Digital Marketing also known as ‘online marketing’, ‘internet marketing’, ‘web marketing’ in simple terms can be defined as the marketing or promotion of the products or services/brands using digital technologies across broadcast channels such as internet, digital devices such as mobile, communication gadgets, display advertising or any other digital medium.
Digital Marketing – Its Historical Perspective
The historical origins of digital marketing can be traced back to the early 1980s when computers became sophisticated enough in storing huge volumes of customer information.
The introduction of database marketing software in 1986 led to the capability of storing large volumes of customer’s personal/financial information. Together with Robert Shaw – who is known as the father of marketing automation and Robert Kestenbaum went on to develop database-marketing solutions for BT and Barclays.
The explosive growth in revolutionary marketing technology in the 1990s with the introduction of Customer Relationship Software or CRM – then called Sales Force Automation or SFA automated the features of database marketing providing companies with more useful customer information.
The launch of Google is a historical breakthrough in digital marketing arena as it introduced Google Ad words in 2000 that led the marketers to see the efficacy of their campaigns and make better decisions for optimization and in tracking their Return on Investment or ROI.
The marketing automation in the early 2000s enabled marketers to launch multi-channel campaigns, segmenting their audiences and in serving up highly personalized content and was the first technology built by marketers for marketers that was rooted in digital.
The evolution of social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc in 2002 and later part of this century revolutionized digital marketing allowing the companies or brands in receiving both positive and negative feedback from their customers 24/7 in addition to determining what or which media platforms works well for them.
Digital Marketing Trends to watch for in 2018 – Analysis
Digital marketing has come a long way having embraced the technological and digital innovations of the 21st century with the new trends entering the market place.
The major digital marketing trends that will shape up the digital marketing arena in the coming decades include the following five major trends such as-
Artificial intelligence or AI & Behavioral Marketing will work together
With artificial intelligence in place, machines will start making strategic marketing decisions and as such, the software will analyze data to build segments, start and stop campaigns across various channels to create custom copy that will target the perceived personalities or clients.
The advances in AI and behavioral marketing in 2018 and beyond will allow companies to effectively engage with their customers.
Video Marketing – Video in demand, on-demand
Good video content on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube will dominate with 65% of marketers preparing to increase their budgets for mobile ads to focus more on video campaigns.
Statistics do show that 90% of Twitter video views and 60% of YouTube views are now from users on mobile devices.
