Tag Archive for: Digital Marketing Trends

Top Automotive Digital Marketing Trends of 2018

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Digital marketing is very fast-paced and is continuously changing. However, if there is an industry that has experienced revolutionary advertising changes, it is the automotive industry. Gone are the days of spending the day at the dealership shopping around; most car shopping is almost entirely digital. In fact, a study by Luth Research revealed 900-plus digital interactions a vehicle shopper had before she made the decision to lease a vehicle.

This is just one example of how your online presence as a car dealership is beyond crucial to your success. Here are the top automotive digital marketing trends of 2018 that you should be on the lookout for.

 

Video and YouTube

One of the top 2017 trends is has continued to rise in popularity. It has officially moved from an up-and-coming trend and is here to stay. Research shows that YouTube is one of the most influential platforms for vehicle shoppers. It is so prominent that 69 percent of people who used YouTube while purchasing a vehicle were influenced – over newspapers and magazines.

According to Rebixit, the top types of videos that car buyers are watching include test drives, specs and features videos, and vehicle interior and exterior walkthroughs. Basically, it goes without saying that video needs to be a part of your marketing mix.

Also, no one is watching on his or her laptops. Expect to see users watching videos on all social media platforms, and make sure your video ads are mobile-friendly.

 

 

Local Search

“Car dealerships near me.”

This is an example of a long-tail keyword phrase that you will want to rank for on a search engine. High ranking on search engines is very powerful for any brick-and-mortar business who obtain a majority of their profit from local customers. 43 percent of all searches from Google come with local intent.

The best part about that? Local searches lead to far more purchase conversions than a non-local query on a search engine. 78 percent of local-mobile searches will lead to an offline purchase, commonly within a few hours.

Just to put those percentages into perspective, there have been over 4 billion searches on Google today. This indicates over 1 billion people have had local intent included in the overall query. Local search is something you definitely must pay attention to in the automotive industry.

 

Micro-Moments

Much like Luther study mentioned above reveals, micro-moments before the sale are HUGE, especially for dealerships. Remember that though customers come to the store to buy, they research for dozens of hours online before the purchase. Reaching out to shoppers during their buying journey is critical to success in a sale conversion. If you do this well, your company will be head and shoulders over other dealerships in your area.

Investing in paid search and having an engaging customer-friendly site are two things you can focus on to make sure potential buyers are finding answers to their questions efficiently.

 

Mobile Domination

We highly encourage you to design your site to make it as easy as possible for the user, specifically from a mobile perspective. Smartphones haven’t only become a significant component of the buying journey; they are dominating it.

In a detailed study of a customer’s purchasing journey, they found that 71% of the digital interactions occurred on mobile. This includes Google, YouTube, manufacturer websites, and review websites.

 

However, having only a mobile-friendly website won’t be enough to secure a mobile-first user as a customer. Opportunities presented through video, engaging social media content, local search, and mobile apps will help you to see many more customers coming into your store ready to buy.

More From Onimod Global

We would love to work with you and help you optimize your automotive digital marketing strategy. To contact our experts or request a quote, please click here. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Brand Ambassador Marketing Strategy: Is It Worth It?

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The way a company chooses to market itself can play a huge role in their success or downfall. One valuable aspect of marketing is the brand; it is so important that most large companies have entire departments dedicated to branding. With the growth of social media over recent years, brand ambassadors are at the forefront of digital marketing strategies within thousands of companies.

 

What is a brand ambassador?

A fairly self explanatory term, but by definition it is someone who represents your brand, product, service or event. Typically when we think of brand ambassadors we envision celebrities who are paid to support a brand. This is still a very popular form of influencer marketing, but a brand ambassador doesn’t have to be a celebrity. It is transforming into customers and even employees taking on roles of brand ambassadors.

Lonely Brand shares an updated version of what brand ambassador marketing has transformed into in recent years:

“In 2017 brand ambassador marketing has become, at it’s core, the employment of people with specific influence or expertise to create and participate in your brand marketing strategy, usually leveraging their own popularity on social media platforms to drive value.”

