To celebrate our 10th birthday, Outsource2Us looks back at how marketing has changed over the past decade!
When Jane Toohey, Founder/Director first started this marketing agency in 2010, she was just beginning to tap into the power and reach of search engines, mobile devices, blogs, and social media. Instagram had only just been launched!
Fast-forward to the present day and the landscape is very different. There are multiple marketing channels available to businesses: social media, paid Google advertising, remarketing, display campaigns, search engine optimisation and email campaigns with artificial intelligence to personalise content.
It’s no longer about placing a product ad in a magazine that is sure to be read by the target market, it’s about customer reviews, Instagram influencers, community engagement and videos that go viral!
AI marketing is now a reality
The once distant dream of artificial intelligence (AI) is having a real-world impact on digital marketing now. Not only does AI analyse data and improve SEO but also it revolutionises the way marketers understand and appeal to their target audience. AI hyper-personalises customer communication by analysing their online presence and adapting the content presented to them based on their online behaviour. This helps to create campaigns that reach the right person, the right way, with the right words. Take, for example, email marketing. By using machine learning, AI improves audience engagement by optimising what the content is, when the content is sent and how often content should be distributed.
Brand consistency is more important than ever
10 years ago, consumers would look at one or two websites before wanting to make a purchase. Now, consumers have the opportunity to look at 10-20 different websites, consider online reviews, monitor social activity and assess how each business deals with customer service. For businesses to succeed today, they must be consistent across all platforms. It takes on average 7 touchpoints for a customer to trust and purchase from a business.
Social media is a game-changer
Marketers have been quick to realise, especially over the last five years, how critically important social media is to their brand. Businesses use social media to engage with customers, increase brand awareness and maximise consumer-generated content such as reviews. Social media has changed from private users connecting with friends to powerful platforms for storytelling. For customers, engaging with companies on social media can almost feel like engaging with other people, especially with features like Instagram Stories, Facebook Live and YouTube BTS.
The rise of video content and live streaming
Video content has grown more prevalent and important over the past decade, especially when trying to engage with consumers. YouTube has effectively allowed the rise of alternative media, and now more people than ever are moving away from traditional TV programming to watching their favourite streaming services and content creators on YouTube and other social media platforms. Then there are the up and coming platforms – with 5 consecutive quarters as the most downloaded app on the Apple App store, TikTok not only provides new advertising opportunities for marketers but also may forecast the direction of digital marketing.
The last decade was nothing short of an amazing opportunity for smart marketers to build brands and drive business of their clients and/or employers. It’s exciting to image the innovation we’ll see by 2030 and what the future holds for the digital marketing world.
