Is Digital Marketing The Future? (You Need to Use it NOW)

Through time smartphones replaced phones, phones replaced telegraphs, telegraph letters, and so on.

Time passes by while new technologies replace the previous gadgets.

So it is valid to ask ourselves: where is marketing going in the future?

Is digital marketing the future of marketing?

Let’s see if it will be.

What is Digital Marketing?

The term “digital marketing” refers to any effort to use marketing through digital channels.

Practically every channel that the internet reaches is a digital marketing channel. Some of those channels are:

1. Social Media Marketing
2. Search Engines Optimization (SEO)
3. Content Marketing
4. Email Marketing
5. Paid Search or PPC
6. Marketing Automation
7. Marketing automation, and more

The bulk of digital marketing’s duty is to enhance the presence and reputation of a brand anywhere you want.

So Digital Marketing can make you relevant to people who do not know your company.

It also can help your potential customers love your brand. It depends on the goals.

Another duty of digital marketing is to make it simple to measure when it comes to user behavior.

For example, let’s say you want to know how many visits your website had in a single day.

Then the analytic tools can give you a number and more hints about people’s visits.

Every piece of data counts.

Reading and interpreting a website’s metrics can be useful to a new company.

By knowing your audience’s actions you can plan an accurate strategy to make the most of your marketing efforts.

A well-implemented plan will avoid wasting time, effort, or even money.

Unlike traditional marketing, digital channels allow you to make your company reachable for new audiences easily.

This is especially helpful when expanding your brand awareness to new marketplaces.

Also, the digital approach is less expensive than most offline marketing resources.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in digital marketing.

By looking at these features, it is reasonable to ask: why is digital marketing the future?

You will get into it soon.

How Digital Marketing Has Changed Consumer Behavior?

When a change happens gradually, it is hard to realize how much has changed.

Especially when the change is constant and almost unnoticeable.

In that sense, digital marketing has changed so much and so constantly that also changed consumers.

The first remarkable change in consumer behavior is the way to purchase products.

Setting all on e-commerce revolutionized the whole buying process.

Instead of calling the company, or going to the store, people now see what you got from home.

Let’s see how the path of traditional purchase changed.

First, they visited the store or called the seller to see if they had something of interest (Consideration).

Then, the person in the matter asked for a quote of that product of interest (Intention).

And finally, the purchase took place after comparing among products (Decision).

Three simple steps to buy.

Nowadays, a buyer can simply go through a few clicks to get what they want from the market.

Most customers can research before or after the purchase to figure out how good the product is.

Customers will find from YouTube videos of “How to use” the product, to good and bad reviews of it.

Companies started to realize that image is worth a lot more since a bad review gives a bad image.

The simple ideas of “making buying easier” and “looking better” added a new dimension to business: Customer relationship.

Erasing Boundaries

One of the most valuable assets in digital marketing is how close to your clients your brand can be.

That’s why social media and Search Engine Optimization are getting more relevant than radio ads and billboards in most cases.

Then the goal of today’s marketing is not just selling, but selling and looking good in the process.

To achieve this, digital marketing puts the company closer to the people.

Therefore, companies try to hear what people are saying about their brand on the internet.

Some of the marketing decisions are molded after what people say in a sort of “fan service”.

This is a trend and it totally works.

Hence, the average customer is more likely to communicate to the company any dislikeable feature.

Once the company attends to the client’s complaint, the client feels more personally related to the brand.

That’s one of the best ways to make the consumer feel like part of the company, even if they don’t get money.

Additionally, when users want to feel important they can share valuable information with friends and family.

As it gets easier through time, customers feel “the need” to share this information, so they feel important.

To summarize, today’s consumer behavior is not just to find the right product, a good price, buy, and use.

Today’s consumers share information about products, leave reviews, and create a community around a brand.

They passed from filling a need, to finding acceptance through buying thanks to digital marketing.

That’s how digital marketing has changed consumers’ behavior.

Why Has Digital Marketing Been so Successful?

There’re a few characteristics that put digital marketing upon offline marketing.