 

Where to start?

A great place to start is with the employees at your company. When you have a product, service, and brand that everyone loves, employees will be more excited to promote your company organically and get involved. A Nielsen study shows that 84 percent of people trust recommendations from friends, family, colleagues over other forms of marketing.

In addition to this, employees’ social followers are seven times more likely to convert on company content than other types of leads are.

Advertisements pose a great challenge in attempting to get people to convert, where brand ambassadors have much more trust and a larger reach across social media channels.

 

Is it worth it?

Implementing brand ambassadors in your marketing strategy is becoming more crucial in marketing strategies. Social media is growing more every day, and it is imperative your employees and customers are driving the online conversations about your brand in a positive direction.

For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, trends and insights, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

 

 

Facebook Ads Now Available In Marketplace

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The Facebook platform has been revolutionary in terms of advertising in recent years, and it’s about to get even better: Facebook ads in Marketplace. If you have yet to be introduced to the Facebook Marketplace, it is an excellent place to buy and sell items listed from people in your local community. You can sell essentially anything from clothes to furniture, even vehicles and real estate. Facebook has now begun allowing businesses to advertise in Marketplace for the first time since that platform was created in 2016.

These ads will appear alongside all posts from people selling in your community, and these ads are able to run anywhere else on the Facebook platform. Facebook has been running tests for these ads, and the results have shown an increase in return on ad spend.. over double the return!

 

Facebook shares some of the benefits of being able to run ads in Marketplace:

“Advertising across our platforms enables you to reach your target audience wherever they’re spending time, giving you more opportunities to connect with people likely to be interested in your offerings.”

 

Facebook also gives a couple of helpful tips with things you should know about Marketplace ads:

  • Ads in Marketplace will also show in News Feed. It isn’t currently possible for an ad to show only in Marketplace.
  • You can also track conversions using a Facebook pixel with your ad.
  • And, of course, all ads must comply with the Facebook advertising policies.

 

Currently, the only audiences that can be targeted with Facebook ads in Marketplace are the US and Canada, and over the next few weeks you will also be able to target Australia and New Zealand audiences.

 

To stay up to date with the latest digital marketing news, follow our blog with weekly posts from the experts at Onimod Global.

5 Intriguing Digital Marketing Stats So Far in January

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Although only a little over 2 weeks have passed by in January, 2018 has been an interesting year so far in the digital marketing world with some surprising statistics. Some of the stats listed are from Christopher Heine in his Adweek article that caught our attention.

1. Branded Content Booming on Facebook
Many marketers and organizations have the mindset that spending ad dollar on Facebook is the only way to receive a large amount of impressions, clicks, shares, etc. According to a study from an article in Marketing Land,  they found that branded content posts on Facebook rack up twice as many earned media impressions as paid advertising impressions. “833 branded content posts received 617,986 paid impressions compared to more than 1.2 million earned impressions.”

2. Breakdown of Social Media Users
The number of overall social media users has continued to increase so far in January. According to the Pew Research Center, they found that around “69 percent of U.S. adults are now social media users.” Another interesting statistic they found was that “86 percent of 18 to 29 year olds are the demographic that patronize Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, and other social platforms.” Ultimately, social media continues to attract new individuals and it will be important to keep an eye out on the age demographics of users.

3. App Install Ads
So far in the month of January it appears as if app install advertisements have been a success. Apple claims that “50 percent of consumers who click on ads they see in the App Store download the app.” This is good news for corporations like Facebook, Twitter, and others as the Adweek article touches on how the “app install space has driven revenues for these organizations.” It will be very interesting to see how Google will respond to Apple’s recent app install successes with their Google Play Store.

4. Continued Growth of Global Advertising
There are always a large number of U.S. organizations that are looking to expand their advertising presence internationally. The article mentions how “events such as the Olympics, European Football Championship and the presidential election propelled global ad revenue to $532 billion in 2016.” The interesting part is that global digital ads “totaled around $160 billion or 30% of worldwide ad revenue.” Based off these numbers, expect to see a larger presence of international digital marketing in the future.

