It’s honestly quite impressive how far marketing automation has progressed in the last decade. It seems like only yesterday that digital avenues entered and severely disrupted the marketing scene. Now, not only are all the digital channels being actively utilized by the majority of brands that are adopting new-age marketing trends, but these efforts are also being automated quite extensively. There was a time when resources were hired for the sole purpose of sending emails, posting social media updates, and following up through other channels. Now, all these tasks can be accomplished by a single entity that utilizes marketing automation tools to schedule and automate all of these actions. With the dawn of a new year, marketing automation is only bound to improve with a whole host of new and improved processes that will permeate this particular vertical of marketing. Here are some of the major marketing automation trends that should be adopted by marketers. 1.  Advanced applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial intelligence has always been at the forefront of marketing automation, and 2020 is no different. Social media tracking and lead nurturing will reach new heights in the coming year as this technology continues to reach new heights. On top of these developments, AI technology is also becoming more accessible to masses, which implies that a higher proportion of brands will have the option to utilize AI technology to improve their marketing efforts. AI is also rising in the Programmatic advertising space. It helps marketers in buying ads efficiently and targeting the audience in a more specific way. Hence, the overall cost is reduced leading to higher ROI. 2. Personalized content offerings Content marketing has turned into one of the most effective and prevalent marketing strategies of the 21st century. Brands all over the world are utilizing this strategy by nailing down appropriate content distribution channels that will help them target the proper audience. Keeping this in mind, marketing automation can help companies identify customers who are interested in or have purchased a particular product or service. By doing so, relevant content can be provided to these consumers basis their buying behavior to improve conversion rates and hence sales. 3. Predictive lead scoring Leads are a dime-a-dozen in the marketing world, which makes it essential to nail down a particular system that can help brands differentiate the legitimate leads from the fancy ones. There are many metrics that’ll help a person identify this scoring system, and the latest innovations in marketing automation will aid these companies in analyzing all the different factors such as consumer behavior, target demographics, and social media interactions – to name a few. Lead scoring will help in qualifying the leads throughout the sales funnel i.e if it’s an MQL or a SQL and hence, the right marketing or sales actions can be taken on those leads basis the scores defined. This laser-sharp marketing will help businesses to target leads in the most efficient manner. 4. Prominence of chatbots We’ve already talked about the importance that Artificial Intelligence will hold in 2019, and the best way to illustrate this is by talking about one such application of this technology that has taken over the marketing world by storm – chatbots. Smart chatbot usage has increased interactivity by leaps and bounds, as seen in the fact that over 60% of users who were pinged by a chatbot on Facebook Messenger have replied back! It’s a great statistic that goes to show that chatbots are here to stay. 5. Cross-channel marketing becoming the norm In a nutshell, cross-channel marketing refers to the integration of different forms of marketing and making their respective teams work together, as opposed to working in a silo. This is imperative for content marketing to succeed, since – as discussed before – the term itself is incredibly varied and covers various elements such as social media marketing, mobile marketing, email marketing, and everything else along the same lines. To make sure that all these forms of marketing work together in harmony in 2020, it’s important to ensure that cross-channel marketing takes precedence. 2020 is poised to bring about many new and improved trends in the realm of marketing automation. The trends discussed above are just skimming the waters when one talks about the sheer possibilities enabled by marketing automation, which will play a dominant role in augmenting marketing strategies and ROI  across all industries and markets.

Technology evolves at a very fast pace, which is why it can often get challenging to keep up with the daily trends and developments in the digital scenario. Read this article and get a quick round up about the new trends that happened this week.

Roll out of direct message on Instagram through desktop

1. We will now be able to access Instagram DMs on our web screens.
2. Only a small number of users will be given access, because the feature is still in its experimental stage.
3. Facebook intends to connect the messaging system by creating a coordinated service for all.

