YearCompass in the field of digital marketing trends
At the beginning of the year, many make promises that are not always fulfilled later. In the professional field, these promises often appear in the form of predictions and trends: that is, what we can expect in the field of online marketing in the given year. Just as we do not always hold ourselves accountable for our promises, I have rarely seen a professional evaluation of what actually materialized during the year against the proclaimed trends.
YearCompass – from a marketer's perspective
A great success in my circle of acquaintances in recent years has been filling out the YearCompass – Year Evaluation. I thought, why not evaluate the fulfillment of trends and predictions on a professional basis as well. For this reason, I now dare to gather a few more credible professional portals' predicted trends for 2018 and their realization.
In order to evaluate the year, it is important to define the goals. My trend-definition strategy was very simple: I typed „digital marketing trends 2018” and „online marketing trends 2018” into the popular search engine, and I reviewed the most credible sources from the first page of results.
I had an easy task, as there was a significant overlap in the results from the two searches. Among the sources, I considered the following: two articles from Forbes, one 7 Online marketing trends, the other 6 digital marketing trends mentioned; the SmartInsights Digital marketing trends I also read, as well as the Digital Marketing Institute's list of 5. I incorporated the identical or seemingly identical predictions from these 4 sources into my own Top 3 list.
As a result of the aforementioned methodology, the most popular digital marketing trends predicted for 2018 were as follows, heavily weighted by the SmartInsights client-side research as well.
1.) Content & Influencer marketing spending will be at its peak in 2018.
Just as content production has increasingly advanced in recent years, 2018 will be the year of consolidation. Brands will finally not only publish content on their own platforms (website, blog, owned social media) and invest money in production, but will also collaborate with influencers who have established networks.
This is both financially more efficient and generates less noise and greater visibility than the previous model. At the same time, truly committed brand ambassadors or micro-influencers will also find their place in the brands' content strategies.
2. Big data will finally not just be a buzzword, but will become the actual engine of marketing automation by 2018.
For years we have been hearing that big data is the key to success, but truly no one knew how to effectively utilize the vast amount of data available to us. However, with the rise of Machine Learning, even advertising platforms that serve marketing automation are gaining an advantage.
Due to increasing competition, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises will also be able to invest in these automation systems and utilize the data they have collected so far.
3.) In 2018, Artificial Intelligence promotes behavior-based, personalized marketing.
In order for technology to assist not only in automation but also in better understanding people and thus in even more precise targeting, machine targeting will gain ground in 2018.
Adobe predicts that machines will start making strategic marketing decisions. In such a situation, the software analyzes data to create segments, launch and stop campaigns within different channels, and create individual copies that target perceived personalities.
In summary, let’s take a look at the predicted guiding strategies for the past year and see how accurate these insights were. How much has content marketing and influencer spending increased internationally, as well as the use of automation platforms and the volume of behavior-based targeting?
In this case, I also called on Google for help and searched for easily accessible data to track the above trends.
So let’s see what has come true from the predictions?
- Confirmed. We have been hearing for years that content is king, but it seems that by 2018 the mantra has truly matured. According to a report by the Content Marketing Institute from the first half of 2018, spending on content creation increased by 56% over the past year, while the budget allocated for content collaboration (including influencers) increased by 37%. Moreover, there was an unprecedented global search for the term Influencer marketing in 2018,, which, although it does not confirm spending, certainly indicates outstanding interest. Thus, we can say that this prediction not only came true but definitely contains further potential.
- Partially confirmed.. The costs allocated for data-based and data analysis systems showed an increase already in the first half of the year. Although IDC, which itself deals with analysis and marketing services, researched not only within marketing but across all industries, it presented a comprehensive report on 2018 spending. In this light, they projected a 14.3% increase compared to 2017. This may not be as remarkable as the amount allocated for content, but it is definitely positive. And if we look at how many people searched for the term „marketing automation” in 2018,, we can see a somewhat similar increasing data trend to influencer trends. Additionally, a from a recently updated statistic it turns out that on average, 51% of companies use some form of marketing automation. So the trend is growing and potent, but 2018 may not have brought the expected breakthrough yet.
- Disproved. Although this prediction is hard to separate from the previous one, since targeting is meaningless without data, there is still significantly less evidence to be found on the topics. We can count part of the points gained from marketing automation here, but even then I cannot supplement it with anything other than an article that categorizes it among the 2019 marketing trends the peak of personalization. Thus, we consider this prediction more likely to be fulfilled further.
Summary
It is clearly visible that the success rate is 50% regarding the predictions made for 2018. Of course, I wouldn't call my survey representative, but I hope it was informative and provided some guidance from which we might learn for the future. For example, that it is not worth expecting huge advancements on every front; rather, we will achieve our set goals in small steps.
What could I wish for 2019 better than wine, wheat, and peace, but joking aside, I also looked at what the previously listed sites predict for this year. Unsurprisingly the rise of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning occupies a prominent place on the lists, while in content marketing, the role of audiovisual and especially video materials will strengthen much more specifically. But all of this is just an appetizer; I recommend reading the details here (English content):
If we stay with the predictions, I take on the commitment that perhaps 50% of these trends will be realized in 2019 as well. Certainly on an international level. Regarding the Hungarian market, I rather think that we will slowly catch up with the 2018 trends with a few years' delay. But I hope that we might be able to realize them in a larger proportion due to our slight delay. Next year, I will definitely pull out this list, just as I would with a good YearCompass.
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