5. New Years Live Viewing
It appears that more people are starting to watch the Times Square ball drop on their smartphones then their televisions. Facebook found that “more than 10 million people used Facebook Live on New Year’s Eve , which is up 47 percent from 2016.” This meant that Facebook had ten times the number of viewers as CNN, as the annual countdown only totaled “1.7 million viewers in prime time.” Moreover, this shows how live viewing has major implications on the future of the television industry as pulling up a live stream on a smart phone is a much more convenient approach than turning on the T.V.

Contact Us:
For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

4 Digital Marketing Trends to Pay Attention to in 2018

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The scope of the digital marketing industry is constantly changing, so being able to adapt to these changing trends is a must. So far in 2017 we have seen new technologies like the IPhone X, Google Home, and other innovative products that continue to change the dynamic of marketing. Listed below are some digital marketing trends that organizations need to watch out for as we approach 2018.

1. Voice Optimization
With technologies like Siri, Google Home, and the Amazon Echo becoming popular, marketers must understand the importance of optimizing content for voice search queries. According to Google, “in 2016 more than 20 percent of online searches were conducted through voice search. And by 2020 that number is expected to increase to 50 percent.” Therefore, with an increasing number of voice searches, optimizing for longer keyword phrases and “conversational language” is an SEO strategy that should be implemented moving forward.

2. Instagram’s Value Increasing
The continued growth of Instagram is a trend that all marketers should be paying attention to. This year Instagram announced that “about 800 million users are active on the platform each month.” They also noted that their updated story feature is now “more popular than Snapchat.” Because of their focus on images/videos and appeal to younger generations, it’s no surprise that this platform continues to gain popularity. Some marketers like Deep Patel even believe that Instagram is “poised to become the go-to channel for brands interested in social media marketing.”

3. Twitter on the Decline
Contrary to Instagram’s continued growth, Twitter is a social media platform that has seen a decline in activity so far in 2017. It appears as if Twitter has put little effort towards their advertising platform compared to their wants of acquiring more users. Moreover, advertisers have allocated more time and money to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as a result. In the end, this trend of decline is expected to continue for Twitter and according to Patel, Twitter is “dying a quiet death.”

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Messaging
Although artificial intelligence (AI) exists today, it’s future implications on digital marketing can’t be ignored. According to the Entrepreneur article, Deep Patel mentions how “artificial intelligence is taking over website messaging.” More and more businesses are now utilizing AI live chat programs to communicate with their consumers. Essentially, as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve with messaging platforms, marketers must be able to adapt and learn how to most effectively communicate with consumers online.

Contact Us
For more information regarding digital marketing expertise and news, visit the Onimod Global Website. We look forward to hearing from you!

5 Fascinating Digital Marketing Stats So Far in 2017

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2017 has been an interesting year so far in the digital marketing world, with some surprising stats and trends. Some of the stats listed are from Christopher Heine’s article in Adweek that caught our attention.

1. Yelp ahead of Snapchat in Ad Revenue:
According to eMarketer, “Yelp will make close to $720 million this year in digital ad sales in the U.S. compared to Snapchat’s $640 million.” This statistic was surprising at first considering the social media giant that Snapchat has become in recent years. Not to say $640 million a year in ad revenue is a bad thing, but it will be interesting to see if Snapchat makes any adjustments for advertisers before the end of the year.

2. Google and Facebook Dominate:
This one didn’t come as much of a surprise compared to the other stats listed. eMarketer also projected that “63% of all digital ad sales by the end of the year will come from Google and Facebook. In numbers that is equivalent to $35 billion for Google and $17.4 billion for Facebook.” This shows the dominance of Google and Facebook in the advertising world and we would expect this trend to continue if companies are experiencing positive returns on investments.

3. Pinterest Making Improvements:
Pinterest has been making some massive improvements as of late regarding their advertising options. According to Heine’s article, “Pinterest advertisers now have access to 5,000 interest categories that will roll out in the next couple of weeks.” With this upgrade from Pinterest, engagement rates are expected to increase by a significant amount and cost-per-clicks are projected to decrease.

