Even as the internet continues to evolve and revolutionise the world of digital marketing, prudent business owners continue to ring in the changes to their marketing strategy. In the days when the internet was not a reality, business owners faced lesser challenges. Marketing their business products and services was much simpler. If you had the budget, you could afford a promotional blitz. If you didn’t, you simply opted for the promotional methods that would yield greater dividends. In that era, the print media, radio, television and billboards were the prongs for advertising your business. However, the advent of the internet changed everything.

The Advent of Digital Marketing

The conventional marketing methods of radio, television etc. have their uses. That is why business owners continue to use them. However, using them entails spending a lot of money. The big business enterprises can afford to pay the exorbitant rates demanded by the media houses. However, small and midsized businesses cannot afford to be so profligate.

Another drawback of traditional marketing channels is that they do not provide instant feedback or reports. For example, if you wanted to evaluate the success of your billboard at the local mall, you would not be able to get any data that tells you:

•  How many people saw the billboard
•  How many of those who saw the billboard went ahead and made a purchase

You could obtain some data that would give you an idea about the success of your billboard. However, the numbers would not be exact. In addition, you would probably get them after the passage of some time.

Once the internet came into prominence, it spawned off the age of digital marketing. Not only was digital marketing inexpensive. It also enabled business owners to be in contact with their customers across the globe. Most importantly though, digital marketing provided business owners with the numbers they needed. It enabled them to check the real-time performance of their publicity campaigns. It also helped them get precise data for statistics like sales conversions etc.

The Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2014

In 2013, several brands adopted various tactics and strategies to gain a competitive edge over their rivals. Measuring this competitive edge was critical. Therefore, big data became quite popular as businesses began examining the wider range of data available to them for maximising their online performance. Multimedia storytelling also became popular in 2013, as businesses sought to captivate their target audiences by providing engaging web experiences.

So what does 2014 have in store for business owners? Some digital marketing trends to keep an eye on include:

•  The Omni-channel Experience: Increasingly, customers are demanding the same experience they get in stores across a variety of platforms i.e. social media, tablets, mobiles etc.
•  The movement of more brands that provide immersive web experiences across a diverse range of devices – especially the mobile phone, as data reveals that more people are buying smartphones and tablets than PCs and laptops
• The replacement of content on the internet with interactive content that makes the audience a part of the story. This also includes using digital content tailored to appeal to specific audiences for sharing on social media as well as engaging consumers.
•  The increasing popularity of utilising a paid media strategy for business enterprises to proliferate their content across the internet
•  The increased focus on content curation and aggregation that would draw customers to a specific website if the site provides all the relevant (and comprehensive) information about a specific topic
•  The emergence of online videos as a popular means for selling products and services
•  Businesses relying on increasing live engagements with visitors to their websites for responding to queries and for transacting business
•  Increased Focus on Security and Privacy: As Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo! Move to more secure servers, the volumes of data out in public would decrease even as private sharing continues to increase
•  The increased use of custom and branded content marketing would help businesses attract greater traffic and positive results
•  Increased Real-time Marketing – especially for location-based businesses: With social media platforms making news viral, businesses need to respond quickly for capitalising on the opportunities created

Are You Looking for Help with Digital Marketing in Australia?

If you’re on the lookout for a partner to help you with your digital marketing strategy, Rotapix Interactive Media is what you need. We’re one of the best SEO companies in Australia. Moreover, those are not our words. They come from an assortment of renowned industry bodies like TopSEOs.

We employ strategies that drive clean and highly convertible traffic to your website. We also conceptualise, develop and implement online marketing campaigns that give your brand the visibility it needs. Using an assortment of various forms of online advertising, we help your brand take centre-stage even as your business flourishes. To know more about our services, call us at 1300 799 616.