We are going to name just a handful of these characteristics to give you a reason for why is digital marketing the future.

It Builds Trust

When you sell a fine product, gossip is going to be the only free advertising you will get.

About 80% of online trust comes from the recommendation of family and friends about certain brands.

When you do not have that, you need to spread the word that well and that easily.

Speaking of recommendations, almost any product online has a fair review from happy users.

That online recommendation has almost the same impact as family’s or friends’.

If the product is new, you can gently ask your customers to talk about it to get a fair review.

Easy to Talk With

Communication is an important feature. Good news: Digital marketing and online media make it easier for you.

Using channels like social media or email your customers can tell you whatever they bother.

They can even tell you what they want or what they love about your product.

Let this conversation be a pleasant experience.

By maintaining communication with your clients you will find your public engaged with your brand.

Letting them know your company is “real” is key to being a successful company today.

These conversations represent a huge difference in the shopping experience.

Take advantage of it.

Instant And Lasting Rewards

Look at this example. Let us say that your marketing goal is to appear first on the SERP, related to a keyword.

If you want to appear first, the right option could be to place an ad on the search engine.

Then you are rewarded immediately by reaching your marketing goals faster, right?

Then you can say that in a matter of hours your marketing efforts gave results.

On the other hand, you might want it to make it more permanent, or want it to sustain itself.

It’s time for a different approach, and you may need to improve your SEO to get the same goal.

SEO might take months to reach the goal, but it will last more and you’ll stop paying ads.

Now, this is just an example that you can extrapolate to essentially every digital channel.

Ask which is the right channel for your company to your digital marketing agency.

“What Do I Do Now?”

A Call To Action or CTA can make the difference between purchasing and just gazing at the catalog.

The CTA usually comes on a button saying “Purchase” or more subtle “Get Started”.

That is why companies like Facebook have the button that says “Follow” and not “if you may”.

Without a call to action, digital marketing wouldn’t have the success it has today.

Analytics And Data

Finally, the most important trait: Data.

The data gathered by analytic tools is the finest weapon in the marketing battlefield.

Thanks to the insights of data analysis, companies know where to invest money and effort and what to change.

It’s thanks to predictive analytics that companies enhance their ROIs by supporting what works and forgetting what’s not.

What is The Future of Digital Marketing Agencies?

The future is uncertain.

You can only rely on what is going on right now to try to foresee a trend.

Nevertheless, clients and tools are the only analyzable elements we can count on to see how things will go.

The usage of digital means to monetize content or sell on e-commerce is going to be always necessary.

One thing is for certain: new technologies are coming, so every digital marketing agency must be updated.

If a new internet device comes, the agency must know how to use it for profitable goals.

Whenever a new social media network, digital agencies must study how beneficial it can be for clients.

Additionally, there will always be a need to be on trendy channels.

So, digital channels will gain value while traditional marketing will be replaced piece by piece.

There are advertising banners in malls that work entirely through digital advertising.

So if a client wants to advertise in one of these electronic banners, digital agencies must help them.

Another point to consider is the metrics.

These are used to analyze behavior and to predict the public’s moves.

This will remain that way forever, or at least as long as people use the internet.

So, in the future, digital marketing agencies will still study analytics to see what people might want.

According to all the evidence, digital marketing agencies have still more in the coming years.

As long as someone needs to enhance his online presence, digital agencies will not disappear.

Even when the whole business changes, agencies and digital marketers just have to adapt to the new reality.

Now, can you tell what is the future of digital marketing?

It’s impossible to foresee the future of digital marketing for 2030, but it surely is a part of marketing.

The Actuality And The Future of Digital Trends?

Trends change at an unknown rate.

One day, something works, and the next day it’s obsolete.

It requires comparing present and future digital marketing trends to get a complete view of them.

Let us get into it to guess the future of online marketing.