4. Uber Lawsuit:
It’s been recently reported that Uber is pursuing a lawsuit against a mobile advertising company called Fetch Media. Heine’s article states that “Uber is suing Fetch Media for at least $40 million accusing the company of improper billing for fraudulent ads falsely taking credit for app downloads.” We’ll see how the lawsuit plays out, but this is significant because it could potentially ruin the reputations of other mobile ad companies.

5. Trouble Tracking Ad Spend:
Digital marketers losing track of ad spend may come off as a surprise, but an article from Marketing Week found this to be evident. Apparently “only 36% of digital marketers are confident that their campaigns are targeting the appropriate audiences.” They also found that “nearly a quarter of digital marketers don’t consistently track their campaigns whatsoever.” These two statistics really jumped out to us because monitoring digital marketing campaigns is essential to making sure ad dollar is used efficiently.

Contact Us:
For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

3 Digital Marketing Trends to Prepare for in the Near Future

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In a recent article from Forbes, there are some important trends in the digital marketing industry that marketers should be aware of. The digital world is always evolving: consumer patterns change, new platforms emerge, etc. Therefore, organizations must be prepared to adapt. The three key trends that Forbes focuses on in the article are social marketing, the talent gap, and video marketing.

Social Marketing:
If utilized correctly, social marketing campaigns can be very successful. Advertising on Facebook for example can turn a low cost investment into a high return on investment (ROI). According to the Forbes article, research has shown that “social users appeal more to offers and discounts, so even a simple 10% off to promote a product or service will greatly increase visibility.” Forbes also points out that the strategy is to “always find new mediums gaining popularity, as conventional outlets like news sites should be avoided.”

The Talent Gap:
According to the article, “the talent gap in digital marketing is the root cause of unsuccessful campaigns.” Not understanding the data, wasting money on ad spend, and not properly managing accounts are frequent problems in today’s industry. Many “traditional advertisers” don’t possess the same skill set and thinking process as the younger generation of digital marketers. Ultimately, it’s essential for organizations to find individuals who consistently deliver high ROI in a digitally dominated world.

Video Marketing:
Viral videos have a ton of power in today’s digital world, yet it’s very challenging to gain popularity online. Millions of users are streaming YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites daily. Forbes point of advice from video marketing is that “it’s not the big budgets that win, it’s the great ideas that create buzz.” If marketers can capitalize on this hot trend in video traffic, there will be high rewards.

Contact Us: For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

The Future of Marketing Leadership

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While some individuals seem to be born with the gift of great leadership, for many others it is a skill that is learned over time. There is no perfect formula to follow when mastering such a skill. In reality, there are many different paths that people can take in becoming an excellent leader.

Most often, this path starts with a journey of self-discovery. Building off of one’s biggest strengths has proven to be very effective in personal growth. Rather than focusing on areas of weakness, it is much more valuable to focus on an individual’s strengths.

As great leaders develop their skill sets and emerge into the modern age of marketing, huge challenges await them. With this type of constantly evolving environment, leaders must learn to evolve as well.

Future leaders that are willing to adapt and experiment with new technologies, methods, and strategies are much more likely to succeed. As humans, we often resist change, but that does not stop it from happening. This ideal will be key to upcoming leaders in the marketing world.

In particular, columnist Colin Lewis believes that the hiring process will be greatly affected by advancements in the advertising industry. He makes a clear argument over the fact that, “new skills are going to be required that we cannot even imagine today, just like we could not imagine a ‘social media manager’ role 10 years ago.”

Of course, we cannot expect every aspect of the job to change. Cornerstone characteristics of today’s marketing industry such as creativity and exceptional communication abilities are not going anywhere. However, Lewis says that for the future marketing leader, these skills will not be enough.

Instead, future leaders will take on all tasks. This includes ones that definitely fall beneath them to lower ranking employees. These leaders will do it all anyway, because they know that all levels of the marketing process are important and hard work always pays off.

