The Future of Digital Marketing & Trends to Watch

May 2, 2024

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, marketers must adapt their approach to campaign creation, persuasion efforts, and advocacy in order to maintain efficacy and relevance in this new world.

Here are the main changes happening in the digital marketing sphere that we have noticed to work time, and time again.

Marketing: Leveraging influencers has transformed messaging, proving to be a more effective method of reaching niche groups. It’s not about celebrity endorsements, but rather micro-influencers who resonate with smaller, more niche audiences. As dramatic as this paradigm shift might seem, when we take a second to analyze, nothing has really changed. Marketing has always been about leveraging influence on the consumer or your target audience to impact their thinking and persuade them to buy into a product, brand, or belief. Before social media, people would exclusively idolize celebrities, politicians, and athletes. These people, however, had dedicated teams whose sole job was to curate a personal image and subsequently, a brand. The real shift comes from the layperson now being able to curate their own personal brand, allowing all types of influencers to affect the masses and create vibrant, thriving, and impactful communities both offline and online.

Mobile Optimization: With most users accessing content via mobile, optimizing every aspect of a campaign for mobile is a must. A study by Statcounter found that 50.48% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, while desktop devices account for only 46.51%.

Short, engaging videos are essential in spreading your message: Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have completely revitalized content creation, empowering creators and influencers, and cultivating a more direct channel for marketers. These platforms have benefited from the rapidly declining attention spans of the modern digital consumer and have become the frontline in connecting with audiences. A recent study conducted by Google found that around 40% of consumers have used TikTok as a Search Engine over Google, and that statistic rises to 64% of Gen Z.

Story-Driven Marketing: Emotional connections and authenticity win campaigns. Embrace and live your brand. Walk the talk. Stories that differentiate the brand, or the candidate, engage the audiences on a deeper level, creating trust and support. Take a look at how BTS has become a worldwide phenomenon, using social media platforms, to collaborate with brands, creators, and fans and share bits and pieces of their lives through videos and pictures. This allowed BTS to create ‘Authentic’ connections between themselves and their consumers. Such collaboration makes the consumer feel like an active part of the success or failure of BTS, establishing a sense of ownership and duty. The inclusion of BTS fans has allowed their consumers to co-create brand meaning.

The success of BTS marketing has now expanded to all spheres, from political campaigns in Chile and the humanization of political candidates in Indonesia, to product marketing.

As we continue to navigate the evolving digital landscape, utilizing these strategies is essential for any successful campaign.