Digital Insights for 2017: What do you need to know?

They say a year is a long time in marketing, so without further ado here are our digital insights for 2017.

2016 brought us Brexit, Pokémon GO, RIO2016, a new U.S. President Elect, and more notably Toblerone outraged fans when they changed the shape of the famous bar!

 

However, at Loud Mouth Media we are all about looking ahead and we are now racing through January 2017.  They say a year is a long time in marketing, so without further ado here are our digital insights for 2017.

 

There's no place like phone

 

In a mere nine years the smartphone has had a massive impact on UK society.  Collectively, UK citizens look at their smartphones over a billion times a day! Ever since its mobile-friendly update in 2015, Google has cited mobile and 'micro-moments' as an incredibly important ranking factor. As a result, mobile responsive websites that adapt to different screen sizes and facilitate a seamless user experience have become all the more important.

 

Every year there are trillions of searches on Google and over half of them are carried out using a mobile device. With the introduction of Expanded Text Ads and mobile specific bidding, AdWords is already well on its way to becoming a mobile-first advertising platform. Now, Google has announced mobile-first indexing, which means that either a mobile responsive site, or a separate optimised mobile site is integral to the success of many other components of your digital strategy. From content marketing to creating display ads, everything you do should consider and incorporate mobile this year!

 

Personalisation

 

74% of online customers get frustrated when the content they see on a webpage isn't relevant to their needs or preferences - a statistic that highlights the need for a more tailored, targeted digital experience. The secret to success lies in personalisation, and simply adding in a subscriber's name to the email copy is no longer enough.

 

Dynamic Ads on AdWords are automatically generated and display different content to users depending on the search terms they've used. This means you can target the user with the right content about the right product at the right time. Dynamic Advertising is personalisation in full force, and significantly increases the likelihood of conversion.

 

In-store marketing

 

With 80% of millennials using their smartphones in-store and 74% willing to receive location-based mobile alerts whilst in store, marketers have seen a tremendous opportunity.  These facts will see in-store marketing sky rocket in popularity as advertisers utilise the opportunity to provide relevant offers to their customers directly on their phones when the consumer is close by.  

 

Advancements in beacon technology allow marketers to place precisely relevant advertisements directly in the hands of their customers when they're in close physical proximity to the point of purchase and more susceptible to your marketing.  If you have an e-commerce website, you can use the data from their previous purchases and behaviour patterns to target them just as specifically, and consequently increase the chances of conversion. 

 

 Video marketing

 

It will probably come as little surprise that over 50% of organisations include video as part of their content marketing plan - we are currently working on our own video! The growth of video marketing has been almost unstoppable in recent years, and will only continue in 2017. When done well, video has the innate ability to convincingly convey brand stories in a way that can compel audiences like no other channel. All you need to do is find your unique angle.

 

Instructional videos, product demos, industry-specific webinars and creative ads are all avenues that you can explore, regardless of your budget sizes and skillset. Whichever type you choose, it's important to ensure that it's relevant to your brand, the products or services you want to promote, but most importantly, your target audience.

 

We are strongly encouraging our clients to utilise YouTube Advertising where relevant - YouTube is the #2 search engine in the UK and you only pay when someone chooses to watch at least 30 seconds of your ad, making it a highly cost effective targeting method.

 

Social

 

There is no doubt about it, we are now living in a social media dominated world - and marketers and businesses are taking full advantage of it! The popularity of social media continues to rise, and we are expecting significant changes in the way businesses are communicating with their audiences.  Brands need to ensure that they keep up with the latest trends to ensure that they are achieving their goals, whether that is to improve ROI or to increase conversions. 

 

It is clear social media is here to stay, and businesses need to know what to do to capitalise on it and how to use the various platforms and tools to their advantage.  Marketers clearly agree with 74% planning to grow their social media advertising usage.  Facebook continues to provide excellent results for our clients, and we are looking to explore the results of Pinterest advertising for our e-commerce clients.

 

Which digital trends do you predict will be particularly important in 2017? Have you created and documented your strategy for the new year yet? 

 

If you need a helping hand developing your PPC strategy, then give us a shout.