According to a recent survey, more than seventy percent of adult Americans now own smart phones, and about three-fifths consume digital content on via mobile apps. Thus the mobile phones have emerged as one of the cornerstones in executing digital marketing campaigns. Three steps must be adopted by all marketers in order to emerge as winners this year in this field. First of all, marketing automation tools must be leveraged. Chatbots must be used and data stored in order to gain effective business intelligence. Such automation can lead to customers being led through the right marketing funnel. This data captured, must also be used to generate predictive analytics. While written content still remains effective and relevant, blogging has been dethroned from its perch by video content or images. This has led to gains made by digital assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google Now and Amazon Alexa.  Every website must be optimized for seamless usage on smart phones.

Source:http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/mobile-marketing-must-haves-2017-01759962#cKirLTQK3mQhulo4.97

It is telling that usually the words beautiful and ad-free are paired together for websites. Ad blocking sites are also increasing in number and intensity leading to overall click-through rates being abysmally low across all frontiers. Some predict that online advertising could disappear altogether while another segment feels that digital marketing content must be specifically be targeted at providing authentic experiences to millennials. Both are off the mark in one way or the other. Attention span of readers I at an all time low and digital natives demand constant quality content ripe for skimming. Thus native advertising’s second edition is primed to take off as the solution. Earlier, native advertising simply meant any site or app having its own ad platform. Now it will be relevant for the users. The likes of Amazon’s Alexa and Spotify have already started some such micro-targeting taking advantage of the heaps of data now available. This is in stark contrast to traditional disruptive experiences provided by Google’s search suggestions or Facebook’s sponsored links.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2017/01/19/how-visual-advertising-will-change-marketing-in-2017/#1cf4b68f43bc

A few methods of digital marketing have been highlighted which have massive scope to induce sales. One of them is the use of micro-influencers. These are those people who can influence trends through their vaulted position. Some of that respect could be out of reviews within that work or could be due to their position of prominence in some other field. Due to lowering span of attention among customers, videos are being used to the hilt to hook them as demonstrated by Facebook Live, Periscope and Instagram. Paid social media provides excellent bang-per-buck as its advertisements are relatively cheaper compared to other media and provide massive coverage. Chat bots are nowadays empowered with Artificial Intelligence (AI). These platforms such as Facebook Messenger or Google Allo can engage with human beings as one of them, in the process extracting enormous amount of critical business intelligence.

Source:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287636

A study conducted by Dimension Data has chalked out some leading customer experience trends that are sure to fire up this year. In the first part of the publication, five such trends have been released. According to the research, knowledge equates to power as the right metrics of business intelligence allows marketers to focus their campaign on the right part in the right area. Virtual assistants such as Amexa, Siri, Cortana and Google Now will continue aiding businesses in various ways such as in speech recognition technologies and in digital marketing. Chat bots will now garner respect from customers as they will be able to do human jobs as well. The concept of self-service will continue to gain greater credence. The study estimates that smart phones will generate around twenty seven billion more queries than desktop searches will. Thus brands must gear up for this revolution by creating mobile specific websites, unless satisfaction levels will erode.

Source:http://customerthink.com/top-10-leading-customer-experience-trends-for-2017

In spite of the plethora of digital marketing channels now available, email continues to be most popular and effective of the lot. Email began back in 1971, and since then several newer forms have threatened to kill them off, yet they grow stronger annually. It is estimated that by the end of this decade, the global email user population would be just short the three billion. As per marketing research conducted by Hub Spot, once emails land, a staggering 98% of receivers go through the content. Also, according to Marketing Sherpa, three-fifths of users want marketing communication to be sent regularly by email rather than social media or other such channels. Emails help brands communicate with customers, educate online visitors on products, grow audience and helps build strong relationships with final users. The biggest benefit emails provide over social media or other means is the ownership of data. Subscribers have specially approved of receiving data unlike Twitter or Facebook followers, or those searching for the brand on Google.

Source:http://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/email-still-king-among-digital-communication-channels-01743172#8ctIA3qzgdkjZEZu.97

The leading influencers and topics covered in 2016 for Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) have been identified. The top influencers included Tamara McCleary, Kim Whitler, Brian Solis, Larry Kim, Michael Brenner, Neil Patel, Bryan Kramer Jeff Bullas, Mark Fidelman, Marsha Collier and Ted Rubin among others. The topics that trended most for them included social media, Big Data, Olympics, Brexit, Pokémon Go, AI and VR. Besides, this CMO study also found put the major topics they are expected to discuss in 2017. They will discuss ways to utilize technology which will build more human brands. Such technologies will also be leverage technology in order to execute digital transformation.  Artificial Intelligence in particular will attain great importance. Digital marketing strategies will increasingly involve live streaming, greater sharing and VR enabled live videos. CMOs will prioritize consumer experience and the aesthetics behind that through superior design.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2017/01/08/the-top-influencers-of-cmos-in-2016/#424bf0b476f4

Like the previous years, social media continued to rise in 2016. There are some interesting trends which emerged in 2016 which need to be followed up this year. First of all, the younger audiences, such as the millennials are turning away from Facebook in comparison to their older compatriots primarily because Facebook has tended to depress many. Non-millennials use Facebook much more as opposed to every other social media platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat which millennials use much more. Younger people are keener on disappearing media and that is where Snapchat is winning the battle as opposed to the static feed of Facebook. Marketing research conducted by Fluent clearly affirms that a third of younger millennials surveyed are using Snapchat daily. The stupendous success of Pokémon Go last year overshadowed the larger trend towards Augmented Reality (AR). Live Video, AR Lenses and Filters are in vogue and digital marketing agencies are using such tools to the hilt. This includes platforms such as Facebook Live, Snapchat’s Selfie Lens and YouTube videos. Technologies that make our lives easier are being searched out by consumers. That is why search engine Duck Duck Go in some markets is competing successfully against Google. Users feel the former has greater privacy protection as it does not track browsing data.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenfriedman/2016/12/29/4-millennial-social-media-trends-to-watch-in-2017/#2ea62498bd08