Marketing In 2018: A Curated List Of Predictions And Trends

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I’m a big fan of trend forecasts. And expert predictions. And numbers. And … well, you get the idea.

If you are too, you’ll want to check out these collections of insights into various areas of digital marketing. When you read them, it’s like looking into a smart crystal ball.

2018 SEO Trend Predictions From 13 Industry Experts

In HubSpot’s 2017 State of Inbound report, 67% of respondents said that improving their SEO and growing their company’s organic search presence is a top priority.

This isn’t a surprise since 42% of external referrals come from Google Search.

So, now the question becomes: How do you do that? Well, you’ll be off to a good start if you listen to the great advice of the industry experts quoted in our roundup of SEO trend predictions:

Vincent DeCastro, CEO of SEO My Business, believes that the Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) Project will play a more important role in SEO.
Sam Olmsted, Search and Content Director at Online Optimism, predicts that influencers – especially micro-influencers – will have a bigger impact on search results.
Natasha Kvitka, Digital Marketing Strategist at Gift Baskets Overseas, points out that the growing use of voice search will make natural language optimization more important than ever.

2018 Predictions & Trends To Watch In Online Advertising

The online advertising bucket includes lots of options today. In addition to PPC and other types of online ads, paid social is a major tactic for marketing pros.

According to a 2017 Social Media Examiner report, 93% of marketers use Facebook ads, and 64% plan to increase their usage. Facebook isn’t just for reaching B2C companies either – 74% of Facebook users also use the network for professional purposes.

What else should you pay attention to in 2018? Online ad specialists share the following:

William Gadea, Creative Director and Founder of IdeaRocket LLC, believes that 2018 is going to be the year for vertical video.
Kent Lewis, President and Founder of Anvil Media, Inc., advises that a solid Amazon marketing strategy is a must.
Mike Smith, Vice President, Revenue Platforms & Operations at Hearst Magazines Digital Media, forecasts that display advertising will eventually become 100% bought and fulfilled using programmatic real-time bidding technologies.

Social Media Tips For SMBs/SMEs: 50 Experts Share Their Best Advice

How widely used is social media? Hootsuite reports that 83% of Americans and 77% of people in the U.K. have at least one social media account.

Moreover, 28% of Americans and 34% of Britons would rather engage with a brand/organization on social media than visit a physical location. If you don’t have a social media account, these groups of people might turn to one of your competitors instead of looking for another way to reach you.

While it’s not exactly a trends report, this collection of tips shares great insights, including how to plan your social media strategy for 2018. Here’s a sample of some of the advice you’ll find:

Stanley Tan, Digital Marketing Specialist at Selby’s, cautions brands to have the right mindset about social media – use the marketing channel to build a following, not to blast non-stop sales messages.
Emily Sidley, Senior Director of Publicity at Three Girls Media, points out the importance of having an actual content strategy for social media and what that strategy should include.
Zack Gallinger, President of Talent Hero Media, encourages small to medium-sized businesses to collaborate with other businesses that have a similar audience but are not competitors (g., a photographer with a wedding planner). Use these collaborations to amplify each other’s social reach.

5 Trends in Marketing for Manufacturing Companies

Often, the way you approach digital marketing will depend on the type of business you have. For example, if you sell craft supplies, a presence on Pinterest is a must. In B2B markets, it’s extremely important to talk to your audience using the language in their industry.

Steve Melito, Founder of Thunderbolt Business Services, talks about how manufacturers can apply current and future marketing trends to their companies.

He advises that visual media isn’t the only type of content that manufacturing SMBs should produce if their goal is to obtain leads. About 76% of people are willing to share personal information to download a white paper, but only 19% or willing to do the same to watch a video.

2018 Tech Trends For Marketers

Our very own Neil Henry has put together a series of articles and infographics on tech trends that marketers need to know about in 2018. A summary of these trends is in our ebook, Tech Trends To Watch In 2018.

For more detailed information on each trend, check out these individual analyses:

The Rise Of The Customer Experience Economy – Customers expect companies to automatically and proactively personalize experiences to address their current and future needs.
Cloud Supremacy – By 2020, overall spending on cloud computing will surpass spending on non-cloud IT infrastructure.
On-Demand Everything – Three years ago, 76 businesses in just six industries provided on-demand services. Now there are 280 companies in 16 industries.
Verbal Intelligence – Over 50% of adults now use voice search, and over 40% now have voice activated products.
Outsourcing & Partnerships – Companies need to nurture an empowered workforce and exceptional technology partnerships.
Mobile Preeminence – About 83% of mobile users say that a seamless experience across all devices is very important.
Full Spectrum Computing – Quantum computing, cognitive computing, and edge computing have entered the scene, taking innovation to a new frontier for real-world application and service deployment.
Security Revisited – Innovations in AI, quantum computing, and the IoT are creating a volatile world of digital transformation that is compromising the cybersecurity landscape as we know it.
IoT Convergence – As physical and digital realities merge (AI, VR, AR) and computational power increases (edge, cognitive, quantum computing), the IoT is set to revolutionize the next decade of technology evolution.
The Consumerization Of Time – In a world of instant gratification where opportunity cost means a great deal, time is a serious commodity.

Michele McDonough

CEO and Co-Founder of Creative Mindscape. I’m a science fiction junkie, cat lover, and LinkedIn lurker. If you look around my office, you’d also think I collected crumpled paper.

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