In the ever-evolving world of advertising, staying on top of emerging trends is crucial for success. With the advent of technology and the booming popularity of online shopping, the marketing landscape has experienced a series of dynamic changes that directly influence consumer behavior. If you’re involved in advertising, adaptability, and continuous learning are key to ensuring your marketing efforts are as effective as possible. Here, we’ll explore several advertising trends you should be aware of as we navigate the 2020 marketing season:
1. Voice Activated Software
Studies indicate that roughly 25% of U.S. adults utilize smart speakers like Google Home or Alexa. It made ordering essential goods like groceries, toiletries, and cleaning supplies easier than ever. With these realities in mind, savvy advertising agencies need to ensure that the sites they build or maintain are enabled for voice search, or have voice compatibility keywords integrated into their website code. If you don’t take this step, individuals may not be able to access your site via a speaker, which could reduce your traffic or conversions. Even if you don’t have a device designed specifically for voice activation, apps like YouTube, Microsoft Office/Outlook, etc. all have significantly ramped up their voice integration. So even if you aren’t targeting voice-activated software, you are more than likely integrating it into your workflow without even realizing it. Also, make sure that your existing clients know that you have integrated voice search within your domain.
2. Immersive Experiences
While the idea of using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) within the marketing sector was a mere vision, these forms of technology are now thoroughly integrating themselves into the way content is produced and presented to consumers. Now that heavy hitters like Facebook, Google, and Amazon are heavily invested in the sector, accessibility to tech and software has trickled down to consumers rapidly. This has created additional markets in private sectors like professional sporting franchises and architecture.
In this modern era, individuals can visit a movie theater and play a game on the big screen through utilizing app technology. Many innovators are now also creating consumer experiences that involve prospects taking virtual tours through their stores.
3. Personalized Advertising
While mass marketing is oftentimes still an effective way to win business, it’s important to know that personalized advertising is on the rise. This form of advertising involves utilizing highly specific information about consumers to market products or services in a manner that makes consumers feel valued and known. The market leader in this category is an app called “Cameo” which allows consumers to purchase cameos or shoutouts from their favorite celebrities. It could be something as simple as wishing a happy birthday to your girlfriend, to auctioning off a personalized message for charity.
While Cameo is the most prominent example of this, social media apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Periscope allow A-listers with large-scale platforms to broadcast their message to millions of users.
The personalization process can include anything from an app that greets individuals by their name or offers them new products based on their most recent consumer behaviors. The most sophisticated personalized advertising strategies will blend personalization strategies with advanced, cutting-edge digital techniques.
4. Mobile Advertising Reimagined
While you might think that I’m referring to advertising on cell phones or mobile apps, I’m actually referring to the growing trend of vehicle wrapping, which can be one of the most efficient uses of an advertising budget. What can only be described as an effective replacement for traditional billboard ads, vehicle wraps provide businesses with the ability to make constant impressions on general consumers in an organic manner. These work best for small businesses with extremely niche target groups in a local area, but also work efficiently at yielding new customers via increased exposure.
5. Social Media Marketing Is Here To Stay
Currently, there are roughly 3.2 billion people on social media. For context, that is nearly half the human population on Earth, according to the most recent global census. This is strong evidence that the online platform isn’t going away any time soon. While individual brands may ebb and flow atop the leaderboard in terms of securing market share, the consumption of social media data as a whole has never been stronger. We saw this with Myspace at first, then with Facebook, and now Instagram has polled as the most popular social media app amongst target demographics. With this idea in mind, it’s important to know that while social media will continue to be a popular platform, the specific marketing modalities used in this realm will likely shift. In recent marketing history, anything from Twitter polls to chatbots has enabled business owners to connect with their audiences in innovative and engaging ways that precipitate conversion.
6. Young Professionals
Even as you are reading this article, the advertising paradigm is shifting before your very eyes. Trends that were main staples at the turn of the millennia are afterthoughts, and what dominates the market share now will very likely face the very same fate. That’s why many firms and agencies are diversifying their staff, even at the managerial level, and hiring younger staff. These young professionals grew up in the digital age, and not only do they understand the market inefficiencies, but they’ve got the combination of youth and experience to establish the most effective ways to exploit them to maximize their brand message.
Don’t Delay: Start Using Cutting Edge Advertising Trends Today!
The most effective firms are able to maximize the efficiency of the current trends and jump on the bandwagon of future staples of the business. Firm owners and marketing mavens who are serious about using the advertising realm wisely should know that this sphere is subject to perpetual shifts. With this reality in mind, make sure that you remain conscious of emerging trends in the advertising sector. Review the advertising information outlined above and consider the value of integrating some or all of these strategies into your existing marketing campaigns!
