Tech advancements move at a stellar pace and digital advertising moves right along with the never-ending changes.
Before we can look forward, we need to know where we have been. Think about this statistic – back in 2013, 76% of people believed that marketing trends advanced by fifty years in two years’ time.
Here we are, inching towards 2020, and there is no sign of stopping. Digital advertising trends had their start not that long ago. Even still, digital marketing continues to build and evolve.
Digital Advertising Trends in 2020
The basic premise in advertising hasn’t changed. Find what people want, then target the people that want what you have. That’s still the core behind advertising and probably always will be.
These days, digital advertising trends have created an entirely new industry known as search marketing. There are agencies that focus on digital marketing only because it’s a real thing now.
There is SEO, customer retention, cost per click, pay per click, social media advertising, paid search advertising, banner ads, and so much more.
It’s a lot to keep up with, but if you want to stay in the game, you have to stay up-to-date with the latest trends.
You have to always be ready and waiting for the latest thing so you can be on the ball when it starts rolling.
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising includes more than just hiring a celebrity to endorse a product like in the days of television commercials. While it actually does have a descendant in the digital world, but it’s just a small piece.
Influencer Marketing
What we’re talking about is influencer marketing. You can still reach out to celebrity types and ask them to review your product and hopefully encourage others to use it.
The reason influencer marketing has major reach is because of the way that social media works. Thanks to their algorithms, platforms like Facebook restrict businesses from getting too spammy.
Going the route of influencer marketing means that you can bypass some of those algorithms.
The advertising isn’t coming from you. It is coming from someone that others trust. People will then see it, want it, and then you have new customers.
That kind of marketing is just the tip of the advertising iceberg.
YouTube Video Advertising
Billions of hours are watched on YouTube every single month. People like watching things that are meaningful to them.
So far, that makes perfect sense, right?
The question is, how do you tap into that audience? The answer is YouTube video advertising, also known as unicast advertising.
Have you ever watched a video and noticed that there was a shorter 15-second clip before what you wanted to see? It was probably about some random product or service like Geico insurance.
That was a unicast ad, and they are incredibly effective.
Paid Search Ads
Paid search ads are the standard in paid advertising. You pay for ads that show up in search results when you do things like use Google to search.
PSAs are a digital advertising trend that is here to stay. It’s a good thing, too, because they work.
Imagine searching for windshield wiper blades on Google.
You’re going to get a search engine result page, or SERP, and at the top and bottom, you will see paid search ads.
They’re ads that are relevant to your search query.
Pretty ingenious, right? These ads look just like real search results, and the best part is that they are relevant to your search. They might even be exactly what you’re looking for.
Digital Advertising Agency
Digital marketing is unlike traditional marketing in that it is always changing. Because of that, a digital advertising agency is going to have their thumb on the pulse in the marketing world.
If you were to look back at the digital advertising strategy of the early 2000s, you’re going to see a big difference. For one, SEO doesn’t work the same way anymore.
Once upon a time, SEO focused more on keywords as the backbone for search results. Since that time, search engines have gotten smarter. That means that agencies have had to keep up with the digital advertising trends to keep your business.
Digital Advertising Strategy
A digital advertising strategy is going to include many different aspects to be effective. It isn’t going to just be about paid search ads or banner ads.
A good strategy is going to have PPC ads like social media or paid search ads, as well as ways to encourage customer engagement.
It should also include SEO as an organic way of increasing traffic to your site. While SEO works, it does take time in the trenches to see the growth.
The best digital advertising strategy is going to embrace search engine marketing as the way to go. SEM includes SEO as well as all of the different paid options that you can think of.
In fact, here’s a quick list for you to refer back to.
- PPC – pay-per-click ads. These are highly effective and you only have to pay when someone clicks on them.
- Video ads. This type of ad is perfect when you want to encourage customer engagement because everyone loves a good video.
