Companies are adding digital to their marketing mix to meet prospects and customers where they are when they are researching or ready to buy online.
Moreover, digital marketing is less expensive than traditional marketing, easier to track return on investment and simpler to optimize. It enables precision smart marketing and creates relational engagements that build brand loyalty instead of one-and-done transactions.
“Digital marketing is always changing and evolving, but 2022 will likely hold some dramatic changes,” according to Forbes.
Arkansas State University’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Marketing online program can equip professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to implement digital marketing strategies for any organization in any industry.
Why Are Businesses Expanding Digital Marketing Presence?
Demand for marketing managers with expertise in digital marketing will grow as businesses increase investment in new online strategies to deepen market penetration, enhance customer engagement and measure results to calculate a precise ROI.
New trends in digital marketing include the following:
Interactive Marketing: creating conversations with customers
Interactive marketing changes the marketing dynamic by asking customers to engage in virtual conversations. It can be as simple as a social media poll to as involved as Marriott Hotels’ digital infographic inviting travelers to create a dream experience while on vacation.
This customer-centric strategy “allows you to tell more gripping stories, crowning it as one of the best ways to capture your audience’s attention,” HubSpot says.
Influencer Marketing: the digital celebrity endorsement
Advertising through social media influencer accounts is a multibillion-dollar marketing niche. Celebrity endorsements create instant context and relevance. Rooted in business-to-consumer (B2C) strategy, influencer marketing is gaining traction in business-to-business (B2B) contexts, and numbers compiled by business marketing consultant Neal Schaffer tell why:
- B2B brands can realize a return on investment (ROI) of 11 times over traditional marketing
- Seven in 10 B2B marketers have used influencers to position their products
- Nine of 10 believe influencer marketing is highly effective
- B2B influencer budgets are projected to increase by 31%
“Overall, influencer marketing is the fastest-growing way to get new customers,” Schaffer says.
Augmented and Virtual Reality: looking into the future of marketing
While virtual reality (VR) technology remains relatively unknown — less than half of Americans are aware of it and only 8% have tried it — augmented reality (AR) is in the marketing mix. AR engages customers with a digital element that can lay over the real world. IKEA, for instance, enables shoppers to use AR to place digital images of furniture in their homes to visualize the look before buying.
VR marketing “will be bigger than TV within the next decade, generating $110 billion in revenue,” according to Touchstone Research.
Visual and Voice Digital Marketing: getting to the top of the search engine results
Every time a smartphone user takes a photo or asks their smart assistant a question, they provide data for marketers to improve their brands’ search results performance. Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools extract words from images and voice search and analyze the data so marketers can optimize their search engine marketing.
“Visual and voice search is the future of the web,” Search Engine Reports predicts.
In-game Digital Marketing: engaging customers while they’re having fun
The immersive quality of video games is creating a lucrative digital marketing reality. Gamers who like personas, for instance, enable marketers to tell relevant brand stories. Digital cityscapes feature billboards and point-of-purchase messaging in games. The Audi A4 Driving Challenge engaged millions of gamers through a digital experience of putting its products through paces while promoting new models.
“The great thing about marketing a product within a game is that you can pretty much guarantee you’ll get eyes on your ad,” according to My Customer.
What Are Career Prospects for Marketing Professionals?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts annual demand for marketing professionals will increase by 10% through 2030.
Gain the advantage in competition with an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Arkansas State University, including an exploration of digital technology and strategies.
Learn more about Arkansas State University’s MBA with a concentration in Marketing online program.