Apple's Chinese New Year ad

1. The ad focuses on the three generations of women in a family. It is shot with Apple's 4K technology on iphone 11 Pro.
2. The story is called "Daughter" and is inspired by a woman who went against cultural norms to raise her daughter.
3. Apple has also launched a behind the scenes video to teach professional quality film video making.

Design trends

1. Breaking typography rules: This should be done in a way that it does not hurt text readability.
2. Liquid animation- An animation that seems water-like and has the perfect speed of movement.
3. Audio user experiences: using sound to enhance the quality of the user journeys. It is best used in designs where there is a language barrier.

Google ad simulator support

1. Bid simulators are essential for comprehending the performance of ads at different levels.
2. Google Ads have introduced a new simulator, the Target ROAS bid simulator. It reflects on the relationship between a ROAS target and your key metrics.
3. The projected impact will be based on the auctioned data from the past seven days.

Platforms taking a step towards combating misinformation

1. Tiktok is actively working on a new feature which will pull out deep fakes from its app.
2. Tumblr has announced an initiative to teach users about suspicious web activity. The program is called "World Wide What".
3. Reddit updates its policy on impersonation, which includes malicious deep fakes of politicians.

Download the PDF version

Staying ahead is crucial to give your work a competitive edge. Here is a weekly digital round-up that will ensure that your vigorous attempts to achieve big are a cut above the rest.

Staying ahead is crucial to give your work a competitive edge. Here is a weekly digital round-up that will ensure that your vigorous attempts to achieve big are a cut above the rest.

The landscape of marketing is constantly shifting and flowing with the sands of time, discarding new trends and bringing in new ones at the drop of a hat. A deep dive into the 2010s is more than enough to illustrate this point, with marketing trends coming and going with immense swiftness – sometimes surprisingly so. What used to be a perfectly viable marketing initiative just a year or two back suddenly became obsolete in every sense of the word.

As a marketer, keeping up with all these trends can be incredibly challenging and exhausting, mandating you to stay up to date with these developments at all times. A momentary lapse can have severe repercussions for your marketing strategies – an outcome that is avoidable with the right information and tools.

Our work this decade has been enlightening in figuring out the trends that have lasted for a while and the trends that have fizzled out. We’ve noticed various patterns that have fuelled the prominence of these marketing strategies, allowing us to discern certain facets of consumer and industry behaviour that govern marketing as a whole.

Content Marketing Trends

(Video Marketing | OTT Platforms | Public Relations)

1. A shift towards short & long-form video consumption

• Ease of consumption: Video content has reached immensely high levels in India, with the online consumption of this content doubling in the last two years to reach an unprecedented 3.7 billion videos per month.
• A choice between brand-owned and partnered content: Brand-owned videos allow for a more personalised marketing journey. Meanwhile, making content with third-parties allows marketers to disseminate a higher volume of video content, bolstered with a fair bit of advocacy marketing as well.
• Technology becoming an integrated part of marketing: With live videos and AR/VR coming into the foray, it goes without saying that video marketing strategies also need to harness these forms of video content into their plans to maximise results.

2. Engaging content by influencers and 3rd parties

• Massive engagement without outside influences: Engagement on influencer content is multifold and quite high when compared to that of branded content. This is accomplished without any media boost as well, making it all the more impressive.
• Quick creation of content: Influencer marketing is reaching new heights mainly because of the fact that enlisting multiple personalities for marketing purposes results in quick content generation and dissemination, leading to major dividends for brands.
• Consumers are smart: The authenticity of influencers is reflected in their content, making it a stark departure from the usual ads one perceives regularly. This kind of content helps build loyalty and increase goodwill.

3. The prominence of OTT platforms

• The Prevalence Of OTT Platforms: Over-the-top platforms have reached incredibly high levels of popularity and acceptance, achieving a growth rate of 21.8% to reach a valuation of $1.7 billion – a far cry from the relatively low valuation of $638 million in 2018.
• Ads on these platforms perform better: Advertisements on these platforms will inevitably reach a wider audience, making the integration of these platforms a must for a new-age marketing strategy.
• These Platforms Help You Target Customers With Ease: OTT platforms are a great way to practice personalised cross-marketing campaigns, which are able to target – and retarget too, for that matter – customers efficiently.

