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marketing trends

Five Digital Marketing Trends that are Dominating 2018

The digital marketing world continues to mature. An explosion of technology over the last two decades; from the creation of a connected digital world with desktop access to a mobile-heavy, device-responsive, persona-driven, data-collecting ecommerce behemoth, has produced both a marketer’s dream and nightmare.

And now that technology and the Internet are so easily accessible, digital marketing is among the most reliable methods.

The following trends can help your mortgage business with the distribution of your content throughout the digital world by means of various technological devices and social media platforms.

Email Marketing

Email has constantly been positioned as the channel of choice.

Consumer behaviour is shifting as online communications diversify. Although inbox usage has lessened due to the use of social media and text messaging, email communication is still the preferred method for business to interact with their customers. Based on statistics, email has always been a significantly more effective way to acquire and retain customers than any other digital medium. Survey data has shown a 40 per cent better customer acquisition rate than social media.

Tips and Stats to Consider about Email Marketing:

  • Recipients are about 14 per cent more likely to open an email if it’s a part of a segmented campaign vs. traditional email.
  • Video emails see click-through rates that are 96 per cent higher than non-video emails.
  • Email is the number-one channel when it comes to sharing content. Readers are three times more likely to share via social media if they originally receive via email.

It is predicted that email is bound to continue growing and maturing. Data-driven inbox interactions will become a universal practice; content will update in real-time within the inbox, the mobile dominated markets will interact more with video-in-email marketing, and the email traditions of the early 2000s will become automated persona-driven programs.

Mobile is going to keep growing

marketing trendsThese days, everyone is attached to their mobile device 24/7, so of course mobile marketing will continue to grow and gain importance for modern companies. Mobile has become a critical part of every marketing strategy, and the sooner you join the party, the better off you are going to be.

Mobile marketing is not a new idea or tactic, but the strategy behind it has been evolving dramatically in the past few years, and that momentum is going to continue through 2018 into 2019.

Tips and Stats to Consider about Mobile Marketing:

  • The amount of emails being opened on mobile devices has grown by 180 per cent in just a few years.
  • More than 50 per cent of Smartphone owners will reach for their mobile device immediately upon waking up. In other words, the early marketer gets the worm.
  • 57 per cent of all mobile users will not recommend a business if their mobile website is poorly designed or unresponsive.

Mobile optimization is an important theme that has been reoccurring this year and will surely affect 2019. With the rise and increasing access of wearable technology, consumers are constantly performing their searches on the go, and this practice is becoming more and more widespread.

Google has regularly adjusted its algorithms to support more mobile-friendly pages on websites and has already begun to make its search results page on desktops better resemble its mobile version. Desktop searches aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but mobile queries are expected to grow.

Video and Live Streaming

Video continues to become increasingly accepted among audiences and is a great method of delivering your brand and message. The use of live streaming is one of the growing social media marketing trends. It is a great tactic for your mortgage business to reach out and grab the attention of your clients, prospects and leads.

Google has even increased the appeal of video by allowing them into search results pages. Through the use of social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope and Twitter, the possibilities for your mortgage business are endless, and for this reason it’s worth incorporating live streaming in your business and marketing plans.

Tips and Stats to Consider about Video:

  • 59 per cent of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video.
  • Social video generates 1,200 per cent more shares than text and images combined.
  • Native videos on Facebook have 10 times higher reach compared to YouTube links.

Live streaming video is simply a more interactive form of video marketing, and video marketing has been proven to be a very effective form of building relationships.

Video currently accounts for half of all Internet traffic, so it is understandable why businesses would want to be part of it. Videos are accessible and affordable, and their Return on Investment has been tested and proven again and again. Its success is expected to continue into the next years.

Social Media

marketing trendsWe currently live in a world dominated by social media, and marketers and businesses are taking full advantage of it. However, this means that there is a constant change in the trends and the way brands should best communicate with their customers. It’s important that brands keep up with the latest trends in order to achieve their goals, whether that is to increase conversions or improve ROI.

The popularity of social media continues to rise, and 2018 is no exception. Facebook clearly stood out as a social media channel and reached 1.79 billion monthly active users in the third quarter of 2016. This is followed by YouTube, which has 1.3 billion users. It is quite clear that social media is here to stay, and mortgage professionals need to capitalize on it and use the various platforms to their advantage.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has been growing in popularity for the past few years, but new and different types of brands are now starting to take notice. According to Inc.com, 84 per cent of marketers planned on executing at least one influencer marketing campaign during 2017, and businesses generate $6.50 for every $1 invested in influencer marketing.

In general, consumers—especially younger ones—prefer content that feels less “staged” and more natural. Subtle sponsored content that feels and looks organic promoted by influencers is extremely effective. Nearly 95 per cent of marketers who currently use an influencer marketing strategy believe it is effective, and we only expect the number of marketers (and their respective brands) to increase next year.

Destination organizations are now collaborating with influencers to gain that more authentic voice to resonate with target audiences they would otherwise reach with less credible paid advertisement or native content, when their own content has a hard time cutting through the noise.

Let’s recap

Electronic mail has been utilized the entire time, equally creating success and hardships for organizations that adopted the digital way of life.

Video and live streaming are both new and familiar methods that are perfect for businesses that want to attract audiences. Mobile marketing is an enormous trend that all businesses should consider as a strategy as its growth and popularity increases. This is also the case with social media as it becomes increasingly popular amongst the public. And Influencer Marketing can help distribute in a less “staged” and more natural way amongst current and potential customers.