Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore & What To Do
How much should I be spending? Should I be doing email marketing? Does social media have a high ROI?
As business owners, there is a lot to consider when it comes to positioning and marketing your business along with what it means for your bottom line. Some clients are even still looking to justify a shift in advertising dollars to digital marketing or justifications for new positions. Here we share some recent trends that will help you see the digital marketing landscape and learn how you and your business can stay competitive.
1. People Are Spending More Time Consuming Content Online
At least 50% of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials spend at least 10 hours a week engaged with online content. Surprisingly, the less technically-savvy Baby Boomers are spending the most time consuming content. It’s also interesting to note that most people are consuming content during off business hours in the evening.
2. Marketing Budgets are Increasing
With more money being spent on digital at the expense of traditional advertising channels, it’s important to have a sound digital strategy in place to remain competitive. Total marketing budgets are 7-12% of total revenue, with smaller companies spending more on marketing as a percentage of total revenue in order to gain brand recognition and presence.
Source: web strategies inc
3. Business Leaders Are Spending More In Email, Social Media & Display Advertising
Business leaders are seeing more results along the funnel by increasing spend in more areas. From remarketing and awareness campaigns to being useful and engaging and having stronger automation for retention and loyalty campaigns, it’s no surprise that leaders are spending more in multiple digital areas to reach their audience differently throughout the customer journey.
Source: Web Strategies inc
So Where Do You Start?
Start with a roadmap and data! Ensure your digital channels are set-up with the proper analytics and measurement tools to really get to know your audience and their interests and behaviors. From there you should know what your competitors are doing, define your brand voice, set industry and market benchmarks, and establish goals that will help you stand out to drive more conversions for your business. Here are more do’s and don’ts we’ve learned along the way:
DO:
- Define your budget and goals
- Think like a startup (test everything)
- Consider outsourcing
- Get Your employees involved (they have great social influence)
DON'T:
- Forget your WHY
- Expect results overnight
- Set it and forget it
- Forget the big marketing picture