The Actual Trends

1. Artificial Intelligence: Also called AI. It is the way computer science tries to create programs that think as a human does. Its applications can vary from a simple data selector to a virtual assistant.
2. Machine Learning: It is the usage of AI to improve a determined system. Through AI techniques, computers learn to predict the user’s behavior. Then, a website can help a user by giving options related to what they might want.
3. Conversational UI: It’s the core of chatbots and AI-oriented to assist humans to search for something on the internet. You can say it is a translator computer-human which takes dictation.
4. IoT: Also known as the internet of things. Whenever you connect a radio or a fridge to the wifi (to the internet), you are using IoT. It is very handy for controlling and programming gadgets, but it is way better to evaluate a client’s desire.
5. Cloud Computing: It is a way to use and save information in the cloud instead of your personal device. An advantage of it is allowing you to process information without overloading your digital devices. The problem is that it needs a constant internet connection. Yet is a good technology to keep information safe.
6. CX: It refers to the client experience. Most digital marketing efforts are focused on how the customer feels through the buying, and not what they bought. CX is designed to think about how to give a sweet experience so clients love a brand.
7. Blockchain: It is a technology used to keep a register of cryptocurrencies like bitcoins. But another application to decentralize information and protect intellectual property because the information is traceable to the source.

The Future Trends

1. Transcendent Technologies: Some of the digital trends seem to be here to stay because they will be used in the future. So AI, cloud computing, machine learning, and CX will remain as trends in the future.
2. Personalization: With the information gathered through years of metrics, it shouldn’t be surprising if everything on the internet is personalized. So advertising, news, and even color settings can be personalized to increase client likeability.
3. Video Marketing: About 68% of internet users are most likely to learn something new from a video. It doesn’t matter if it’s a new diet or new shampoo, videos make it easier to introduce to new audiences.
4. Visual Search: People’s need to search for things on the internet is almost instinct. Thanks to machine learning and good cameras, visual searches are the next thing to come.
5. Biometrics: Security and privacy can be reinforced by using a biometrical password. So biometrics is a digital trend to consider if you want to protect your money or your social accounts in the future.
6. Social Media Stories: These short videos have today a great impact on the way to appreciate influencers’ opinions. At least for the next two years, digital agencies must take them to add them to the marketing strategy.
7. Content Still Dominates SEO: This statement speaks for itself. SEO is a powerful element to consider for every person with a website. So soon, SEO and high-quality content marketing will mutate into something more effective than it is today.
8. Omnichannel Marketing: It is a process of marketing across all marketing channels. This is going to be a trend due to the cohesive message to clients. It also enhances the user experience.

How Will Digital Marketing Change in The Future?

Trying to predict the future is like flipping a coin. Heads, you guessed.

Tails, you missed. It is a 50-50 chance to do a successful prediction.

Nevertheless, by looking at what is going on today you can rise your guess from 50% to 80%.

Still, it is hard to see how will digital marketing change in the future.

One of the biggest bets on future predictions for digital marketing is a higher relevance on A/B testing.

It is a technique where you compare the performance of two elements intended to do the same thing.

For example, if a word in a call to action works better than the other.

Or to see if an ad has a better ROI.

In the future, this process’s time to gather information will be shortened.

So it will be easy to compare almost every new element on your digital marketing campaign.

In that sense, digital efforts will be directed to search intent optimization.

Search intent optimization is a process to personalize as much as it can the ads you show.

It also can personalize the information shown to a certain digital persona.

Its goal is to add valuable information to the audience while reflecting their intention in your storytelling.

In other words, the goal is to be empathetic on a granular level.

A tool that everyone should consider is Augmented Reality.

The possibility that big industries use AR in favor of marketing goals is high.

It is not just about games like Pokemon Go.

It is more about placing ads on smart glasses or so.

The uses of AR are still about to be found, but it’s a technology digital marketing should not ignore.

What About Social Media Marketing?

As said before, omnichannel can enhance the reach of your digital voice by giving it a cohesive message.

So having just one social media account on one social network is not enough.

Social media is predicted to be the most important asset while communicating with your clients person to person.

The depth of managing an omnichannel is yet to be discovered.

In the same way, apps and other personalized technologies are going to be important for companies.

So personalized apps are going to be part of digital marketing, perhaps.

It is hard to see where marketing is going in the future.

