Checking the latest trends in digital marketing is always a good idea when you are running an online business. It can not only give you inspiration and ideas for your own future marketing strategy, but it can also provide you with insight into what your competitors might be currently utilizing. Having awareness of the advancements in the digital marketing industry is the first step in progressing your ecommerce brand.
Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic Advertising is essentially using Artificial Intelligence systems to automate ad buying and implementing so that you can more accurately target your customers. This recent trend has been dominating the digital marketing industry and it is estimated that “86.2% of digital display ads in the U.S. will be programmatic by 2020” (via eMarketer). Using this method can help to lower customer acquisition costs and can even lead to higher rates of conversion. Programmatic Advertising also automates real-time bidding, which involves the auctioning and bidding of advertisements.
Chatbots
Chatbots are a great way to give your customers the support they need without adding extra steps into your marketing strategy. In today’s digital world, customers expect to have their questions answered almost immediately. According to a survey by BotCore, “63% of respondents prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand”. Implementing an AI-based chatbot will not only give your business a sense of credibility, but can also lead to more sales.
Personalization
Everyone wants to feel special, and your customers are no exception. This is why personalization is so important for getting your brand recognized and for building a loyal customer base. A recent survey shows that “80% say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences”. Personalization can come in the form of emails, promotions, products, and even packaging. Customers are simply more likely to positively respond to content if it has their name, information, and interests on it.
Micro-Moments
Micro-moments are defined by Google as “moments when we turn to a device – often a smartphone – to take action on whatever we need or want right now”. To put it simply, it is the moments where a customer is attempting to discover quick information online. These are the “I-want-to-know”, “I-want-to-do”, or the “I-want-to-go” moments that a potential customer experiences throughout the day. To take advantage of these, you should first try to identify what your target customer’s micro-moments might look like.
Once you have done this, the next step is to make your brand a resource that is quick and useful. You want to answer your customers’ inquiries before they look somewhere else.
Social Commerce
With the recent upsurge of social media and ecommerce, it’s no surprise that the two are merging more each year. This year, Instagram launched their new “Instagram Checkout” feature, which allows the user to buy products directly through the platform. This specific tool is currently only available to larger brands. However, there are other social commerce shopping features available to business accounts on Instagram, and on other social apps like it as well. These features include Instagram’s shoppable posts, Pinterest’s Shopping Tags, and Facebook’s Marketplace.
Out of all the recent digital marketing trends, this one can make your brand accessible to younger generations. It can also expose your products to a greater audience across various platforms.
Have some more questions on how to maintain your validity online among your competitors? Schedule a strategy call with us to see how we could help improve your ecommerce site with digital marketing.
