Digital marketing is constantly changing. Not only do brands need to keep up with the differing desires of consumers, but technology continuously improves what seems like every quarter. How is a company supposed to keep up without blowing millions of dollars?
Let us not forget the basics of marketing: memorable branding, creative content creation, and understanding your target audience. But staying in comfort zones in digital marketing is no longer an option. It is time to reinvent the way we speak to our target market. A few of my favourite new trends that I am excited to see utilized within the next year are the following:
- Virtual reality: With the emergence of the Occulus Rift, the marketing possibilities are endless. This new technology will enable consumers to experience a brand service or product in real time without having to leave the comfort of their homes. Although the acquisition cost is high, I believe this product will enhance the hospitality and realty industries within the next 3 years.
- Search Engine Optimization: I believe that this is a huge opportunity for advancement in SEO. Especially as a marketing student, there is a lot to be learned on how to best utilize SEO within content marketing. This under utilized factor will enable marketers to better attract a larger audience during the research stage in the purchase cycle. The cost of implementing a strong SEO strategy is minimal, unless paid AdWords is used.
There are many more tactics that marketers can implement within their campaigns to reach a larger audience. Perhaps email marketing will be come the next big pull, or maybe social media will die out. It will be interesting to see what methods companies will take not only in this upcoming holiday season but within the next few years.
