Top 10 digital marketing trends

Protecting customer data helps marketers demonstrate ROI

and drive business growth.

However, its vital to protect this asset, as it is under the biggest threat from cyber attackers. There will be a time when the customer will expect companies to share their cybersecurity preparation strategy to address any type of cyber risk and protect customer data.

Automation plus authenticity

As marketing automation is becoming important, there is a danger of neglecting the fact that customer experiences and interactions should be personalised and authentic.

Technology such as advanced analytics can not only improve marketing effectiveness and generate more revenue per digital dollar spent, but personalise messaging to individual prospects and customers based on behaviours captured.

Contextual marketing grabs the headlines

When you have context around your relationship with a contact, you can provide more personalised and relevant marketing content that’s targeted to their needs. Customers want their brands to deliver what’s needed, when it’s needed, wherever is convenient for them.

Integrated marketing technology

Core marketing tech platform elements will converge, bringing together content management, marketing automation, analytics and more into integrated solutions.

Digital marketing capabilities will extend across more business functions that touch the entire customer lifecycle. This will necessitate greater integration of marketing with other departments, such as digital, sales and general operations.

Big data delivers

Sophisticated use of big data will make better personalisation possible.

IoT and wearables beginning to shape customer experience

The Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionising business operations.

Wearables are expected to grow by 11 times over the next five years and it is predicted that there will be 31.8 million connected cars on the road by 2020. Soon the interaction between a brand will move beyond in-person, PC or mobile device.

Programmatic automated media buying is the new norm.

The automated media buying approach will soon become the norm. Digital marketers should be tracking the full customer journey.

Bots bridge the voice-to-digital gap

Marketers should investigate chatbots and voice-to-text technologies in order to develop strong marketing strategies.

Follow the data

Marketers need to keep testing, learning and following the data. This means testing a digital marketing approach, learning from the data, and using the insights to make decisions about the future.

Marketing is more predictive

Marketers need to be more predictable in their program execution and results. Therefore, predictive marketing technology will be one of the biggest drivers of digital transformation.