4. Blurring lines between Content Marketing & Public Relations

• PR is all about right Communication & Content: Most of the prominent PR tools including guest articles, releases, interviews, stories are all subset of content. A lot of organisations have already started merging both for best results.
• With data insights of digital content, now you can easily choose your channels wisely: Without viable channels to disseminate your content pieces, it goes without saying that all your effort will go to waste. With attributed data on website & 3rd party channel brand has started mapping the directional results.
• Narratives Quality is of utmost importance: Conversely, the content that you share with the press needs to be of high quality so that your PR efforts can generate better awareness for your brand.

Social Media Marketing Trends

(Short-Form Content, Permanent Content is Key, Instagram & Micro-Influencers)

1. Short-form content is the way forward

• Content is now consumed in seconds: There’s a reason why Vine experienced unmitigated success during the first half of its run – the platform nailed down the concept of short, fleeting content with their bite-sized 6-second video format.
• Utilising short life content for higher engagement: The rise in popularity of Snapchat and Instagram stories further cement this point – ephemeral content is a powerful social media marketing tool. With attention spans decreasing from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8.75 seconds in 2015, it’s imperative to realise that brands have a very small timeframe to make a resounding impact with their audiences.
• Using FOMO as the core of communication to drive authentic interactions: This form of content feels more authentic, especially with the large majority of ephemeral content being formed off-the-cuff. This, coupled with the fact that this content disappears over time, compels your audience to absorb this content on a regular basis.

2. Smart utilisation of permanent content

• Avoid relying solely on transitory content: However, the fact that Vine tanked further down the line is also something that one should analyse as well. Relying solely on ephemeral content isn’t recommended in the slightest.
• Excellence in permanence: Permanent content on social media was, is, and will be the prime way to absorb content. Just take a look at these successful social media campaigns, all of which utilised permanent social media content for excellent results.
• From ideation to execution: An overarching campaign thought that resonates with your audience is the first thing that must be nailed down. Utilising social media to promote this thought and distributing content on these channels will pay dividends in the long run.

3. Instagram is moving beyond the concept of “likes”

• Engagement, redefined: Mapping engagement on Instagram is mainly about checking views, comments, and – perhaps the most important metric of them all – likes. However, the latter might soon become a thing of the past.
• Likes removed in the US: Instagram is already moving forward with the idea ofremoving likesin the United States, which might become common across regions. Brands need to foresee this development and plan their strategies accordingly.
• Figuring out new ways to map engagement: Marketers will place more emphasis on genuine performance indicators as opposed to superficial metrics. The communication between brands and influencers will also change to an extent, with the former placing more emphasis on research before selecting individuals who can ensure the best and most relevant engagement with their outreach.

4. Using micro-influencers to great effect

• Micro is the new macro: Micro-influencers have taken over the realm of influencer marketing by storm, leading to higher engagement and allowing for specific targeting in a particular demographic.
• Strategic influencer marketing: Enlisting multiple micro-influencers to create content for your brand – as opposed to a few macro-influencers – can lead to excellent returns for your business.
• Targeting marketing outreach: Employing this form of marketing can help you target specific niches that engage regularly with a certain set of content on social media, allowing for excellent reach across the board.

Search Engine Optimisation Trends

(Voice Search, Why Mobile-Friendly Websites, Google Snippets)

1. Voice search is no longer secondary

• Accessibility to voice search is on the rise: More than 7 lakh smart speakers were shipped to India in 2018– a number that is bound to rise over time. Along with this, over 850 million people are expected to use a smartphone in India by 2022.
• Getting the first-mover advantage: With these developments, it goes without saying that people will be asking way more questions in 2020 – a trend that marketers must capitalise on.
• Spoken content is overwritten prose: Content must be framed around these search keywords and provide pinpoint information for a better search ranking. Writing the way people speak is perhaps the first thing that should be kept in mind.
• Localised content for a wide audience: With a significant proportion of Indians using their local language for voice searches, it’s important to create content in different languages that resonate with these audiences and negate the problem of a language barrier.

