For most people, the new year means embracing a “new you.” But for marketers steeped in all things digital, the new year is all about exploring and applying digital marketing trends you probably haven’t heard of yet.
Here are the top digital marketing trends you’ll see from 2023 and beyond — according to HX and digital marketing agency GO Digital, whose expertise covers a wide range: from web and app development to affiliate marketing and digital strategy including UI, UX, SEO, paid search, marketing automation, and social.
1. Zero-party data
With all the types of data collected from audiences now, we might as call this portion a data party. Jokes aside, you’ve probably — and most likely endlessly — heard of first-party, second-party, and third-party data. As far as digital marketing is concerned, these collected data types help businesses know more about the audiences and clients they’re targeting or looking to service. It isn’t a new term, but the end of 2022 saw the rise of zero-party data.
Zero-party data is any data willingly given by audiences to businesses — directly, consciously, with clear knowledge that they are handing over their information. This could be via sign-up forms, surveys, or questionnaires. For this reason, zero-party data is considered to be the most accurate form of data any business can collect. It’s straight from the source. Since you know where and how you got it, you won’t question its validity.
Data is the guiding light of digital marketing campaigns. It provides direction and allows digital marketers to gather more information for foresight to happen. Zero-party data is the future of data-driven digital marketing campaigns.
2. Email marketing facelifts
No, email marketing is not obsolete; we’re far from that happening. Fact: 89% of marketers still consider email marketing among their primary tools for carrying out campaigns and hitting key metrics. What digital marketing experts have to consider is that there are email marketing trends that will also determine the success of their future email marketing campaigns.
Discussions on this can go on and on, but here are some of the digital email marketing trends you must watch out for.
Hyper-personalised email marketing
Did you know that 68% of recipients will automatically delete electronic mail that doesn’t resonate with them? There is also a 54% chance that people who receive electronic newsletters will hit the unsubscribe button from the get-go. One way to lessen these chances is customisingdigital mail to suit a certain audience segment’s preferences and behaviours. Of course, this should be guided by reliable data that will give insights about the people you’re targetting. Use data to make sure that your email marketing campaign has the kind of personality your intended audience will like.
Email marketing automation
Digital marketing trends are supposed to do at least either of these two things: make your job easier or get results more efficiently. Automation does both. How you go about email marketing automation is up to your business. You can create templates, improve email scrubbing, and even develop ways to nurture potential leads such as follow-up emails or abandoned cart emails.
Email marketing interactivity
There will come a time when good-looking static emails won’t be enough to hold your audience segment’s interest. Improve user engagement with the power of creative technology! Email marketing interactivity will involve dynamic features in your newsletter or digital mail such as videos, toggles, music, quizzes, and various moving parts onscreen. The average person gives only an initial eight seconds of their attention span before swiping up or down (or out of the frame) — make it worth their while, visually and from a storytelling standpoint.
Mobile-first email marketing
Speaking of swiping, when it comes to email marketing, be in a mobile-first state of mind from UI to UX. Most people read emails from their mobile devices these days. Consider that the next time you run an email marketing campaign in 2023.
3. Real-time messaging as data hubs
With instant gratification comes real-time messaging. If targeted audience segments expect to be rewarded instantly with certain online interactions, all the more will they expect to be assisted in real-time — even when conversations aren’t face-to-face in the physical sense. Investing in a good real-time messaging platform, strategy, and campaign will also double as a data centre where businesses can gather information about their clients.
Real-time messaging platforms can also be a venue for companies’ knowledge bases to shine and evolve. Use them as your foundation for reliable real-time customer service. As real-time messaging continues to evolve through chat apps and virtual assistance, digital marketing practices will evolve, too. Stay on top of this digital marketing trend.
4. Outsourced digital marketing
Digital marketing has increasingly become demanding, especially in terms of the expertise required to catch up amid time-starved strategies and ever-evolving tech. While this can certainly be done in-house, a digital marketing trend that continues to rise is reliance on outsourced digital marketing agencies to service a wide range of digital marketing needs.
For example, digital marketing agencies like GO Digital provide integrated strategies that will result in a holistic marketing campaign that looks out for UI, UX, and HX or human experience. Even when technology levels up in the next few decades, thus, changing the way professionals and businesses approach digital marketing, at the core of every digital initiative lies insights into the human experience. Partnering with the right digital marketing agency will determine how well-crafted your overall strategy is.
5. Holographic ads
You’ve been seeing them everywhere. There’s no denying that holographic ads are making waves and making their way into the mainstream — quickly climbing up to the top of digital marketing and marketing tech trends lists. To date, holographic ad campaigns have enjoyed the momentum brought about by the hype of new, exciting tech. Agencies have seen how 3D ad campaigns transform into tourism spots or must-sees in a certain locality. So far, holographic ads prove to be a failsafe way of boosting brand recognition by way of virality. Surely as technology advances, marketers will start to see the migration of holographic interactions from the public space to the personal setting. Mobile devices will catch up soon enough.
As the popularity of both voice and visual search continues to rise, businesses have the opportunity to optimize their searchability campaigns. These trends are just the beginning, and there are many more to watch out for in the coming years. What digital marketing trends is your business interested in exploring in 2023 and beyond? Let us know!
