Digital marketing has changed a lot over the past ten years. There have been many shifts in strategies along with Google’s search engine algorithms. Low-quality content, often called “clickbait,” no longer produces the same results it used to. Consumers are becoming more selective about what they read or watch. Trends that emphasize detailed content in various formats will keep growing. Podcasting is a great example of content that is easy to create and can highlight the expertise of a person or business. Here are some trends that will remain important in digital marketing.

Micro-Influencers

Investing in a major celebrity to promote a brand is often not the best way to spend a marketing budget. However, this doesn’t mean that influencer marketing isn’t effective overall. Smaller influencers who have created a strong community with their followers typically provide the best return on investment for sponsored posts. It’s crucial to check which brands these influencers work with. The last thing a company wants is to team up with an influencer who promotes competing products or whose values don’t match the company’s.

Podcasting Continues Growing

Podcasting is mentioned above and has become a huge part of digital marketing. There are a number of different types of podcasts listed below:

  • Individuals or groups of people trying to build their personal brand. This could be a humorous podcast or professional one that helps a person establish themselves as an authority on a topic.
  • Companies that are looking to reach and educate current customers. Attracting customers in the industry in B2B situations will work far better if looking to have work contracted out to your business.
  • The sporadic podcast is of a company that sees the value in podcasting yet hasn’t dedicated time or money to the process. This could happen once a month or a few times a year. Generating listeners is about putting out content that is informative/entertaining consistently. Being able to rely on a certain podcast on a specific day provides comfort to loyal listeners.
  • Question and answer podcasts could be a favorite regardless of the ultimate goal of the podcast. Being able to answer specific questions from listeners is important. This can earn new customers and provide a sense of comfort to current customers that know they are in good hands.

Keep in mind that your podcast should have at least an outline to provide some kind of structure. Transcribing these podcasts can be a great way to turn these in-depth conversations into a searchable document.

Web Design Needs to be Intuitive

Web design has changed immensely over the years with a majority of companies wanting a website designed with SEO in mind. Designers that are current with web design trends along with experts in user experience of a website are essential. Lacking either of these things can limit a business and can cripple revenue for online sales or lead generation. Easy to navigate websites will also continue to be important as Google incorporates user experience when ranking sites which also includes page loading time.

Data Will Drive Nearly All Major Decisions

The days of creating a strategy then seeing what sticks in marketing are all but over. Data drives marketing in today’s digital age with a number of tools that can help. Buzzsumo allows for marketers to see what type of content relevant to their company trends on social media. Companies are looking for engagement with their content so creation of content that is sure to intrigue or spark conversation needs to be a focus. BuzzStream allows for the link building outreach process to go smoothly and efficiently. Being able to track subject lines and clicks in an email can allow for the ultimate email marketing campaign to be launched. Look for data to become even more present in decision making for years to come as the numbers don’t lie.

Voice Search Gaining Steam

Voice search is commonly used by people when they are in the car or want to look something up quickly. Search engines are starting to account for voice search results with marketers following suit. The keywords that are targeted are going to be more natural and conversational than in the past. People search very differently when typing compared to speaking.

The content that has to be created for voice search will be actionable and answer common questions customers might have. Writing in a natural way is more important than ever which some digital marketing professionals will lag behind in. Far too many SEO copywriters miss the point of writing for the reader while doing it in a search engine friendly way. This does not mean that your current content is worthless but to get the true value out of it, you might need to do some editing of pieces.

Voice search needs to be optimized for local search listings as well. The last thing that a company wants is to lose traffic to their website due to not tagging the location of their business on the website appropriately. Voice search will continue to grow as a trend well into the future with many digital marketing professionals having quite a bit to learn!

Digital marketing is constantly changing but the trends above will be prevalent for years to come. If you run a company, looking into tactics that will stand the test of time can help maximize ROI on marketing spend.