Why Mobile Matters

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It’s no secret that mobile advertising is taking over in a big way. This transition is quite possibly the single most important trend in digital marketing at this time. So what are you doing to enhance your advertising strategy for mobile users?

A recent Nielsen report shows PC usage down in every demographic, while mobile usage through tablets and smartphones only trend upward. It is clear that users are shifting away from desktops in favor of more convenient mobile devices.

An article by Forbes gives 15 examples of how to lead the way in mobile digital advertising. One of their strategies is to optimize the first 3 seconds of your ad in order to quickly gain the attention of the viewer.

Many consumers are giving less and less consideration to ads, so it is imperative that your message is delivered quickly and clearly. In general, all interactions should be faster. Increasing speed relates directly to increasing convenience, which in turn increases the likelihood of a response from the user.

Another suggestion is to treat mobile as an entirely new practice. It will not benefit you to copy over all of your old tactics and beliefs to the mobile realm. Instead, try to picture it with a fresh mindset.

Do some research, find out what works best. Look over other industry trends, like the ones mentioned in this article of ours: 4 Digital Marketing Trends to Follow, and figure out how you can implement them into your mobile campaign structure. Do not assume that mobile will work in the same way as all other advertising methods.

Also pay attention to changes in digital marketing platforms. Many large advertising platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Bing Ads are constantly trying to innovate and improve their services. Google recently redesigned their AdWords platform for the first time in 8 years. Another Onimod article discusses the 5 Things You Need to Know About the New Google AdWords.

Continue to stay up to date with other platforms by subscribing to their newsletters and webinars. The best way to stay ahead of the competition is to stay informed.

Here at Onimod Global we are regularly reporting on digital marketing related news. Visit our blog to view recent articles, or contact us to subscribe to our email newsletter.

4 Digital Marketing Trends to Follow

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The world of digital marketing is ever-changing. Constant updates, innovations, emerging technology, it all makes it a bit difficult to keep up. Here is a quick highlight of current trends to pay attention to within the coming months.

Best Advertising Platforms

It comes as no surprise that Google is the premier digital advertising channel. A report by Craig Smith states that Google earns 77% of total search revenue generated in the United States. This is not to mention the other ad variations that can be created on Google’s AdWords platform.

The second largest advertiser in command is Facebook. The social media platform recently boasted its audience of 2 billion users. This immense amount of people creates the perfect kind of market for nearly any and every business. The Facebook Ads Manager also allows for very precise targeting, which only appeals to advertisers even more. Low conversion costs and high ROIs combine with these aforementioned factors to create the ultimate advertising experience.

Benefits of Native Advertising

These two strategies are limitless in their potential. Consumers have become a bit blind when it comes to obvious banner ads. However, when an ad appears to be part of the site itself, users are much more likely to engage with it. In fact, HubSpot records that these native ads are viewed 53% more than traditional banner ads.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that users don’t trust banner ads because they typically view them as possible spam tactics. Simply put, the more natural your ad looks, the better.

The Age of Mobile

Your ads are in serious trouble if they are not optimized for mobile devices. More searches are being conducted on mobile than on desktop, which includes both browsing and actual purchases. A seamless user experience is key. Without it, 53% of these users will abandon their search, according to DoubleClick by Google.

Various platforms are changing to integrate their processes into one easy action. Facebook now allows you to generate a form within your ad that will never even take the consumer off site to complete. This is exactly the kind of interaction that individuals are looking for as they make the shift toward mobile.

Influence of Social Media

If you can get a consumer to stop and take a look at your product, they are much more likely to convert. This means pulling out all the stops. In general, it is better to create content that contains an image or gif if possible. It also helps to use hashtags or mention other noteworthy people or brands in your posts to seem more legitimate and trustworthy.

The other major component to social media marketing is reviews. Consumers trust what others have to say about a product or services. These opinions weigh in heavily on the buyer’s decision making process. A trustworthy review translates to affect 84% of consumers, according to a survey by BrightLocal. This makes it imperative to include reviews in your social media.