Inbound Marketing Insights

As you build and modify your marketing plan, what are some things you should consider including to maximize engagement with your prospects and customers?

To help you stay ahead of the curve, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders for their best tips on what to include in your marketing plan. From short-form videos to podcasts to virtual reality, you should factor several marketing trends into your plans for next year.

Here are 16 marketing trends these marketers and business leaders are considering:

• Short-Form Vertical Videos

• Push Notifications

• Omni-channel Marketing

• Podcasting
• Integrating Artificial Intelligence

• Building a Loyal Client Base

• Personifying Brands

• Integrating Digital Ads into Micro-Interactions on Partners' Sites

• Long-Term Influencer-Brand Relationships.

• Customization of the Customer Experience

• Virtual and Augmented Reality for Immersive Marketing Experience

• Leveraging User-Generated Content to Promote Products

• Web3 Marketing 
• Streaming Service Advertising

• Blog Content Embedded With Visuals and Interactive Media

• Featured Snippets in Google Search

1) Short-Form Vertical Videos
They started with Snapchat, then Instagram, and TikTok. To keep up with those platforms, Facebook and YouTube now feature them. Shorts/Reels/Stories - short - under 60 seconds - vertical videos. They are informal, quick to the point, easy-to-create messages. Facebook is changing its algorithm to be similar to Instagram's to prominently feature videos - Reels and Stories - in users' feeds. Users may even see content from companies and other users that they don't follow or are connected to. 

To take advantage of this, businesses must upload videos directly – (don't just share a link). Use stories (share from Instagram - connected to your Facebook business page -- every 24 hrs); Upload Reels, promotional images, animated gifs or memes, blog articles, or share related, relevant content. Make sure the post has text! That helps with your discoverability. The algorithm engine needs text and hashtags.

Giselle Aguiar, Digital Marketing Consultant, AZ Social Media Wiz

2) Push Notifications
Marketers today should be including push notifications in their strategies. People are doing more and more of their online searching for brands and purchases on their mobile devices. Push notifications make sense as a more efficient approach for brands to grab consumers' attention. More than half of today's consumers have enabled push notifications on their mobile devices, making it easier for businesses to contact them.

Daniel Foley, Director of Marketing, SEO Stack

3) Omni-channel Marketing
Omni-channel marketing has been percolating for several years. It involves having a consistent branding experience on multiple channels so customers are coming across it in the same way, no matter what platform they're on. That is easier said than done because there are so many options, from social media to streaming. Those who do it well will be a step ahead.

Baruch Labunski, CEO, Rank Secure

4) Podcasting
What sets podcasts apart from other marketing mediums is that they humanize your brand and give your audience something more to connect with. Through podcasts, you can share stories, provide anecdotes, and be authentic — something that today's modern-day consumer is incredibly concerned about. While it may seem like uncharted territory for many organizations, the rewards are well worth your time and effort. Besides, with the steady rise in podcast production agencies, you'll quickly find a competent team to help bring your podcast to life.

Harry Morton, Founder, Lower Street

5) Integrating Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept; it's a reality slowly being integrated into all aspects of life. In marketing, AI is used to personalize content, automate tasks, and improve customer service. The potential applications of AI in marketing are endless, and as the technology continues to develop, we can only expect to see more businesses leveraging its power. While it's undeniable that technology is changing the marketing landscape, organizations should create an environment conducive to innovation and creativity to thrive by planning their marketing strategies around technology.

Demi Yilmaz, Co-Founder, Colonist.io

6) Building a Loyal Client Base
One trend that is certain to still kick around is focusing more resources on building a loyal client base rather than looking for new customers. It would seem that every little niche offers people plenty of businesses to choose from, and customers don't shy away from trying different companies' products. Securing a client for longer periods of time is becoming harder and more complex, and that's become a significant challenge you should undertake.

Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing & Outreach Manager, US Visa Photo

7) Personifying Brands
We've all seen the immense social media marketing success that Duolingo has had through its witty and Gen Z-like voice on TikTok. While companies don't have to go to that extreme, it's becoming increasingly critical for brands to feel more like a person - not just a black corporate box trying to sell something to consumers.

Adam Shlomi, Founder, SoFlo Tutors

8) Integrating Digital Ads into Micro-Interactions on Partners' Sites 
Though it may be too early to call it a trend, a cool new technique I've seen over the past few months is integrating digital ads into micro-interactions on partners' sites. I know that might be hard to picture, so here is an example. This past week, when I logged in to Yahoo to check my fantasy football matchup, a congratulatory screen popped up, and when I clicked on it, confetti came raining down on the screen. But it wasn't confetti - it was a million little Arby's logos. It was incredibly interactive and unexpected and got my attention (unlike most popups and sidebar ads today). I frankly love this approach to digital ads. With more sites than ever incorporating micro-interactions and micro-animations on-page, there are millions of opportunities to work with partners to incorporate your advertising into their site. The Arby's thing is just one example. More organic ad placement on-site, especially in the context of micro-interactions, will be huge in coming years.

