This year has been one which has seen the digital marketing industry forced to constantly switch focus and energy in order to match with what the consumer and the business is looking for. As things have changed we have spotted a variety of trends taking place within the marketing sphere, especially with regards to paid advertising. Pay per click is a staple of any successful marketing campaign and there are some trends within this which everyone in the marketing world should be keeping an eye on. Here are 5 of those trends which are worth watching out for this year.
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Machine Learning
The automation of PPC processes will be a radical change and a possible improvement for PPC in particular. Currently, we take a large number of metrics around engagement from our PPC ads, and then we switch up the content and the placement to see if we can improve that. Through machine learning, however, this may become a thing of the past Thanks to machine learning, we will be able to get a clear picture of what isn’t working, why not, and what exactly we have to do to resolve it, and it is software which will instantly hand us that information, assuming we have given it the right goals to train itself.
More Specific Targeting
We are now able to digest and translate raw data better than ever before and this will lend itself perfectly to a much more specific focus on our target market. With each year that passes we are able to hone in better than before on our market, and as Google rolls out the Affinity Audiences site for search and targeting, we are going to be able to aim our ads right at the people who we want to see them.
Dispersion
There is a general consensus that marketing agencies will look beyond Facebook ads and such, to branch out across different platforms. This is as a result of many shunning the long-standing social media platforms and search engines, as well as the increase in popularity of sites such as Reddit, Quora and Pinterest, which could very well offer better value for money.
Actual Connection
Brand visibility is always the line that marketers suggest they are looking for, but increasingly we are seeing a move towards brand affinity, over visibility.
This means that any Google ads which we see in the future will move away from that ‘look at us model’ and approach a more ‘come join us’ narrative. This is a trend which aims for customer loyalty through inclusivity.
Conversion Rate Optimisation
There is an enormous number of businesses which have completely lost focus of conversion rate optimisation, and this is something we expect to change.
It is all well and good investing in Instagram ads, but when the consumer migrates, you have to ensure that you have the tools in place to close that sale. More and more we are seeing ad agencies wake up to the importance of CRO and this is most definitely a trend which we can expect to see in the coming year.
As always, it is essential to stay on top of trends in order to react fastest to the moving market.