2. Make your sites more accessible and mobile-friendly

• Avoid static website designs like the plague: The statistic about smartphones mentioned above also makes it important for brands to make their sites more accessible on multiple devices. A static design that functions perfectly on a browser will still not attain significant traffic if their responsiveness is not optimal on other devices.
• Load times need to be minimised: Websites must be optimised at regular intervals to ensure that all elements load with minimum delays. A delay of even one second is enough to compel people that browsing through the page is not worth it.
• AMP is a must for mobile-friendly websites: Google’s AMP framework is a must for developers who are making mobile sites. This technology enables websites to load at a lightning-quick pace on mobile devices, allowing for a streamlined browsing experience.

3. Featured snippets will get the most clicks

• Google, the search engine king: With Google being the biggest and most prominent search engine around, it goes without saying that the majority of clicks will be redirected through this site.
• Address queries with your content: So, content on sites should be crafted in such a manner that it answers clear and common questions, allowing these content pieces to be a part of the upper echelon of Google Search results –a featured snippet.
• How to write a featured piece: To have your content piece features as a snippet, the first thing you need to do is nail down keywords that are ranking on the front page. These keywords can be integrated in an article in two ways – either a paragraph that can incorporate these keywords or a listicle that accomplishes the same.

Media Buying Trends

(Beyond Programmatic, Tribal Advertising, Cross-Device Advertising)

1. Beyond Programmatic Advertising

• AI’s role in media buying: Programmatic advertising is an evolving form of media buying, where AI utilises data in new, innovative ways to generate excellent results across the board.
• Evolution of programmatic: With the manner of data farming and management platforms evolving beyond general parameters, programmatic advertising will be more about behaviours and psychographs that will decide who sees your ad, and on what platform.
• Benefits of this form of advertising: Programmatic advertising is a cost-effective & scalable strategy, allowing for the better targeting of KPIs, improved customer insights, and – ultimately – easier media buying.

2. Advertising to Tribes/Audiences - i.e audience buying

• Demographic targeting is becoming obsolete: Advertising on the basis of demographics is quickly becoming old news. There’s no guarantee that people in a specific age group will share the same likes and interests.
• People with common interests have the strongest groups: This is where tribal advertising comes into play, with marketers finding it in their best interests to advertise to specific tribes that are formed based on common interests.
• The gaming industry is a prime example of tribal advertising: There’s a reason why gaming has managed to generate$138 billion in 2018(a figure higher than the movie and music industry) – the sheer passion that gamers have has transcended demographics, making them prime candidates for tribal advertising.

3. Cross-Device Advertising

• Consumer is king: Audience targeting has always been a key aspect of media buying, making it of prime importance to understand the consumer journey.
• Tracking the user journey is a must: With the majority of consumers utilising multiple media devices, marketers must keep a tab on the user journey across multiple platforms and advertise accordingly.
• From your laptop, to your tablet, to your phone: By implementing cross-device advertising, a person can search for earphones online, get the same ads on his tablet, and use his phone to finalise the purchase. Convenience is how marketing will progress, and cross-device advertising will propel this notion.

The onset of a new decade also signifies a new chapter in the book of marketing – a book that is constantly unfurling new information at every step of the way. It’s a manuscript that will forever be in a state of flux, which is why marketers have a tough challenge ahead of them. These insights can help these marketers follow a base on which they can develop killer advertising strategies and ensure that their efforts are a cut above the rest.

Staying ahead is crucial to give your work a competitive edge. Here is a weekly digital round-up that will ensure that your vigorous attempts to achieve big are a cut above the rest.

It is important to unfur new and interesting information that paves the way for excellent business strategies. Presenting another round-up for another eventful transformation in the industry.

