Digital Marketing has revolutionized the way businesses connect with customers today. The key focus in this form of marketing is the use of innumerable digital channels such as Emails, Search Results, Social Networks, RSS, Voice Broadcast, Podcasts, Video Streams, SMS, MMS, Banner Ads, Digital Billboards, Game Consoles and so on, to provide unique, innovative, consistent and personalized digital experiences with the ultimate aim of reaching out to customers across the world, communicating with them, engaging them and thereon strengthening your brand identity.

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MARKETERS ACROSS THE GLOBE ARE RELYING ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO MANAGE THEIR DATABASE OF CONTENT, REACH OUT TO SPECIFIC MARKET SEGMENTS, AND CARRY OUT EXTENSIVE MARKET RESEARCH BASED ON ANALYTICS.

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If it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed

What makes digital marketing stand out as compared to conventional marketing is not just its wide reach and convenience but it’s high degree of measurability. Marketers across the globe are relying on digital technology to manage their database of content, reach out to specific market segments, and carry out extensive market research based on analytics. The growing dependence on digital technology clearly highlights the importance of well defined metrics and sound technical know-how of digital devices and platforms in the field of marketing.

 

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WHAT MAKES DIGITAL MARKETING STAND OUT AS COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL MARKETING IS NOT JUST ITS WIDE REACH AND CONVENIENCE BUT IT'S HIGH DEGREE OF MEASURABILITY.

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Analyzing the State of Digital Marketing in 2013

1. Content Marketing: The Undisputed Champion

With an estimated 52 percent of digital marketers saying that Content Creation, Optimization, Personalization and Marketing will continue to remain the core of their marketing strategies, Content Marketing wins hands down as the top Digital Marketing Trend in 2013. Developing brilliant content is necessary no doubt, but optimizing it so that it can have the desired reach and visibility is equally important. Although there are innumerable options to develop and strategize content, usage statistics show that the most popular ones are Social Media Content, Web Content, E Newsletters, Blogs and Case Studies. These are followed by Videos, Guest Posts, In person Events, White Papers and Webinars.

 

 

 2.  Social Media Engagement still stands tall

About 38 percent companies vouch for the effectiveness of Social Media Engagement in their Digital Marketing Campaign. A well integrated social media presence can work as a powerful referral tool and eventually drive sales. Today’s consumers accord higher levels of trust on social brands and prefer to engage with them. Studies have shown that over 56 percent of customers admit that social media engagement has been the key factor to influence their purchase decisions. Google + is expected to be much more popular in 2013, especially owing to Google’s Authorship Program that is increasingly becoming the single most important defining factor to leverage your content via SEO.

 

 

 

3.     Conversion Rate Optimization: Focus on Measurability

A whooping 84 percent of marketers have emphasized that 2013 will be the year of measurable marketing. Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO is an important part of “Pull Digital Marketing Strategies” wherein customers actively pursue your content via web searches, visiting your site, reading your blogs and so on. By means of CRO, your website, or more specifically, your landing page experience is optimized to maximize the conversion of visitors into customers. The process involves pre-testing, testing and real time data collection to reduce bounce rates and subsequently increase conversion rates. The following table displays the quarter-wise conversion rates for Desktop browsing, Tablet Browsing and Smartphone Browsing.

 

 

 

4.     Mobile Marketing is here to stay

43 percent businesses have admitted that mobile optimization features amongst the top three digital marketing opportunities for the year 2013, which generates the need to understand how mobile users research and purchase products. Mobile searches have multiplied four times in the last one year, and a similar trend is expected to continue. The number of apps that have been downloaded in the last 3 years has surpassed 300,000. In the US alone, consumers have spent an estimated 3.3 billion USD in 2011and analysts predict the amount to rise to 20.6 billion USD by 2015. Responsive Designing and App Development will soon become the mainstay of Digital Marketing. The following data shows the rapid growth in sale of smartphones in 2011-12, and the same trend is expected to continue in 2013.

 

 

 

5.    Wearable Technology : A revolution in the making

For those who are of the opinion that the idea of Wearable Computing changing the face of Digital Marketing in the near future is far-fetched, a lot of technology that we take for granted in today’s times, would have sounded outlandish to our predecessors. Google’s much awaited head-mounted display-based device called Google Glass is slated for release to the general public by the end of 2013. There are talks about Apple’s plans to introduce a similar product, which clearly indicates the importance of Wearable Digital Marketing in the near future. As per Gartner Analyst Van Baker, “We are heading for the wearable computing era. People are going to be walking around with personal area networks on their bodies and have multiple devices that talk to each other and the Web.”