- Social media ads. With billions of people connected via social media platforms, you can’t ignore the chance you have to reach them.
Digital Advertising Statistics
Some of the statistics will astound you when you read them. You’ll see that you can’t miss this opportunity to reach people on a massive scale.
PPC Stats
- 66% of buyer intent keywords are actually paid clicks
- Google Ads reported over 2.3 trillion searches that were relevant to ads
- PPC traffic has a 50% higher conversion rate than organic traffic
- PPC ads reportedly improve brand awareness by 80%
Video Stats
- 73% of video ads are clicked more often than display banners
- Over half of YouTube views are from mobile devices
- YouTube receives more than 30 million unique visitors every single day
- YouTube gives Google 6% of its total ad sales revenues annually
Social Media Stats
- 50% of Generation Z believes social media is the best channel for communication
- 42% of Millennials believe the same thing
Where Digital Advertising Trends Need to Focus in 2020
Mobile devices are becoming the preferred screens for users. As a matter of fact, smartphone visits are up a full 21% in the United States.
At the same time, visits from desktops and tablets are way down.
That means that mobile marketing is the next wave that marketers need to jump on.
1. Social Media Trends
Social media is thought to be the “channel of the future” according to ADI, especially for finding new customers. There are reported to be three times the traffic from new consumers from social media channels.
Facebook is still the top social media platform, but that may not always be the case as younger people are pulling away.
Instead, they’re turning towards Instagram.
Instagram is all about videos and pictures, and it is growing at an exponential rate. Most of the people on the platform are also under 30.
They are just waiting for you to tap into their spending resources.
That’s a huge chunk of people that don’t even know you exist yet. As the younger generation grows up with social media, that number will grow.
2. Video Advertising Trends
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, more than half of the American population is watching YouTube videos.
What exactly does that mean?
It means that video digital marketing needs to be a thing, more now than ever. Post them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and every other platform that allows them.
People like videos because they feel far more personal than traditional ads. Videos feel real and encourage trust.
They’re also flexible so you can do small clips or longer snippets as needed.
3. Display Advertising Trends
Display advertising trends includes all sorts of different advertising techniques. From banner ads to rich media, it covers just about everything to do with photos and videos.
Consider, for a moment, new consumer behavior that Google has identified. It’s called Micro-moments.
According to eMarketer, people tend to spend just over three and a half hours on their mobile devices every single day. They get online for just a few seconds at a time, hence the term “micro.”
In these seconds, people are deciding on where to go, what they’re going to have for dinner, and even what they’re going to wear for the day.
These trends make marketing difficult for the times ahead. These micro-moments have created a new breed of potential consumers.
They’re researchers, demanding personal attention, and expecting instant gratification.
4. Search Engine Trends
It’s worth noting that one of the most interesting search engine trends to emerge has to do with the way people spend their time online.
When it comes to consumer behavior, as per Google, people fall into three different categories: curious, demanding, and impatient.
To reach these customers, you’re going to have to leverage the information with a different marketing strategy. Explore these behaviors to give you an edge.
Don’t give up on everything that has worked before like PPC ads, video ads, and the rest.
The research-obsessed look for information to make every single decision. Google insights say that “best” mobile searches have increased by 80% over the past couple of years.
Demanding customers expect personalization. They want you to know what they want without giving you too many specific details.
Impatient consumers have grown the most according to Google insights. There has been a 150% growth in searches for something nearby.
Taking Note of Digital Advertising Trends
Don’t dismiss the future digital advertising trends. To remain relevant and competitive, you need to stick with what works and use new information to make good choices.
Taking advantage of information regarding consumer behavior is the key to knowing what you need to do with your marketing ploys.
Remember, too, that although smartphones are the wave of the future, they may eventually peak.
With that in mind, keep up with digital advertising trends so you don’t miss whatever the latest trend may be.
What digital advertising trends have you noticed?
Feel free to share here in the comments any trends you see happening in the future!
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