Digital continues to change and flourish at a rapid pace. Propel through your marketing strategies as you stay updated with the round up of yet another week, perfused with new, exciting and gripping digital marketing trends.

With the launch of the sixth iteration of the Apple iPhone, all the attention once again shifted to the mobile industry and its broad capabilities in giving us that one perfect gadget to use everywhere. Not only has our need and desire to stay in touch increased multifold, but we have come to expect so much more from our modern day smartphones given the raw power punch they pack. Today, you don’t buy a phone just for it’s looks. You select a device for it’s features. Walk into any mobile store and you can hear people’s conversation and their queries, "What’s the RAM capacity? What’s the speed of the processor? Which processor is being used?" and so forth. But alas, our section is not about the world of mobile devices but gaming. So, without further ado , in order celebrate the launch of various flagship mobile devices such as the Android One Series, Galaxy Note 4 in the past week, here’s our list of the best games you need to try to put your beast of a device to a test! We will try and give an assorted choice and keep one game per genre in our listings.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

If you are reading this segment, we're pretty sure you are a gamer just like us. The description of this title says it all. An epic roster of DC heroes and villains get ready for battle. This game was made for awesomeness. Hours and hours spent on selecting your hero (or villain to compliment your dark side) and fighting your way through to a cinematic and well thought out story line. You can also compete with players across the world in a neat multiplayer segment.

GYRO

We have to be honest with this one. We discovered this old school game a few weeks back and just haven’t been able to stay off it! Yes, it’s that addictive. If you are one from the lot who loves flat designs and pleasing aesthetics, this one is for you. A simplistic arcade puzzle game that won’t take much of your storage space but we can’t be certain about the time. One of the team members spent 3 hours on the trot playing it, yes in the office hours. Try to beat the high scorers around the world as you rotate a multi colored wheel whilst making sure that the colored balls flying onto the screen land in the matching part of the wheel.

Threes! & 2048

Perhaps the most engaging, challenging and methodical games around, no we will not mention Swing Copters, cause its just an impossible game. If you own a smartphone, chances are you already have these games installed or have heard about them. The task is to club similar numbers together to get larger sums till you have solved it all. Each swipe moves the entire screen which makes it all the more challenging and fun. (We weren’t able to complete even one round. Not Proud!)

Asphalt (series)

Ready to drive through the town in your sparking new ride and color the town red? This arcade style racing title is just for you. Ever defining the genre of racing games on smart devices, the Asphalt series impressed us once again with its 8^th edition. If you’re looking for an intense driving experience and have a knack for destruction, this title is for you. (And for us!)

Ingress

The one game that encourages you to go out and discover new places as you look for and tap the sources of mysterious energy that threatens to destroy the world as we know it! Acquire objects deploy and aid in your quests, acquire territories and ally with other players. Who knows, you just might bump into an old friend as you take this quest! We know we have missed out on a lot, we’ve tried to cover one game from each genre to give you the best value for your time. Have any games you play that we have missed out on? Leave the names here and we’ll love to check ‘em out! And yes, next week we will be back with a new set of games for you to check out.

Search Engine Optimization has always been the backbone of better ranking websites and ultimately better ROI for the business or the services offered. A study shows that up to 70% and 80% of people surfing the internet ignore paid advertisements. Therefore, optimizing the organic ranking efforts is the foremost requirement. Unfortunately, the number of people running in this rat race makes it more difficult. How so? 60% of the clicks go to the top three websites only. All the SEO practices go in vain if the user is not able to reach the site.  While an in-house SEO professional can do a decent job, it might not help the website reach the position that will start driving in business. Therefore, it is essential to have professional SEO services in place that can comply with the present-day trends. As a website owner, this should not be a matter of surprise that Google, the most used search engine, changes its ranking algorithm about hundreds of times in a year. However, here are a few SEO trends that are definite to fetch you considerable traction for your website.