The Importance of Implementing Digital Marketing in Your Business NOW

Looking into the future of Internet marketing is good, but let’s see how it is now.

Implementing digital marketing may bring many benefits to your company.

Here are a few reasons not to hesitate.

Your Competitors Are on it.

Do you think your competitors haven’t found the internet yet?

Of course, they have, and they are using it to make their business grow.

It is estimated that about 7.7 billion people use internet-connected devices worldwide.

So, the market is huge, and you can shine with the right strategy.

So far, your competitors are creating an online presence and reaching people.

Many of them also worked their SEO and social media to improve their online relevance.

Is that a reason to dampen your initiative?

Not at all.

It is a motivator.

Customers are looking for a product like yours right now.

So if they do not find you they will go somewhere else.

That way you are missing the chance to be on top of your business.

As long as your company remains relevant on the internet, it will grow.

Make the most of this trend, be online, and see the money coming.

Remember: it is important to invest in digital marketing to see better incomes.

The Size Doesn’t Matter

Some small businesses tend not to have a good self-appreciation when compared with conglomerates.

Well, thanks to digital marketing, this is no longer a problem.

Digital marketing uses two important tools: PPC and SEO.

By using PPC advertising your ad will appear in the first place in the paid part of the SERP.

Most PPC on big companies are more relevant to the search engine than yours.

Nevertheless, if your bid for the keyword is high, immediately your PPC ad will appear in the first place.

On the other hand, SEO will make your website relevant for SERP, but it might take a while to be on top.

It is necessary for continuous efforts to ensure the first place.

Both PPC and SEO are meant to increase the visibility of your website to put it at the Walmart level.

Using digital marketing gives a chance to any kind of business to compete with the biggest companies.

Take advantage of that and get more relevant leads.

It Goes Straight to People Who Care

One of the traits of the digital marketing landscape is segmentation.

So, by implementing useful data in your marketing strategy your content will appear only to interested people.

This not only increases the chances of getting more revenue, but it also helps you help people.

This translates into a more thankful audience.

When you set the parameters of the people you want to reach, you grant the ROI of each ad.

In traditional marketing, you must hope to get someone’s attention, while with digital marketing you’re making them see you.

The bottom line, you will get better results by talking with those who want to hear you.

Then you help them to solve their problems and satisfy their needs.

That is how you win customers’ hearts.

Tailor-Made Decisions

Let us talk about Decisions.

When you change a parameter on your digital strategy it is supposed you researched first.

It is supposed you took into consideration many data and analytics.

Thanks to digital marketing you can see analytics in real-time.

You can change it on time if something is not performing as it should.

So, monitoring and optimizing digital marketing campaigns will help you save money.

Sometimes it is better to give one step backward instead of falling off a cliff.

More Reasons To Implement Digital Marketing in Your Business

There are somewhat you can call “basic” reasons to use digital marketing as your marketing choice.

Reasons that every single digital agency uses as a solid argument to offer digital marketing to new clients.

Let’s dig into them.

It’s Affordable

While traditional marketing requires expensive channels to spread the word about your brand, online marketing doesn’t.

Setting in motion a simple but well-directed campaign can cost a few hundred dollars in most cases.

This is less money than a billboard or a TV advertising spot.

Also, the ways and terms of financing it result easier to cover the campaign’s payment.

Of course, it depends on the company you are willing to hire and your marketing goals.

Digital marketing is still the most affordable service you can hire to advertise your brand.

It’s ROI Focused

To reach people’s engagement is good, but in terms of money it not necessarily reflects the brand’s performance.

The only element that can tell you how profitable your marketing efforts are is the return on investment.

A clear cipher of how much money you are getting from the marketing tool you are using.

Not measuring ROI is like walking in the dark, without noticing where you are going on economic terms.

Luckily digital marketing is based on ROI to set the next marketing strategy.

For example, if a Facebook ad is having a negative ROI it means something there is not working.

In most cases, email marketing gives a company an ROI of 4 times the investment (about 122% of revenue).

Sometimes PPC nails it, other times content marketing does.

Depending on the product, one digital channel performs better than another, but always the decisions are based on ROI.

