For example, it is no longer common for people to reach for a physical copy of the Yellow Pages in order to find local businesses. Instead, the Internet has become the primary resource for looking up information about companies of all types, and it is also a less expensive method for capturing the attention of new customers.
However, even digital marketing trends change regularly in response to the swiftly moving technological landscape. After all, smartphone ownership has exploded in just five years, and it is now imperative to ensure that all of your online marketing techniques will appeal to mobile users.
To put all of this into perspective, only 5.6 percent of Americans owned an iPhone in 2010. There are now smartphones in the pockets of 80 percent of adults worldwide, and smartphone usage has officially eclipsed computers as the primary method for accessing the Internet. This means that old tactics such as sidebar ads are in danger of becoming obsolete, but it also opens up a new world of inbound marketing opportunities.
John Rampton is the CEO of Due.com. His digital marketing expertise has been featured in Forbes, and his most recent pet project has involved a wide digital marketing plan strategy and roll out for the Center of Management and Excellence, a leader and team development company. He’s successfully used his experience to market the products and services of other companies, and he uses the same tactics to sell the online invoicing and time tracking platform of his recent start up, due.com.
Rampton recently spoke about the impact that the digital world is having on the overall role of marketing:
“People now have the power to find quick answers from the palm of their hand, and this is much more enticing than paying attention to traditional print and television advertising. As a result, many major companies are attempting to create ads that are comical or philosophical enough to make people want to watch them on YouTube. Meanwhile, businesses that used to offer outsourced services such as invoicing are quickly losing ground to online companies that make it easier for owners to cut their expenses while still getting a quality product.”
Google AdWords will almost certainly continue to have a thriving presence in the digital marketing world. In fact, having the ability to pay a relatively small fee in exchange for showing up on the first page of the applicable search results is a much better investment in the modern world than putting an ad in your local paper. This divide will definitely become even bigger over time, and the future of marketing will be so Internet specific that it is going to put even more print periodicals out of business.
The primary focus of the next few years will be placed on inbound marketing strategies. This is a major shift from the outbound approach that has been followed since the origin of marketing, but it quite simply makes more sense in a mobile world. Why spend a lot of money reaching out to consumers who may not even be interested in your products when you can draw qualified leads to your website at a fraction of the cost?
In 2012, inbound marketing was already 61 percent cheaper than outbound methods. During the last three years, inbound options became even more successful. Companies now report saving $20,000 a year with this digital marketing strategy, and they are also generating 54 percent more leads than traditional alternatives. With these stats in mind, it is clear that the future of marketing is linked heavily to the Internet and inbound strategies.
Five years from now, you can expect to see the marketing landscape changed dramatically yet again. There should be far fewer print advertisements, pop-ups and sidebar ads and a much larger number of content-rich inbound marketing campaigns. Additionally, Google’s AdWords will be the main traditional digital marketing resource.