1. User Intent Optimisation:

Web searches have now become very specific as the reader demands fresh content that can be understood easily. On the other hand, an SEO strategy that promotes the stuffing of popular keywords is now declared a faulty practice and shall not be promoted. It is important to realize that the website visitor is the primary focus, and the link will be shared or upvoted by them only if the viewer finds content that is relevant. The 2022 evaluation matrix measures the acceptance and ultimately the ranking of the webpage by the number of website visitors finding relevance to their search queries.

2. Structured Data Markup Is Key:

Artificial Intelligence is backing the search queries in Google. To comply with the changing trends, structured data has become important as well. AI ultimately is a technology and will scan through the content systematically. Therefore, it requires fast processing of content and their relatability to each other. Contextual relationships between search behaviours and topics listed on the website shall be supported by structured markup. In the coming year, one must start testing and implementing this methodology. Using structured markup, the website owner will be able to give search engines signals to understand this supportive content structure.

3. Page speed:

Page speed is one of the significant factors that influence better SEO rankings. This is because a page that is complex will not take a higher loading time. Increased time to deliver information to the reader or the consumer will increase the chances of drop-offs. Therefore, when the search engine crawls for a webpage, the loading speed is also taken into account. Simpler pages with well-structured modules work well in such cases. Core Web Vitals - Core Web Vitals are used to measure the user experience. Google announced three metrics: Loading, Interactivity, and Visual Stability. All three are aligned with one thing which is Page Speed. Read more in details about Core Web Vitals.

4. Increase Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness:

It is important to back the information on the website with credible data and cite the references. It is essential for a business to have subject matter experts writing what they wish to offer – for relatability and clear communication. Search engines like Google and Bing are looking to alter their algorithms so as to power results that can be trusted. This is done to ensure that the information reaching the user is from a trusted source and cannot be proved faulty. The future SEO trends will also focus on how contextual the data is. It is essential that however correct the data might be, it shall be in sync with what the user has demanded.

5. Microformats and Schema:

Microformats are HTML snippets that store information about a website. It works on the idea of relevant and worthy information. The more the information search engine has about the website, the more accurately it can rank it. Typically, the search engines These microformats often make the web content appealing to the consumer. Therefore, a more significant number of audience that comes across this is bound to click. Increased number of clicks will mean improved ROI and enhanced SEO signals to search engines. However, it does not hold relevance to all the websites. Voice search - Users use voice search when they look for specific answers,and these users should be taken more into consideration as they are more likely to convert.  Read More - How Voice Search Will Change The Future Of SEO Featured snippets - Snippets are useful for websites as well as for the users. The content in the snippet can’t be selected, as google algorithm bots do the job.

6. Watch Machine Learning:

Google’s main focus is on the user. All efforts have been dedicated to improving the relevance of content searched for. Google’s algorithm, RankBrain, was introduced to interpret the content and show users pages with not only the words they initially looked for but which contained information related to the query. You need to adopt ML to develop unique content for SEO, beginning with a set of data based on specific variables. Machine learning in addition to analysis and reporting, and its implementation, is imperative. SEO is always evolving. To get more focus on your website, you need to know the right trends for success to get your rank on page one of the SERP. You must also be aware of the trends below to stay ahead of your competitors!

1. Google’s BERT -  Machine Learning and Natural Language is used by Google’s BERT to understand searches and what the users are looking for.
2. Artificial intelligence - Artificial Intelligence is one of the most upcoming trends as google lets AI provide searchers with answers they are looking for. It is also much more efficient in terms of the algorithms.
3. Keyword research - To drive sales and traffic for your website, investing time in keyword research to find keywords is important.
4. Original content - Content plays a major role in ranking and SEO. Having authentic content is much more important than branding.
5. Video marketing - Video marketing is growing day by day, all you need to do is optimize your video and set the right keywords so it reaches the right audience.
6. Influencer SEO - Influencers help in gaining an audience and can play a major role in building your brand. Choose an influencer according to your target audience.
7. EAT & branded SEO - When it comes to ranking, google looks out for unique and quality content. EAT expands to Expertise, Authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Improving your EAT will automatically get you the rankings.