When it comes to creative digital marketing, there are a few things businesses need to know. Here are the important trends for 2022 and beyond.
You may not realize it, but your business’ marketing is competing with a cacophony of advertising noise.
Consider this: the average person may see anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day.
Getting your products in front of potential customers is one thing, getting their attention and holding it is another. Fortunately, if you get creative with your marketing, you can cut through the noise.
Creative digital marketing creates awareness of your brand and your products and creates memorable messaging.
Want to know more? Keep reading to learn how to grab your customers’ attention - and keep it.
What Is Digital Marketing?
First, let’s define what digital marketing is. Simply put, it’s any form of marketing that exists online.
There are many types of digital marketing:
- SEO (search engine optimization)
- PPC (pay per click) campaigns
- Blogs
- Email marketing
- Social media
This is opposed to traditional marketing. Traditional marketing techniques include print magazine ads, direct mail, radio ads, newspaper ads, and billboards.
While traditional marketing has its place, you have to use digital marketing if you want to reach your consumers where they are.
Creative Digital Marketing Trends
Good digital marketing isn’t always loud and in your face. Instead, it takes into consideration the needs of your potential customers and provides value.
That said, there are a few current trends you need to be aware of.
Mobile-First
The first is that more and more users are mobile-first, accessing the internet via their smartphone or a similar mobile device. For many, they may not even use a laptop or desktop computer much, if at all.
Just look at mobile usage statistics. There are over 5 billion mobile users in the world, which now account for half of all internet traffic. 42% of emails are opened on mobile devices.
And a whopping 96% of Facebook users access the social media platform via a mobile device.
So what makes for a good mobile-first design? For one, your website must be fast. Visitors aren’t going to wait - especially if they’re doing online shopping.
Viewability is key. Any content or information must be seen accurately on a mobile device, and scale to screen size. Otherwise, a consumer may be forced to zoom in or out and struggle to find a navigation bar.
Responsive web design should allow designers to organize content in a grid format that displays accurately on different devices.
Persona Identification
You may be missing out on people who would love to buy your product or use your service. This is especially true of younger or older audiences. But by communicating intentionally you can show your audience that you value more than one type of customer.
Be genuine, approaching your target audience with sincerity. Consider the images used in your marketing. It’s easier for customers to connect with brands that include content that they can relate to.
This could mean marketing to a new audience. If your makeup brand traditional markets to 20-something women, consider who else might use your products - it might not be only 20-somethings, and it might not be only women.
Catering to different audiences also means ADA-compliant marketing. Everyone should be able to access and navigate your website. This includes using captions on videos, keyboard navigation options instead of mouse-only navigation, and using alt text on images.
If you need more guidance on how to make your website accessible, check out the Department of Justice’s guidance on web accessibility.
Personalized Content
Personalized marketing creates a bond between the brand and its target audience, and potentially acts as a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a term for a free item or service that’s given away to attract potential customers. Ideally, they will provide their email address or other contact info in exchange for this free information.
An email newsletter is one example of a lead magnet. You could personalize your emails by sending your subscribers an email with the products and services they viewed on their site. You could personalize the email’s subject line based on what they have shown interest in.
Other lead magnets you could use for your business are white papers, webinars, product samples or free trials, training videos, and free templates.
Aside from being personalized, a good lead magnet should be relevant, offer value, and serve your business’ purpose. It should help your potential customers solve a problem. People also love quick, instant gratification, so make sure your lead magnet can be delivered quickly.
Progressive Web Pages
A progressive web page or progressive web app is a website that looks and acts like a mobile app. Progressive web pages can take advantage of mobile features without requiring the user to navigate to an app store and download an app.
Like an app, they can send push notifications to the user. They can even work offline. Users can add the page to their phone’s home screen too.
Progressive web pages eliminate the need to create native apps for multiple operating systems.
Progressive web pages are still a new trend, but major browsers such as Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge have started to support them.
Let Us Help You With Your Marketing Needs
Creative digital marketing requires more than a “set it and forget it” approach. As your business grows, your products and services change and expand, and your target audience changes, you’re going to need a fast, responsive website, as well as creative design services for your marketing.
Fortunately, Four Winds does both. We can build you a fast, beautiful website, help with your SEO, and create digital and traditional marketing assets for online and print.
Schedule a consultation today!