helps Generate Better Revenues

Higher conversion rates generated by effective digital marketing techniques will deliver loads of profitable benefits for you and your business in terms of better and higher revenues. Google confirms this in a study with IPSOS Hong Kong, claiming 2.8 times better revenue growth expectancy for companies using digital marketing strategies to those who do not.

With better revenue growth expectancy, small and medium enterprises using digital marketing techniques will have 3.3 times better chances of expanding their workforce and business – opening their doors to better, larger and farther reaching markets both locally and abroad. Google’s Asia-Pacific Head of SME Kevin O’Kane describes the Internet as rocket fuel for growth for small and medium enterprises.

5. Because Digital Marketing Facilitates Interaction with Targeted Audiences

One of the reasons why digital marketing is taking over traditional marketing channels is the ability of Internet marketing tools to interact with targeted audiences in real time. Engagement in any form is what your customers expect to receive when interacting with your brand or business. How your business handles such engagements and interactions will spell the difference between business success and failure – just like what eMarketer’s report Key Digital Trends for 2014 is saying as shown below.

 

Interacting and providing your customers with proper engagement points can give you an insight of what your targeted audiences want. This vital information will steer you towards making the right set of next moves, provide your customers with an even better experience, develop good relationships with them – gaining their loyalty and trust that you will need when your business begins to grow.

6. Because Digital Marketing Caters to the Mobile Consumer

Undoubtedly, mobile internet will be the next wave of information dissemination and communication channel, brought about by the rapid proliferation of smartphones, tablets and other internet-enabled devices. These mobile devices have become a central part of American life that 91% of adults in the United States always have their devices within reaching distance.

Now would be the best time to have digital marketing campaigns intended towards mobile consumers, paving the way for them towards achieving better growth and faster expansion. Mobile gadgets have evolved from being mere alternatives for laptops and personal computers, into something that is influencing their purchasing decisions as confirmed by another report from eMarketer.

7. Because Digital Marketing Builds Brand Reputation

The power of digital marketing lies in its ability for attracting targeted traffic. These types of audiences for your content are most likely already ready to know more about your brand, products or services and may be interested enough to purchase what you have to offer. Delivering on what you promised will help you develop a better relationship with your targeted audiences, help them transition into paying customers that will go back and interact with your site some more – on a regular and continuous basis.

This will prove beneficial for your brand reputation, as satisfied customers will most likely tell other people about their experience with your brand, product or service. Your brand reputation will go viral as expected, further opening new doors of opportunities for reaching bigger markets and attain business growth.

8. Because Digital Marketing Provides better ROI for Your Marketing Investments

With better revenues and better branding, Digital Marketing can provide a better Return of Investments (ROI) than traditional media and marketing channels. With traditional media, the cost is too exorbitant for small and medium enterprises to leverage on, and the results received are somewhat vague and difficult to measure.

Digital Marketing on the other hand can easily be tracked and monitored, with results immediately realized and measured as soon as targeted audiences provide contact information, subscribe to a newsletter or training program, or make a purchase. The key to success in Digital marketing however, is to generate a steady flow of targeted traffic that converts into sales and leads. The more your business generates this kind of traffic, the faster you can realize your ROI.

9. Because Digital Marketing Earns People’s Trust

Digital Marketing rides on the current online trend that focus more on social media signals resulting from direct and more personalized interaction between a brand or business and their targeted audiences. In the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey that involved 25 thousand consumers coming from at least 50 countries, 90 percent of respondents claimed they would trust information about a particular brand, product or service if the data comes from people they know.

Digital Marketing leverages on social media signals, social proof and testimonials from actual consumers who have previously purchased, joined, or availed of a product or service marketed by a particular brand or business. The more reliable these social signals are, the higher the trust rate it can generate from targeted audiences – most of which can be potential customers.

10. Because Digital Marketing Entices People to Take Favorable Action

While social signals and testimonials help earn trust from targeted audiences, Digital Marketing makes use of effective strategies that will entice people to take a favorable action your brand or business intends them to take. Conversion to leads or sales is still initiated and under full control by the website visitor. They are not compelled to do so but digital marketers can make use of clever and innovative ways to entice conversion using Calls-To-Action.

Calls-To-Action specifies what your web visitors should do next – either to sign up, like, download something, call or buy – specific steps that will entice them to perform a favorable action. Innovative forms, buttons and texts are optimized according to copy, color scheme, graphics and even positioning on the page to generate the best results in terms of generating favorable action.

 

Local SEO Infographic

Do you need local SEO services in Los Angeles Metropolitan Area?

/在： /通过：

You’ve probably heard a lot about local SEO being one of the most important facets when it comes to digital marketing.

However, we think it’s only fair that before we nod our heads and agree with popular opinion, we need to have a concise idea of what exactly local SEO is, its relevance in today’s world, and how it impacts businesses.

