Top Marketing Trends for 2018 : What To Know For Your Small Business

2018 is going to bring some interesting trends to fruition in the online marketing world—and strategies that have been growing and developing over the past few years will come into full force within the New Year. As a marketing firm, Mountain Air Marketing is constantly researching and evaluating what’s important to you as a small business owner so that we can prepare you and help you in your marketing efforts.

So here are growing top marketing trends that will continue to take off in 2018….

 

SEO Algorithms Are Getting More Complex
Search algorithms are becoming more and more complex because search platforms like Google want to be truly helpful to people who are looking for information—and rightly so! But for businesses, lazy or uninformed SEO tactics will become less and less useful in the coming year. Search engines are searching out relevant authorities on topics, and the way they search for relevant sites is becoming more and more sophisticated.

For example, search engines are becoming more and more locally based, since mobile searches are constantly figuring out exactly where a person is online. Optimizing your small business so that it will be picked up at a local level is gaining importance, because according to Google mobile local searches are growing 50% faster than mobile search in general.

Ad Blockages are On the Rise
As ads become more and more of a nuisance online, consumers will be locking ads more and more, according to this research from Wells Fargo and Optimal. In fact, 37% of mobile users will use ad-block software by 2020, and even now through 2017, researchers saw a 30% increase in ad blocking activities from web goers.

It’s a fact that small businesses must face: Many consumers don’t want pesky ads plaguing their online experiences, which will have a detrimental effect on companies trying to reach consumers through traditional online ad strategies.

 

Content Marketing Will Become More & More Important
Because of a search engine’s ability to really dissect a website and decide if it’s actually worthy of a viewer’s consideration—as well as the aversion to ads that is continuing to grow amongst online users—quality content is becoming the most important aspect of a marketing strategy. A recent survey by Smart Insights showed that the vast majority of marketers know that content marketing will be the number one activity that will be needed to stand out in 2018.

What is quality content? Informative blogs, articles, infographics, and videos created by your company for your target market will continue to become more and more important, as search engines use the quality material that is on your site as a way to evaluate if you’re an authority in your business. Consistent and valuable content creation that covers a variety of topics in a formative, helpful way about your business and your areas of expertise is key—both to capturing search engine’s attention and engaging consumer.

For example, creating a cluster of relevant topics around your site will help Google and other search engines pick up your site. The more articles or videos you can produce around relevant topics, the more your business’s site will be seen as a great source of information.

 

Growth in Social Media Platforms Like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram

As content marketing increases in 2018, the need to share and engage customers grows as well. You also must actively be engaging your potential clients with relevant content (both created and curated by you) on social media channels in an effective manner, or you will just be white noise online.  

Facebook is still the biggest player, according to this article, but YouTube and Instagram are continuing to grow and expand their reach and services. So it’s important to decide what platforms make the most sense to invest in for marketing content for the year.  

We Can Help with Online Marketing!
The need to strategize, create content, and connect via social media is a must for anyone who wants to connect and reach today’s customers. While this all may seem overwhelming, the good thing is that you have resources to help you navigate the world of online marketing! Mountain Air Marketing is always here to help you with any questions or frustrations that you may have, so please contact us.