Few practices are more susceptible to rapid change than digital marketing, and complacency should be a dirty word for any business looking to get ahead. Each year brings an array of new developments to how online marketing works - some incremental, some totally game-changing - and if you’re focused on growing your business, there are some innovations you don’t want to let pass you by.
Of course, if you’re running a small business, you don’t have endless hours to spend following the latest marketing news; so we’ve picked out the headline digital marketing trends that you really ought to be aware of going into the end of 2018 and beyond.
Display ads - the banners and boxes that surround content on most websites and apps - have been the backbone of digital marketing almost since the internet first came to prominence. This doesn’t mean, however, that they’re a static format.
The most important development in how advertisers are creating display ads is the intense focus on making them work for mobile users.
You’re increasingly likely to find your customers on mobiles and tablets rather than desktop computers, so you really need to make sure your ads are mobile-friendly, something known as ‘responsive’ design, so that they automatically resize depending on the screen they appear on.
Google have been rolling out responsive inventory for advertisers on their Display Network as standard since 2017, so if your ads aren’t configured to adapt to wherever they appear, they’ll be ignored in favour of others!
With our online advertising package, your ad will always be carefully designed to be responsive.
Your website is probably where customers’ most valuable non-physical interactions with your business will happen, so an intuitive and modern design is something you can’t do without.
For every goal you want to nudge your customers towards achieving, you need a dedicated landing page set up with clearly signposted call-to-action buttons, geared to facilitate conversions as quickly as possible.
It was once received wisdom that your landing pages should pack all information and calls-to-action above ‘the fold’ - the top segment of the page that people see immediately upon visiting. While it’s still true that your key messages should be visible upon first glance, the problem with this aversion to below-the-fold content was that it created a glut of awful websites, with masses of text and buttons crammed into every available inch of space in an eyeball-assaulting mess.
Fortunately for our retinas, web users now expect to have to scroll down a page to find what they need - if there’s a scroll button on the page 76% of site visitors will use it. This has led to a wholly different norm in web design - the long-scrolling page.
Increasingly, web designers will disperse content downwards on a page, with new elements unfolding as you scroll. Such pages allow you to tell your story and present your key messages in a more holistic and engaging way. They also facilitate creativity - you can surprise your visitors with a snazzy graphic - and allow you to neatly differentiate the various points of your marketing pitch.
Just remember to make sure that the core hooks of your message are visible at an initial glance! JPIMedia’s experts can help you build a comprehensive website and digital presence that incorporates all the most crucial new design tendencies.
The ways people share and consume media on social platforms are particularly prone to taking on new shapes, and there’s been a significant drift in recent years towards what’s come to be known as ‘ephemeral content’.
Ephemeral content is only available to view temporarily, typically for 24 hours but potentially for just minutes, before disappearing forever. First popularised by Snapchat, it’s typically based on photos and videos, and has become a central part of Instagram and Facebook through their ‘Stories’ functions.
Ephemeral content is free to post, and offers big opportunities for small businesses looking to cultivate social followings. It motivates immediate responses from users, and thrives off the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) factor, which could be particularly useful for a high street business promoting a limited-time deal.
It’s fast become a cliche, but all marketers will tell you that ‘content is king’. Utilising Facebook or Instagram Stories will naturally increase the rate and volume of content you put out with the minimum effort. If your content strategy is compelling and witty, you could even garner a loyal following!
Its emphasis on narrative makes ephemeral content a logical and vibrant medium for building the story of your brand in a way that invites your customers to engage with you. It’s also an ideal way to reach a younger generation.
If you want to supercharge your Facebook advertising strategy for 2019, JPIMedia can help you.
Digital marketing never sleeps, which is why it’s not just necessary for any business to follow, it’s genuinely exciting as well. By the time you read this article, there may well be some new little trick gestating somewhere else online, but if you keep these 3 above trends in mind as we enter the last few months of 2018, you’ll already be well primed to make 2019 your year.
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