This article breaks down that information for you, so you can have a clear idea of why local SEO holds such a dominant position in online marketing, and how it can help you grow your business.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO serves to promote your business’ visibility on location-based searches. It is merely a variation of your run-of-the-mill SEO, and is aimed at making sure your business gets found online by people searching for it at that locality.

These include searches with certain geo qualifiers, such as city, state, zip code, etc., and ‘near me’ searches, where Google picks up the geo-location of the person and provides search results from that area.

Why is it important?

Local SEO is extremely important, especially if you have a business with a brick-and-mortar store, or one that provides a service in a certain locality.

According to a study done by Forbes, 95% of smartphone users have used their device to perform local searches, out of which 61% called the business and 59% visited.

And SearchEngineWatch found that 70% of mobile users click to call a business directly from Google search results using their mobile phones.

Now these numbers will tell you that leads from location-based searches are a major avenue for potential customers, and those numbers will only keep growing. Since these leads are from people who are specifically searching for products or services that your business offers, it is safe to assume that these are qualified leads that will definitely have a higher conversion rate as well.

Getting Your Business On Google’s Local 3-Pack

Additionally, local SEO can help your business appear in Google’s local 3-pack, which is one of the most coveted spots when it comes to search engine results. What is this local 3-pack, you ask? Well, here it is.

Screenshot of 3pack

Screenshot of google 3 pack

 

Initially, Google’s SERP responded to local searches by showing the seven most popular businesses that are related to your search in the form of a snippet. This was called the local 7-pack, and it featured the addresses, phone numbers and direction links to each of those businesses.

However, as browsing trends evolved to become dominated by smartphones, Google reduced it’s 7-pack to include just three results, for a better user experience. As you might have guessed, it’s called the local 3-pack now, and here’s why a spot in this is so highly sought after.

According to this Moz study, 44% of people who performed a local search clicked on a local 3-pack listing, while only 8% chose to load “more local results”. This goes to show that most people who search for local listings find what they are looking for, within the local 3-pack options provided.

Hence getting that spot in the search results could drive a huge amount of traffic and potential revenue your way, and local SEO can help take your business there.

The Basics Of Local SEO

Now that we’ve taken a look at what local SEO is, and why it’s important, let’s check out what you can do to improve your business’ local SEO.

The first thing to understand here is that this is SEO for location-based searches. Which means a physical address or location is a prerequisite for a business to show up on local search results. If your business’ address is not updated in Google My Business and other online directories, it will not show up when a customer runs a “near me” or “in *locality name*” search.

The next thing you need to ensure is that your business’ NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) is consistent across all the online directories you’ve enlisted in. if there are any discrepancies here, Google will most likely avoid listing your business in the local 3-pack. You can even choose to go with a tool like Synup that manages all your online listings for you, so you can avoid the hassle of manually updating every directory.

Another way to improve your business’ local SEO is through citations. A citation is when a third party website lists your business as a point of reference. This could contain your business’ name, location, or contact info. It does not require a backlink to your business’ website.

An example of a citation would be a food blog naming your restaurant as a good place to dine in your locality. This lets Google know that your business is trustworthy, and it will increase your chances of getting in the local 3-pack.

You can find a list of some of the most authoritative sites to have citations.

 

Lastly, Google will include the number of reviews you have when ranking local businesses. It doesn’t matter whether they are positive or negative. And if you happen to receive one, remember to thank the customer for giving a positive review. On the other hand, you can also reply to negative reviews faster but still professionally.

How Does Local SEO Impact Your Business?

If you own a small business, optimizing your business’ local SEO can be extremely rewarding. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of local SEO:

  • Local SEO helps potential customers discover your business. A lot of local searches originate from non-locals who are searching for a business like yours, and with local SEO done right, your business can capture that audience.
  • Local SEO provides potential customers the information that they want, when they want it. For example, if your restaurant has free WiFi or is pet-friendly, displaying that information as part of your local SEO will attract customers who are looking for just that.
  • Even if your business does not have a website, local SEO helps your business stand out in local searches, and helps drive more traffic through online leads.
  • As mentioned earlier, 61% of people who performed a local search ended up calling the business. Local search optimization provides potential customers the power to take this action, and this in turn provides your business with a qualified lead that you can convert.
  • Local SEO helps drive people’s decisions in favor of your business. The more data they have about your business, the more trustworthy you are in their eyes. This lays a strong foundation upon which you can build a mutually beneficial customer relationship.

Now that you know how local SEO can help your business, you can better manage its online presence, and build up your client base. Adding an SEO company to your marketing team will not only boost your local SEO but also increase your organic search engine rankings for your site and over your competitors. Schedule a free consultation that fits your calendar to see how our experts can help your business grow through search engine optimization.