The world loves innovation in marketing, and will keep moving forward whether marketers and website owners get on the bandwagon or not. Some innovations are hot, and some are not. Some will make an impact, and others will fall by the wayside. However, there are always those Internet marketing secrets you hope your competitors never discover.
Your mission is to stand head and shoulders above the competition. Here’s where winning marketers and website owners should focus their attention.
1. Content marketing remains high on the list because marketers can apply the practice to businesses of all types and sizes. The right approach can fuel every digital channel including search, social media, and email marketing.
2. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are going to play an important role going forward. Machine learning refers to the use of algorithms that help marketers learn from historical data sets. AI will take on the role of answering customer questions and writing new content.
3. Email marketing and marketing automation are highly effective for both B2C and B2B campaigns. The most aggressive businesses may utilize AI, but there’s still plenty of room for improving the relevance and timing of emails through targeted automation and personalization for smaller businesses.
4. Harvesting big data now includes better predictive analytics that lead to market and customer insights. For now, there’s still a challenge for smaller firms because big data and predictive analytics usually requires a robust budget. However, it’s safe to assume that technology is on the way that will level the playing field for smaller companies.
5. Conversion rate optimization and an improvement in a customer’s website experience make the list. Data-driven marketing will be a major key to success. Tools like Google Optimize are freely available and can easily analyze content changes and page design for effectiveness.
Additional Insights That Many Marketers Will Overlook
It’s estimated that 50% of online searches will originate through voice search by 2020. This implies that marketers and site owners will need to focus on long-tail keyword strategies and conversational language. This will be big for local businesses, since it’s estimated that up 46% of people who use voice search are searching for products that local businesses offer. Consider the following:
- People online are interacting differently. This is partly due to hyper-targeting personalization. For example, email marketing is more intelligent because of machine learning that’s able to track a customer’s online behavior. As a result, companies can now send emails that are more relevant and personalized.
- Customer expectations are changing. With changing technology, this is only natural. One of the biggest expectations of consumers is speed. People want their searches to load fast, and they want to quickly find solutions once they arrive on a website.
- Digital copywriting will become more conversational and personalized. This will give you pause to take a much closer look at your digital content strategies that may include Web content, emails, blogs social media, infographics, and more.
- You’re going to hear the word “omnichannel” marketing mentioned more and more. This is a marketing approach that results from viewing the shopping experience through the eyes of customers. It allows marketers to meld the customer’s experience across all channels in a seamless, consistent, and integrated way.
These will be undiscovered secrets for many marketers. You can count on the fact that even those who are aware may not have the time, energy, or spend to go the distance to keep their company competing at top levels. Keep studying the trends and gaining new insights. Pull the trigger and make a commitment to work with professionals who know digital marketing and SEO inside and out.