Digital Advertising Over the Next Five Years
The world of digital marketing has seen many changes, especially since the introduction of mobile devices. According to pewresearch.org, “The vast majority of Americans – 96% – now own a cellphone of some kind.” This number is huge, and marketers need to capitalize on the fact that they can advertise to millions of people on the go. I believe that marketing will turn more towards “conversational advertising” in the next five years. People are becoming immune to traditional display ads, and marketers need to adapt. Google released the program AdLingo which appears as a banner advertisement, however there is one main difference, users are able to interact with the banner. Some of the ads allow users to chat with a virtual assistant directly on the advertisement for example. This is making the advertising process more personalized, which can lead to an increase in click through or purchase. “Research found that there was an 8% increase in click-through rate for personalized ads in 2019 compared to 2018” (bannerflow.com, 2020).
While the concept of influencer marketing is not new, I believe that we are just at the beginning of its growth and development. As I mentioned earlier, so many Americans own cell phones, and are on social media apps on their devices. We like to follow influential people, and if we see someone we admire using a product or service, we are likely to check it out. “Not only do 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations but 40% had purchased something after seeing it on Twitter, YouTube or Instagram” (digitalmarketinginstitute.com, 2019). Influencer marketing is a wise investment for companies as well due to the fact that they do not need to create marketing material for promotion. They are able to partner with the right people, and they do the marketing for them in the way that fits their audience. People have trust in those that they follow, and I feel the influencer marketing trend will likely continue to grow over the next five years.
The final development that I believe will occur in the next five years will be an increase in video advertisements. Platforms such as YouTube are notorious for their video ads, as people are there to consumer videos, marketers know this format will appeal to them. Users respond well to video as it can be more captivating than traditional banner advertisements. “Amazon and eBay, report that adding a video ad to a product description increases the chances of a shopper buying that item by up to 35%” (Fahad Muhammad, 2020). People are also 27.4 times more likely to click on a video advertisement compared to a standard banner. The key in marketing today and in the future is about fighting the noise and sea of ads. Companies need to figure out how to stand out, and what people respond to best, and video is definitely a strong contender.
Overall when it comes to the next five years, the main theme that I discovered was about standing out, and finding out how your target audience behaves. You need to learn where they are spending their time online, what devices, how they prefer to consume ads, and what people respond to. This will always be changing and evolving, and it is up to marketers to stay up to date on these trends.
References:
20 Influencer Marketing Statistics that Will Surprise You. (2019, November 15). Retrieved from https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you
Display Advertising Trends 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bannerflow.com/blog/display-advertising-trends-2020/
Levine, B. (2018, October 17). Google ushers in the Age of Conversational Ads with the launch of AdLingo. Retrieved from https://martechtoday.com/google-ushers-in-the-age-of-conversational-ads-with-the-launch-of-adlingo-226742
Mobile Fact Sheet. (2019, June 21). Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
Muhammad, F. (2020, April 1). 3 Reasons Why Video Ads Are the Future of Advertising & the Ad Types Available. Retrieved from https://instapage.com/blog/video-future-of-advertising
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