2018's Digital Developments

With 2018 in full swing, you should already be working on your digital strategy for the coming 12 months. Award-winning digital marketing agency Mediaworks explains the digital trends you can't afford to ignore this year:

As we enter our 11th year of business, we’ve seen it too many times; the companies who ignore digital progression and ultimately eliminate themselves from their market or, at best, end up playing catch up against their competitors. So how do you avoid this in 2018? Here are the digital trends that we anticipate will have the greatest impact this year:

Mobile

The continued strength of mobile isn’t a prediction; it’s a reality. Mobile’s domination over desktop has been evident for the past few years, strengthened by Google’s mobile-first index which prioritises mobile functionality as a ranking factor. We can’t stress enough the importance of having a fully functional mobile site, both from a search engine and user perspective. If you haven’t already, 2018 must be the year you go mobile-friendly.

Personalisation

By 2020, it’s anticipated that the customer experience will become the primary reason a user will choose your brand, outweighing both product and cost. As brands clamber to improve their overall online presence, personalisation could be the point of differentiation. Harness the power of data to better understand your customers, improve targeting and tailor your services accordingly.

Attribution

With omnichannel approaches to marketing growing in popularity, it’s important to know how successful each of your marketing efforts is. Without this business intelligence, you could be wrongly assigning resources, time and budget to poorer performing areas and ultimately limiting your digital growth. Again, this is rooted in data; devise a multi-touch attribution model to create smarter digital strategies and reach your goals in 2018. With fewer than 27% of advertisers doing the same, it could give you a competitive edge this year.

Voice search

The popularity of voice search agents Siri, Alexa and Cortana will open doors for marketers in 2018. By 2020, over half of searches will be performed by voice, so start your preparations this year by optimising your site around search intent. Consider mobile users when doing so, creating content to target on-the-go visitors to your site.

There you have it; four of the biggest trends set to impact your business in 2018 and beyond. Time is ticking; if you’re going to make 2018 your brand’s year, you need to act quickly.