Digital marketing has changed the way in which marketers brand and market their organizations. More importantly, it is constantly changing. The techniques that used to work no longer do, so new techniques are always evolving. The good news is that it is not expensive to try out many of these methods. If they don't work, fail fast and move on.
Integrated, omnichannel digital campaigns are a necessity.
Digital marketing no longer means running a simple AdWords campaign. Successful digital campaigns must use consistent messaging across multiple channels and touchpoints. Other than the obvious branding benefits, this approach allows you to integrate your message and value proposition to the same audience through multiple channels to accelerate pipeline velocity and help your sales team close deals.
Multi-touch, full-funnel strategies parallel the buyer journey.
If the first message you see from a business is “free demo!” they’re doing it wrong. Digital campaigns must parallel the buyer's journey. First-touch messaging and assets must be high level and educational. The next message or asset the user sees should be determined by the actions taken (or not taken) at the previous touchpoint until the user is convinced to demo a product or speak with a salesperson.
User intent beats user interest.
Digital ad messaging should tell the same story but use different words. Persona-based targeting is the key to success in the digital space and in marketing in general. While the message, be it a headline or a call to action, must convey value and story, the language used in the digital space should reflect the intent of your individual prospect. A CFO might be triggered by the word “profit,” while a CEO might prefer the word “growth.” Don’t know which one will work? Herein lies the benefits of testing.
An efficient digital campaign requires A/B testing.
A/B testing in the digital space is one of marketing's most powerful tools. Testing hypotheses, messages, CTAs and creative allows you to adjust your strategy to squeeze the most out of your marketing budget. The same ad can no longer live indefinitely in one channel. Though it may remain there, it will become invisible to your audience unless you are constantly testing and updating it.
MORE FROM FORBES
Email marketing is dying.
The end of email marketing is near, and smart inboxes, busy executives and templated emails are to blame. Marketers (and salespeople) have to rethink the tools they use to reach their prospects directly. How many promotional emails do you get a day? 10? 20? 50? Your marketing email isn’t special -- it’s clutter. This is not to say that email marketing should be scrubbed from your strategy entirely, only that expectations for this tactic should be lowered. I'm going back to experimenting with old-school snail mail but with digital tracking, and it’s working.
Digital marketing requires a tool stack.
It’s hard to build anything with only one tool -- especially your pipeline. Front-end platforms, backend systems and intelligent tools in the middle are a must. Tools like Marketo and Eloqua help marketers organize, score and nurture their leads, while platforms like AdWords, LinkedIn, Facebook and AdRoll help attain them. Sure, you can capture leads using only one platform, but your audience most likely lives on all of them. More importantly, your audience behaves differently on each platform. That's why you must keep your message consistent and spread it wide as you adapt to the changing digital marketing landscape.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/06/14/digital-marketing-trends-in-an-era-of-constant-change/#194259a06f57