What Are the 10 Digital Marketing Facts That You Must Know

Digital marketers today are operating in a drastically different landscape from what they encountered 10 years ago. The best, most successful digital marketers know the importance of agility when it comes to engaging today’s fast-moving, always-on consumers. And while these 10 facts certainly don’t paint the full picture, they’re worth knowing for any marketer who hopes to win in the digital landscape:

1. Online Advertising Budgets Are Sky Rocketing

U.S. digital ad spending will reach $129.34 billion this year, an increase of 19.1% from 2018, according to eMarketer.

Mobile Rules the Digital Landscape

One-third of people use their smartphone as their primary device to access the internet.

Video Resonates with Consumers

A survey by Animoto found four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read text, and marketers are catching on to this fact. According to research from Magna Global, programmatic video will increase to 50% of banner display and video spend by 2019.

Programmatic is Everywhere

And the use of programmatic ads isn’t just growing when it comes to video.eMarketer revealed that U.S. advertisers will spend nearly $60 billion on programmatic display in 2019. By 2021, nearly 88% of all US digital display ad dollars, or $81 billion, will flow via automation.

Effective Marketing is Cross-Device Marketing

Brands that do not have an effective cross-device marketing strategy will surely fall behind their competitors. 22% of cross-device transactions completed on a computer start on a smartphone, and 35% of those completed on a smartphone begin on a computer. Meaning it’s critical for marketers to recognize consumers where ever they are, or risk losing a sale to a brand who can.

Wearable Technology is Making a Splash

Gartner reports that worldwide shipments of wearable devices will reach 225 million in 2019, an increase of 25.8 percent from 2018. End-user spending on wearable devices is forecast to reach $42 billion in 2019. Of that, $16.2 billion will be on smartwatches.

Location-Based Technology Drives Sales

The global proliferation of smartphones means that more people than ever before are now walking around with location service-enabled devices in their pockets. Accenture estimates there will be more 2.5 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2019.

Personalization is No Longer Optional

Research from Epsilon indicates that 80 percent of customers are more likely to do business with companies that deliver personalized experiences; moreover, consumers shop more than three times more frequently with companies that make good on their personalization promises

Seamlessness Leads the Way

In this cross-device world where personalization is top-of-mind and data sources are plentiful, consumers will choose brands that offer seamless experiences. In fact, 60% of consumers expect brands to deliver consistent, accurate information across online touchpoints, including a brand’s website, third-party sites, apps, and social media.

People-Based Advertising is the New Frontier

As Brian Andersen of Luma Partners notes in the webinar 3 Data-First Trends for 2019, “Stating the obvious, the big change in the past decade or so has been the move to data-driven marketing…So, it is critically important that you get control of your data…get your data in place and control that data to power positive customer experience and drive revenues.”