John Ross, Chief Executive Officer, Test Prep Insight

9) Long-Term Influencer-Brand Relationships
We are going to see a higher importance on long-term influencer-brand relationships. People are increasingly looking to social media as a place for community and building trust and relationships with influencers. Brands will tap into this built-in trust and relationship as they align themselves with influencers who make sense of their brand. The connection between influencers and brands will continue to grow into the new year.

Ann McFerran, CEO, Glamnetic

10) Customization of the Customer Experience
Customization of the customer experience will be a major player in marketing. Companies will utilize data to find out as much as they can about their customers to create tailored marketing content, from email campaigns to Instagram posts. The customer experience will be unique and specialized based on the customer's unique buyer's journey. Data will continue to be king and help companies create the best-customized customer experience.

Sumeer Kaur, Founder & CEO, Lashkaraa

11) Virtual and Augmented Reality for Immersive Marketing Experience
Businesses should consider using virtual and augmented reality to create immersive marketing experiences. Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulated environment that allows users to interact with their surroundings in real time. Augmented reality is a technology that overlays digital information on top of the physical world, making it possible to see both the real and the virtual world simultaneously. Businesses are already starting to experiment with these technologies for marketing purposes. For example, Marriott Hotels created a VR experience that allows users to visit different destinations worldwide. And BMW has created an augmented reality app that lets customers explore different car models and features.

Gosia Hytry, Head of Content, Spacelift

12) Leveraging User-Generated Content to Promote Products
Businesses are leveraging social proof through customers' UGC more and more on social media. We share our customers' posts to curate virtual showrooms on our Instagram and extend our reach to new clientele. User-generated content is perfect for curating versatile examples of how our products meet users' diverse preferences. On top of bolstering our content marketing strategy, we enjoy spotlighting different users on our account, using their content to help them reach new audiences. Not only does this strategy help us attract new leads, but it reinforces our existing relationships with loyal customers. I expect that, well into the new year, many businesses will use similar strategies to increase their brand awareness and conversions.

Justin Soleimani, Co-Founder, Tumble

13) Web3 Marketing
Web3 marketing will matter even more. On a technical level, Web3 is the label for a decentralized internet, which can incorporate blockchain and other technologies. On a practical level, it means that you need to look at where your customers spend their time and where you expect them to spend time in a decentralized world. Today, you can find your web3 base of customers on platforms like Discord, Twitter, and Telegram. Although a social media space like Twitter is really just a remnant of the Web2 world, the audience of current and future Web3 users hang out there. Real-time communications on platforms like Discord and Telegram will be a huge part of Web3, and Twitter is not far off. So, expand your marketing efforts to engage and create spaces in preparation for Web3 expansion, and you'll be ahead of the competition.

Dennis Consorte, Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant for Startups, Snackable Solutions

14) Streaming Service Advertising
One of the most important marketing trends that I see emerging, and has been relatively important as of recent years, that all businesses should consider in their marketing plan is advertising on streaming services. Even before COVID-19 came along and made a massive boom in the streaming service industry, streaming services and companies were substantial game changers in the market. They were starting to become the dominant form of media and TV delivery. Many people nowadays are switching from cable TV to streaming, and creating and putting ads on these streaming platforms is the go-to way to bring attention to your business.

David Ring, Senior Marketing Manager, MCT - Trading

15) Blog Content Embedded With Visuals and Interactive Media
Basic text-heavy blog articles are no longer adequate, especially given Google's recent update that prioritizes content quality. With more users engaging with audio and video formats, I expect more companies will make their blogs more interactive and include a variety of media. This includes having embedded video, click-to-tweets, infographics, original graphics and images, slideshows, and clickable Table of Contents for longer posts -- anything that will make the blog content stand out and be visually and functionally more engaging.

Alli Hill, Founder and Director, Fleurish Freelance

16) Featured Snippets in Google Search
The evolution of SEO is one of the significant shifts in recent years. With mobile and voice search growth, people are changing how they use search engines like Google. Being number one in SERPs is no longer necessarily your business's goal - being found through "on-SERP" information means you can get what they need without clicking. 

Featured Snippets and other "on SERP" information mean you no longer need to click through - it's on the Google search results page! For example, my website won feature snippets for the keyword "Nicknames in Spanish," and it gets about 40k monthly pageviews. The best part is that my website has fewer backlinks or domain authority, so you don't need to be a top-tier brand to rank your keywords for feature snippets!

Connor Ondriska, Co-founder & CEO, SpanishVIP

If you're interested in discussing your current inbound marketing strategy and how to improve your results, we invite you to schedule an inbound marketing consultation.