It’s Flexible

Considering the number of channels and tools digital marketing has, flexibility is an important feature of digital marketing.

The term flexibility responds to the ability to change rapidly if the situation demands it.

For example, let’s assume your marketing campaign is leveraged by some influencer on social media platforms.

After the marketing evaluation, the influencer can give your brand some prestige and improve sales.

But in case a scandal involving the influencer can change the revenue predicted, you have to replan quickly.

Online marketing makes this replan easier than traditional marketing.

Imagine setting up a few billboards of O.J. Simpson supporting a brand in August of 1994.

Remember the scandal involving him.

The brand must take down the billboards and any other Simpson-supported material while the scandal goes on.

Thanks to digital marketing you can change quickly any campaign element whenever it affects the brand or the sales.

It’s Expandable

Whenever a new social media network appears, digital marketing grows.

When a new technological gadget can show a website, digital marketing grows.

Now, what happens when a company adds to its marketing strategy new gadgets or networks?

Exactly!

The company grows.

We hope mankind has not reached the technological top and has a lot to invent and test.

But even when we reach that top, digital marketing still can help your company sell itself smarter.

Always broadly use tools and techniques to achieve marketing goals.

It’s Multimedia

It means that there is more than one format to present information.

The information that you give to your public must be in their preferred format to make it likable.

So if you want to share valuable information on your blog, the recommendation is to write quality content.

If the goal is to reach a new target audience who are more visual, you can use infographics.

You can try how efficient can be a reel on Instagram or a meme on Facebook. You can show information in almost every existent format with ease.

In some cases, you can deliver information using podcasts.

Digital marketing and analysis can help you determine which media is best.

It’s Interactive

Another improvement of digital marketing above its traditional counterpart is the way companies and clients can communicate.

Regardless of your business focuses on b2b or b2c, interaction with clients and prospective clients is essential.

When the interaction is in private, companies can use bots or they can train people to answer properly.

Like Blizzard Entertainment chat for problems, where trained people use an avatar to answer questions like a Blizzard character.

This small change makes communication more bearable when you try to solve a malfunction.

On the other hand, when the communication goes on a public channel like Twitter, the rules change.

If you answer the issue smart and charismatic, you can count on good recommendations from satisfied clients.

Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with angry clients and bad-looking reviews.

No one would hire a company or buy products from rude people.

These interactions give a special enchant to digital marketing. Well used will grant you years of engagement.

It’s Measurable

Imagine for a second a car with no speedometer or fuel gauge.

If you cannot measure the fuel level or how fast your car is a lot of problems can happen.

The same thing would happen to digital marketing if it was not for the metrics and the analytics.

Every element of an online marketing campaign can be measured, from pages visited to the time people are in.

Every element, depending on its metric interpretation, can tell different advice on what are your weak points. Nothing is that fast on traditional marketing, not even surveys.

Additionally, by taking a look through the time of these metrics you can evaluate clearly the long-term performance.

Conclusion: Why is Digital Marketing The Future?

Why is digital marketing the future?

If you’re still asking yourself that question at this point, it means that you need a more consistent explanation.

We talked about digital marketing’s future growth, but we can just have for certain today’s trends.

By just looking at trends, you can say that new technologies replace old technologies.

In that sense, unless a new form of marketing (like telepathic marketing) appears, the future is digital marketing.

All marketing efforts, online and offline, are going to reach a better public thanks to digital marketing strategies.

The points explained in this text are observations about how marketing is going in the next few years.

Email marketing works better than cold callings. PPC works better than flyers.

Content marketing leaves a better revenue than ads in the newspaper.

Social media advertising leaves more engaged people than conventions.

As proved as it is, the insights of analytics data will continue leaving hints of where to go on marketing.

So it would be unwise to ignore the fact that digital marketing can help you elaborate a marketing strategy.

The data gathered by the analytic tools will give you unmatchable detail about your channels’ performance.

Also, the integration of technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, or cloud computing is leading companies to think differently.

Companies that want to be updated should aim to use new technologies, and also be on new digital channels.