A1 Current Trends in Digital Marketing
Changes in technology both in business and consumer usage has created many opportunities for businesses to reach their target market. Attitudes towards technology and online business are also changing. It is important that marketers are aware of these trends and make adaptations to their marketing strategies to respond to these trends.
Customer confidence in online shopping is growing. In the early stages of e-commerce, there was some hesitation towards making payments over the internet. As online shopping is becoming more common and perception of website security is improving, consumer confidence is growing which opens more opportunities for businesses to sell to more customers.
Mobile phone use continues to grow as well as increased purchases through apps. Many online retailers now have mobile phone applications to sell their products which make purchasing very easy and available 24 hours a day.
Databases can be used to store information collected about consumers so they can target them more effectively. This could be their purchasing habits or browsing habits.
Targeting specific segments is more possible due to data that can be collected from customers. This allows businesses to change their advertising depending on the segment they are targeting.
Traffic from social media to websites is increasing. People are spending increasing amounts of time on social media platforms and can easily be led to a website from a post that they find interesting. Many marketing teams now have a social media strategy to devise posts that stand out from the increasing competition.
Augmented Reality (AR) is becoming more common for businesses to communicate details of their products. One of the downsides of online sales for consumers is that they do not get to physically see a product before they purchase as they would in store. Using AR gives businesses the opportunity to provide a multisensory experience of the product before buying.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing in its sophistication. Examples of how businesses can use AI include using chatbots to have customer service conversations, email personalisation and market automation to take consumers right through the purchasing experience.
