Over the years digital advertising and marketing has improved and became a more simpler process than it was in years past. Early on when the term digital marketing was used ,people did not know what to expect. The internet at the time was not very widespread or completely developed. In the mid 1990s you saw Yahoo first come around which sparked an interest and then in 1998 Google was launched.
Microsoft launched the MSN search engine and Yahoo brought to the market Yahoo web search. Two years later, the internet bubble burst and all the smaller search engines were either left behind or wiped out leaving more space for the giants in the business. The digital marketing world saw its first steep surge in 2006 when search engine traffic was reported to have grown to about 6.4 billion in a single month. Not one to get left behind, Microsoft put MSN on the backburner and launched Live Search to compete with Google and Yahoo (Monnappa, 2021).
So know here we are in 2021 and what does the future hold for digital advertising and marketing? I will talk about some of the advancements and new technologies that we can see in the next few years.
Chatbots
One implementation of conversational marketing is chatbots. Chatbots leverage AI technology to provide automated human-like messages to web visitors in real-time (Dave, 2021). With Chatbots it gives companies the ability to have questions answered 24/7. I would think Chatbots would have a negative impact on customers experience when most people like to talk to a real person. But, 80% of customers say they have had a positive experience talking to a Chatbot. The industry says that Chatbots will help people spend close to $142 billion dollars in 2022, up from 2.8 billion in 2019.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of the most popular marketing and advertising tool in the past few years. When we talk about video marketing, don’t just think of YouTube. There are plenty of ways to drive higher engagement with your video marketing. For instance, you can make a video post or start a live broadcast on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram (Dave, 2021). I enjoy watching videos of my favorite items being advertised. Some companies do a great job at creating these videos where even if you do not need that product you are tempted to buy it anyway. When investing into video marketing I feel its the best way to get a return and profit from them.
Influencer Marketing
This type of marketing is when companies hire well known people that customers may trust their word and these companies use these influencers to promote their product. Social media has exploded over the years and more and more celebrities turn to social media to post so their fans can see what they are up to. For influencer marketing to be effective, you don’t always need to work with a huge star or local hero. Search for people with growing audiences on new platforms, and notice how they interact with their followers. Having a small but dedicated audience is more beneficial for your marketing purposes than having a large but disconnected audience. It is also important that your values align with those of the influencer so that your message and mission are appropriately communicated, and you can be confident that you’re both working together to reach the same goal (Lara, 2021). Numbers show that people buy products if they see someone they feel like they have a connection with.
Those are some of the technologies and trends I see making a big splash in the advertising world in the next 5 years. The way marketing has grown and evolved , there is no telling what the future holds.
References:
Single Grain. NIDHI DAVE. October, 2021. Retrieved on December 4, 2021. 38 Digital Marketing Trends You Cant Ignore In 2022. https://www.singlegrain.com/digital-marketing/digital-marketing-trends-2022/
Thee Digital. Christopher Lara. September 1, 2021. Retrieved on December 4, 2021. The Top Digital Marketing Trends in 2022. https://www.theedigital.com/blog/digital-marketing-trends
Simpli Learn. Avantika Monnappa. November 22, 2021. Retrieved on December 4, 2021. The History and Evolution of Digital Marketing. https://www.simplilearn.com/history-and-evolution-of-digital-marketing-article
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